How Did Martin Luther King Jr Use Pathos In A Speech

Pathos is, by far, the strongest between the three elements of rhetoric in the speech. First, let’s define pathos: It is a quality that causes people to feel sympathy and sadness. Martin Luther utilizes pathos to build a relationship with his black and white audiences, appealing to both of their emotions and values. The use of pathos in his speech assisted him in captivating the emotions of his audience and sparking a sense of guilt in those who were ignorant and displayed the lack of enforcement of the constitutional rights that belong to black people. W.N. Briggance states, “Capture the attention of the audience, arouse the wants, and produce the response,” which is just what King did through the use of pathos.
He repeated the phrase "I have a dream" eight times in 17 minutes. This repetition is called “anaphora” in pathos. Anaphora is when a word or phrase is repeatedly said in an effort for the listeners to see the significance of what is being said. The anaphora in this speech is clearly, "I have a dream." This short, 4 word phrase was repeated eight times in the 17-minute speech and had such an emotional impact on people. Martin Luther used this phrase to connect with the audience his dreams are similar to theirs, a dream of future equality. He …show more content…
He uses sympathetic words and phrases like "chains of discrimination", "oppression", "shameful", and "injustice" to help him reach into the hearts of the audience and help them realize the seriousness of the issue. He revisits slavery when he says, “chains of discrimination”,, an issue now safely ensconced within the bosom of sacred social justice: “One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination”, he Appeals to their emotions, leading them to have compassion, regardless of this skin color whether they were black or