Classical Leadership Training and Development
The three elements of ethical and emotional appeal as proposed by Aristotle include ethos, pathos, and logos. Martin Luther employed the three appeals in varying proportions to deliver his message of emancipation and peaceful resistance. To a certain extent, he favored the use of logos appeal in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. This is mainly because of the presence of direct logic and facts to support the arguments to increase their persuasive power. This essay seeks to analyze the message captured by Martin Luther King in the letter from Birmingham Jail from these three means of persuasion and communication.
Analysis of King’s Ethos
Ethos deals with the character of the author and therefore, …show more content…
King uses the pathos appeal in delivering several riveting points in the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. In one of the pathos arguments, King wrote a lengthy section that graphically described the difficult lives of African-Americans in the last century. He says “that when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim… then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait” (King 14). In this quote, King illustrated the way in which African-Americans lived in a state of squalor within the nation because of racial discrimination and hostility. Through this section, the audience can connect with the hostility being perpetrated against African-Americans. When reading the paragraph, most people were greatly saddened by the dreadful violence of execution and the consequences of racial segregation. In this section, the purpose of the appeal is achieved since the audience empathizes with African-Americans. This is because, on numerous occasions, an individual’s emotions have a greater impact in determining one’s actions compared to logic and common sense (Changing Minds, 2010). Therefore, the pathos appeal is extremely convincing in King’s discourse in the
The three elements of ethical and emotional appeal as proposed by Aristotle include ethos, pathos, and logos. Martin Luther employed the three appeals in varying proportions to deliver his message of emancipation and peaceful resistance. To a certain extent, he favored the use of logos appeal in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. This is mainly because of the presence of direct logic and facts to support the arguments to increase their persuasive power. This essay seeks to analyze the message captured by Martin Luther King in the letter from Birmingham Jail from these three means of persuasion and communication.
Analysis of King’s Ethos
Ethos deals with the character of the author and therefore, …show more content…
King uses the pathos appeal in delivering several riveting points in the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. In one of the pathos arguments, King wrote a lengthy section that graphically described the difficult lives of African-Americans in the last century. He says “that when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim… then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait” (King 14). In this quote, King illustrated the way in which African-Americans lived in a state of squalor within the nation because of racial discrimination and hostility. Through this section, the audience can connect with the hostility being perpetrated against African-Americans. When reading the paragraph, most people were greatly saddened by the dreadful violence of execution and the consequences of racial segregation. In this section, the purpose of the appeal is achieved since the audience empathizes with African-Americans. This is because, on numerous occasions, an individual’s emotions have a greater impact in determining one’s actions compared to logic and common sense (Changing Minds, 2010). Therefore, the pathos appeal is extremely convincing in King’s discourse in the