Rhetorical Strategies Used In Mlk's I Have A Dream

Rosa parks once said “I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free... so other people would be also free.” In the same way, Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech on August 28, 1963. In his speech, he essentially spoke of the inequality between whites and African Americans. The rhetorical strategies used by Dr. King in his “I Have a Dream” speech effectively inspired people,triggered their emotions, and changed society as a whole. The rhetorical strategies used by MLK in his “I Have a Dream” speech effectively inspired his audience. Specifically, Martin Luther King Jr. was able to successfully motivate people through his use of metaphors. In particular, “this momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of negro slaves.” This quote suggests that his use of metaphors …show more content…
Furthermore, his speech had the ability to affect his audience’s emotions. In his speech, MLK said, “America has given the negro people a bad check.” Having said this, he triggered African American’s emotions by bringing forth the fact that Americans had mistreated Africans for a very long time. Of course, acknowledging that one has been mistreated for so long is going to trigger some mixed emotions. After all, who does not want to be treated in the same manner as anyone else? Another statement Martin Luther King Jr. made in his speech was, “and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children...will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old negro spiritual.” In this quote, MLK’s diction had the ability to trigger people’s emotions. His use of annotative words could possibly have caused people to feel more emotionally invested. Ultimately, King’s “I Have A Dream” speech was capable of making his audience