Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" is a wonderful
example of rhetoric as it contains many devices among which exemplify
pathos, ethos, and
logos. Certainly, the very situation and setting of this speech
must have evoked emotional feelings in those who stood and listened to this most
effective speaker, Dr. King. For, as King stood before the Lincoln monument, he evoked
the history of Lincoln's actions towards effecting the freedom of Negroes by beginning
his speech with the words, "Five score years ago," a clear allusion to Lincoln's address
at Gettsyburg. This allusion also establishes the character to Dr. King as he thus
aligns himself with Lincoln.
Here are other examples of
the Aristotlian forms of rhetoric:
PATHOS [appeal to
emotion]
"We have also come to this hallowed
spot to remind America of the fierce urgency
of now."
"Now is the time to rise from the
dark and desolate valley of
segregation..."
Now is the time to make justice a reality
for all of God's
children."
"...the whirlwinds
of revolt will continue to shake the fundations of our
nation..."
"We cannot be satisfied as the Negro's basic
mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one....as long as our children are
stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating
'For Whites Only...."
"Some of you have come
fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas..battered
by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police
brutality."
PATHOS [appeal to
character]
"We must forever conduct
our struggle on the high plane of dignity and
discipline."
"Let us not seek
to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and
hatred."
LOGOS [appeal to
logic]
"With this faith we will be able
to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.
With this faith, we
will....."
"And if America is
to be a great nation this must become
true."
"And when this happens,
when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring...we will be able to speed up that
day...."
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