Simplified Version: A Rhetorical Analysis of I Have a Dream

When we analyse a speech, we should find literary and rhetorical devices the author has used in the text, write them down as examples, and comment on why the author uses them in the text.

In the box, you will find some questions that you should answer when you analyse a speech. Use the questions to structure your text.

By following the link, you can read and listen to the speech I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King Jr. Link to NPR's webpage: transcript of I Have a Dream

Who is speaking?

The speech I Have a Dream was held by Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington on 28 August 1963. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist Minister became a civil rights champion.

When delivering a speech, the speaker will appeal to ethos, to convince the audience they are credible. Martin Luther King Jr. was a minister, which was a trusted profession. When we listen to King giving this speech, we can easily hear that he is a preacher, and we can imagine him standing in a church. He also makes references to religion in the speech. When he talks about his dream, he quotes Isiah from the Old Testament: 'Every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low (…) and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed'. Alluding to religion strengthened his personal ethos as a man of God. At the same time, presenting himself as a man of God could make him sound less scary to people outside the movement. The references also communicate the idea that King and his supporters had God on their side.

Where and when are they speaking?

The speech was held in Washington, D.C. in front of the Lincoln memorial in 1963. 100 years before, in 1863, Abraham Lincoln had made the Emancipation Proclamation. In that document, he declared that all the slaves in the United States were free. The goal of the Civil Rights Movement was to make sure that Black people could finally get the same rights as white people in America. The place and time for the speech was therefore important symbolically: it had been 100 years since Black people were supposed to have been liberated. How was it possible that they still had to fight to get the same rights as white citizens?

King shows how aware he is of this in his speech, and not only when he said that they are standing in Lincoln’s symbolic shadow. He also alludes to a speech that Lincoln made, The Gettysburg Address. King starts his speech with an old-fashioned way of counting, saying 'five score years ago' instead of 'one hundred years ago', mirroring the first line in the Gettysburg Address of 'four score and seven years ago'. By making these allusions he is borrowing from Abraham Lincoln’s credibility to strengthen his own argument.

Why are they speaking?

This speech is a call for equality and freedom. Despite slavery having been abolished for one hundred years, there is still no equality, and African Americans did not have the rights they were promised.

The speech explains King’s dream of an America 'when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.'

There is a clear message of peace and unity as King paints a picture of a future of racial harmony, with black and white children joining hands and sitting at the same table. He emphasises that there are white people in the crowd as well, joining their struggle. He says that they all share the same destiny and need for freedom: 'we cannot walk alone', he says.

King also declares that there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until Black people are granted their citizen rights, and he promises that 'the whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.'

Who is the target audience?

King is making this speech for the audience who present on that day. Most of them are supporters, people who already believe in the cause, and have come out to hear a great leader speak. However, the speech is also for all the people who will hear it on the radio, see news reports about it on TV, or read about it in the newspapers. It is as much intended for the people who do not believe that the civil rights cause is just, as for the people who already agree with King.

He points out the injustices that exist in society, and explains his dream for how all this will change, hoping to influence as many people as possible to create real change. 'There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.'

How are they trying to convince their audience?

King uses rhetorical devices, but also literary and linguistic devices, to get his message across.

One important device he uses is repetition: The most famous words from this speech are of course 'I have a dream'. It is repeated nine times. So, what is this dream about? In US politics there are a lot of references to the American Dream, which is the myth that anyone can succeed if they just work hard. King starts off by saying that his dream is deeply rooted in the American Dream. This suggests that his dream is to give Black people and white people the same opportunities in America.

King also repeats the word ‘freedom’ more than twenty times in the speech. This makes it clear to us that an important part of his message is that Black people should have the same freedoms as white people.

King makes several allusions to famous texts in his speech. As mentioned earlier, he alludes to the Gettysburg Address, he mentions the Emancipation Proclamation, he quotes from the Declaration of Independence, and the US Constitution. This strengthens the speaker's ethos, as it shows that he is an educated man, who can be trusted to know what he is talking about. It is also an appeal to logos: he is using historical facts and important documents to show that the demand for civil rights is fair and just.

Pathos is always useful when trying to get the audience to sympathise with your message. One of the easiest ways of awakening emotions in an audience is to talk about children. King does this when he talks about the black and white children of the future joining hands. He also talks about his dream for his own children. This makes us see him as a caring father. Which in turn strengthens his ethos.

Another example of pathos is that he chooses to use a lot of words with negative connotations in his speech: crippled, lonely, poverty, languishing, shameful, bitterness, hatred, brutality, horrors, fatigue, suffering. The negative words influence the listener, and they can feel how unfair the situation is for African Americans.