Martin Luther King's Speech "I Have a Dream"

Paper Summary:

This paper defines Martin Luther King's speech "I Have a Dream" as a rhetorical situation because it definitely amplifies the nature of the situation by providing a formal definition and examination of its constituent parts. The author points out that a rhetorical situation requires that the discourse move the audience to produce change; King's discourse produced change by influencing the decisions and actions of the persons who function as mediators of change. The paper states that the reaction to King's discourse has been quite possibly the most far reaching response in the history of not delineated within the confines of religion.

From the Paper:

"Some of the Rhetorical Situational discourse displayed in the King speech has several recognizable characteristics or features. For example, rhetorical discourse is called into existence by situation when the situation which the rhetoric perceives amounts to an invitation to create and present discourse. The clearest possible evidence of this is present in the case of the King speech and within the presentment of his discourse. The strongest and clearest instances of rhetorical speaking and writing are strong invited - yea, often demanded as in the case at hand. The Civil Rights movement had begun to slow as many involved were just plainly being worn down by the constant and unrelenting forces against them."

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