Speech Evaluation: Martin Luther King, Jr. Essay

Introduction

Speech is an essential way to persuade and deliver information to the audience. It helps a speaker to share his/her thoughts and ideas about a current situation or any other matter. It was born in ancient Greece (Saxonhouse, 2005). However, the complexity and importance dramatically evoked, as it is the primary way of communication between the leader and the audience.

It could be said that all of the leaders were successful speakers since they were able to provide the audience with thrilling examples and arguments (Carnegie, 2011). One of them is Martin Luther King. The presentation pays close attention to him the most famous speech “I have a dream.” He inspired people to improve the current conditions and change the reality to the better world. The analysis of the speech helps to understand various tools and techniques, which he implemented to find the way to reach the audience.

Introduction of the Speech

It is important to include an introduction to every speech, as it provides general ideas about the topic and gives a listener an understanding of the speaker’s intentions. The speech of Martin Luther King could be divided into several parts.

The first part shows that he is thankful to stand in front of the audience. Moreover, he uses the pronoun “We” to show the unity of the nation in the United States of America (King, 2015, para.1). It could be said that after that, he continues with the main topic. He focuses on Emancipation Proclamation and its influence on slavery situation in the country.

The next step of Martin Luther King is to deliver his main point to the audience. He claims that despite ‘the freedom’ African Americans are still discriminated, and their rights are not respected in the modern society. In order to emphasize the significance of the problem, he uses parallel sentence structure such as “One hundred years later” (King, 2015, para. 3). He strongly suggests that nothing has changed in one hundred years.

Attention-getting method

It is vital for a speaker to attract the attention of the audience from his/her first words. As it was mentioned previously, Martin Luther King thanks the audience and then continues with the description of the problem.

Starting with the persuasive description of the problem is crucial, as it delivers the main thoughts and ideas of the speaker to the audience (Morreale, 2010). It is critical to keep the audience focused on the issue. In this case, parallelism is used. There are three sentences, which start with “One hundred years later” (King, 2015, para.3). It is clear that Martin Luther King implies nothing changed in a century. This method is rather stable, as it allows people to understand that the problem still exists, and the situation has to change. Additionally, he also uses the word “Negro” multiple times (King, 2015, para. 3). Listeners could establish a connection between two repetitive words and understand the fundamental aspects of the problem, as racial problems still exist in America.

Transitions

Transition words and phrases are used to connect logically sentences with each other (Transitional words and phrases, 2014). One of the examples is “And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition” (King, 2015, para. 3). ‘And so’ is a sequential transition, which is used to describe the conclusion. It could be said that Martin Luther King use this phrase multiple times to highlight the conclusion, “And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice” (King, 2015, para.5).

‘But’ is another transition, which shows contrast (Transitional words and phrases, 2014). “But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt”, Martin Luther King says (King, 2015, para.5). This sentence allows the listeners to understand a current problem.

List of Transitions

• “But”, it is an adversative transition (King, 2015, para.3).
• “And so” is an effect (King, 2015, para.5).
• “Still” is a concession (King, 2015, para. 3).
• “Also” is an addition (King, 2015, para. 6).

Moreover, as it was mentioned earlier, repletion of the certain phrases can be referred as transitions. Although, it has to be said that not only emphasize the importance of the issue but also show the connections between the sentences.

Various conclusion techniques

There are different techniques, which could be used for the conclusion, such as a rhetorical question, quotation, humor, and request for action (Conclusion techniques, 2015). As for Martin Luther King speech, it could be said that he finishes it with the citation: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!” (King, 2015, para. 31). This quotation helps to understand a primary intention of the speech. This quote helps the speaker show his emotions and has a particular effect on the audience.

Moreover, as a speech is persuasive, it could be concluded that Martin Luther King requests a possible action from the audience. The passion and emotionality expressed in the quote might be the key drivers for the successful change of the situation.

Effectiveness of the speech

Speaking of the effectiveness, it could be said that the speech was successful. On the picture displayed on the slide, it could be seen that the crowd surrounds the leader (What Dr. King can teach us about acting, 2015). From the emotions displayed on the people’s faces, it could be noticed that the speech had an individual impact and gave people hope for a better future.

As for the use of various techniques, the speech is rich in examples and quotes. These techniques help the listeners to understand and support ideas of Martin Luther King.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it could be said that in order to be effective speech has to use various sentence structures and techniques. Moreover, using sentence parallelism is also one of the efficient methods, as it helps the speaker emphasize a significance of the issue. Additionally, usage of the word ‘we’ shows equality of all members of society and brings the leader closer to the public. All of these techniques were implemented in Martin Luther King’s speech. These facts allowed him to deliver a persuasive message and change the history of the United States of America.

References

Carnegie, D. (2011). Stand and deliver: How to become a masterful communicator and public speaker. New York, NY: Simon & Shuster.

Conclusion techniques. (2015). Web.

King, M. (2015). I have a dream.

Morreale, S. (2010). The competent public speaker. New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.

Saxonhouse, A. (2005). Free speech and democracy in Ancient Athens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Transitional words and phrases. (2014).

What Dr. King can teach us about acting [Image]. (n.d.). Web.