The Art of Persuasion

I choose to write about Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech. I love to hear his speeches. Each one is always very powerful. To me, I feel like his entire speech used ethos. He uses many examples of Biblical accounts and examples of events that happened in U.S. history. He establishes himself with his breadth of knowledge. He appealed to logos at the very beginning of his speech. He states that, "something is happening in Memphis, something is happening in our world." This is a logical statement. There is something happening through the civil rights movement. My favorite appeal that he uses in this speech is pathos. An example of this in his speech was when he used the parable of the Good Samaritan. He says, "That's the question before you tonight. Not, "If I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to my job. Not, "If I stop to help the sanitation workers what will happen to all of the hours that I usually spend in my office every day and every week as a pastor?" The question is not, "If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?" The question is, "If I do not stop to help the sanitaiton workers, what will happen to them?" That's the question." This is a powerful statement and is motivating the people of Memphis to action.

This speech by Martin Luther King Jr. is just as persuasive and powerful as his speech called "Letter from Birmingham Jail." Both of these speeches use ethos and logos. But I think that pathos is the most powerful piece of rhetoric that he uses. This speech("I've Been to the Mountaintop") compared to the presentation in class I feel was more persuasive. They talked about using ethos, logos, and pathos but the speech overall is not as persuasive. Overall, Martin Luther King Jr. is a very powerful and persuasive speaker and uses ethos, logos, and pathos very well.

To find Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I've Been to the Mountaintop" go to this website: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm.