I Have Been to the Mountain Top by M. L. King: Rhetorical Analysis

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Methodology
Analysis
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The speech “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” by Martin Luther King Jr was a powerful, inspirational talk that moved many individuals at that time and still does today. King was a leader of the American civil rights movement, and this was his last speech before being assassinated. King felt for African Americans who were fighting for equality around the globe and wanted to do everything in his power to aid in their pursuit of equality. He delivered this speech intending to highlight the significance of perseverance in pursuing civil rights and to encourage African Americans to demand equality. However, his address aims to persuade listeners to act morally and cooperate in the struggle for American independence and liberties.

I will describe the methodology used, give the context of the speech, provide the rhetorical analysis, and, finally, provide the conclusion. I chose to examine this speech because it uses rhetorical devices despite inspiring many African Americans to regain their courage to fight for their rights. This paper argues that King used ethos, logos, and canons to convince African Americans to unite and employ nonviolent protest to fight for their rights during the civil rights movement.

Methodology

This paper will use one of the first approaches of rhetorical critique, called the neo-Aristotelian or neo-classical method, named after Aristotle. As described by Aristotle, rhetoric is the understanding of the various coaxing techniques. He established the foundation for the research of oratory (Rapp, 2020). Rhetoric is concerned with how language is used to influence others. The objectives of rhetorical examination are the tactics a writer employs to persuade readers to agree with him and the effect that rhetoric can have on a listener. Aristotle defines the three inventive proofs that, in his view, make up the rhetorical craft of Rhetoric. Aristotle asserts that the three types of evidence, logos, pathos, and ethos, are the basis for the influence tactic.

Logos are classified into two types: deductive and inductive reasoning. Deductive critical thinking is the logical process from a general statement to a particular example, and its subthemes are syllogism and enthymeme. A syllogism has a major premise, a minor premise, and an inference, which can be derived from the initial two valid reasoning (Meyer-Grant et al., 2022). Enthymeme is a modified type of syllogism wherein one presumption is left unspecified, and the insinuation communicated by a presenter and a viewer is required. The inductive approach, in contrast, refers to the rationale from a particular example to a general statement, where a presenter draws the inference from actual or implausible instances. Logic can be disingenuous or irrational if an assertion consists of a structural or content error (Meyer-Grant et al., 2022). False arguments include unknown facts, invalid power, incoherent contrast, and inadequate data.

The conventional lofty notions of background, the five canons, and the repercussions must be considered while examining a relic using this method (Rapp, 2020). Aristotle first put out these principles with the ultimate objective of gaining knowledge on how the setting and organization of a speech or paper impact the intended audience. The first stage is assessing the background, where the orator, occasion, and listeners are identified. The next step is to examine the impacts, which entails determining the object’s effectiveness or impact on the viewers. The application of Aristotle’s three techniques of appeal and implementation of the canons, which are invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery, come next. The next step is to examine the impacts, which entails determining the object’s effectiveness or impact on the viewers.

Analysis

King delivered the speech “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” on April 3, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. The severity of racial prejudice was the urgency of his discourse. Very many African Americans had been subjected to unfair and discriminatory treatment. While starting his speech, King remarked, “Now that’s a strange statement to make, because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land; confusion all around” (N, 2018 5:37). This statement provided evidence that things were not done well in the world. There was no justification for African Americans to experience those injustices; King delivered this speech in response to the predicament. Therefore, all African Americans had to be aware of this issue and have faith that one day, they would be treated fairly and overturn those unfair laws. Since this address inspired many African Americans to fight for their liberty again, it eventually earned importance in the civil rights movement.

Ethos, pathos, and logos are frequently used to convince readers or listeners. Through creating rational assertions, logos communicate to the coherent side of the audience. By alluring the presenter’s position, ethos upsurges the possibility that the listeners will trust the orator. Pathos acts on the listener’s emotions by alluding to their compassion. King employed ethos, logos, and pathos in his speech to engage his audience. This implies that to make a stronger argument in favor of the Memphis riots and the Civil Rights Movement, he made appeals to trust, power, feelings, and reasoning. As shown in King’s address, a speech is stronger and more understandable to its viewers when these elements are applied.

First, he employed pathos to appeal to and arouse the audience’s feelings. King declared, “Something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled today…. the cry is always the same. We want to be free” (N, 2018 6:22). African Americans were inspired to fight for equality by King. He instilled in his audience the strong belief that their destiny would be great if they had the self-assurance to overcome their fears. The listeners were convinced by what King said that they should be in charge of their lives and freedom, not outside forces. They desired to reclaim their liberty, and as a result, the spectators’ spirits significantly increased.

To begin with, King used ethos as he asserted that he presided over the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which had affiliates in every region of the South. He traveled to Birmingham since the Birmingham division needed help. His moral standards are clear because leadership in such an institution requires much work and dedication. He presupposes that his listeners are guys of sincere goodwill. In addition to demonstrating his trustworthiness in this outstanding letter, he also demonstrates honesty, reasoning, and social etiquette. King used ethos to establish his audiences’ trust in him by revealing his story of being stabbed in New York by a crazy lady. He said, “That blade had gone through, and the X-rays revealed that the blade’s tip was on the edge of my aorta, the main artery. And once that’s punctured, you’re drowned in your own blood… that’s the end of you” (N, 2018 36:18). In keeping with this ethos, King persuaded his listeners that he shared their plight and completely knew how they felt. After sharing his incident, the audience was eventually convinced of the sincerity of his bravery. Once he communicated his experiences and the awful things he discovered happening to African Americans, King effectively captured the attention and earned his audience’s respect. Though he used all three types of persuasion, a deeper examination of the discourse shows that ethos predominated.

King used logos to describe the hardship experienced by African Americans worldwide. King responded to the criticism, claiming his recent efforts were irresponsible and inappropriate by outlining the reasons for his decision to organize the peaceful demonstration in Birmingham as well as the timing of it. King presented the argument for the nonviolent four-phase campaign. They included dialogue, individual purification, gathering information to see if there were inequities, and taking swift responses. King then distinguished good and unfair rules. He contended that unfair policies should not be regarded as laws using quotations from St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. “There are thirteen hundred of God’s children here suffering, sometimes going hungry, going through dark and dreary nights wondering how this thing is going to come out” (N, 2018 13:10). King used this instance to illustrate the reality of the suffering experienced by African Americans. They experienced daily homelessness and hunger. He used this symbol to clarify that the world was filled with too many unfair things. They must continue striving for rights until they get them. King utilized logos to inspire his listeners to stand up for their rights. For a while, this maintained spectators’ emotions at a high level.

King used syllogisms in various instances, but his speech had no enthymemes. A syllogism is a logic in which a solution is deduced from two presupposed or provided propositions. On the contrary, an enthymeme is an argument where one of the premises is implied (Fredal, 2018). An example of a syllogism is when he said, “But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh’s court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery” (N, 2018 10:51). He was trying to encourage the black Americans to remain united and stand strong.

This speech perfectly illustrates Aristotle’s rhetoric canons: invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. The process of creating content for a text or speech is called invention. Choosing the best order for the content in a text is the practice of arrangement (Franzosi &Vicari, 2018). The procedure for selecting the precise words to utilize in a document is known as style. The act of imprinting a message to recollections is called memory. Delivery refers to the technicalities of delivering the written material or talk. These five canons of rhetoric are the crucial procedures for proper communication.

First, King’s multitude of information and knowledge on the canon of the invention is evident. King fit the enslaved people’s religious worldviews into biblical tales; his speech’s main point focused on how humans could get to the promised land in the future. The promising land vision presented the nation’s future. King demonstrated that only individual dream could serve as the framework of experience when he said, “And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land” (N, 2018 853). The concept of good land was offered based on the foundation of religious peace that was established in the community. King’s rhetoric reveals interference in politics and religion.

The speech follows the canon of arrangement because it has a distinct introduction, body, and conclusion. In several parts of his speeches, Martin Luther King made sure to align specific rhetorical themes. Instead of establishing his authority, his introduction shows severe ethical appeals. He introduced his lecture with statements illustrating the primary issues facing our world, which helped his audience understand the focus of his address. King then successfully captivated audiences using rhetorical appeals to share his personal experiences and thoughts. After gaining the attention of his audience, he explained some supporting statements that gave the audience a greater sense of self-assurance and self-awareness. His address ended with encouraging the listeners to maintain their faith and hope.

There is a sense of “event” when King directly relates to Ralph Abernathy and the audience as if they are witnessing something made for a particular time and place. That is a defining characteristic of speeches: if the speaker is praising or addressing a particular person, the audience can be sure that the speaker is giving a speech (Tevi & Koslow, 2018). While writing “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” Martin Luther King Jr. drew on themes and ideas from his prior work as a preacher and public speaker. Therefore, the speech’s “text” is merely a record of his remarks.

King employed the canon of style since the speech has a variety of metaphors and anaphora. The audience’s sense of reality and desires appears to be mostly guided by a metaphorical style (Tay, 2019). In his address, King said, “The nation is sick, trouble is in the land, confusion all around” (N, 2018 5:43). By referring to America as a sick nation, King attempted to convey his dissatisfaction with the racist problem that the nation-state was suffering from. Moreover, King used anaphora in his address to reinforce the audience’s will to struggle for their rights. He frequently repeated phrases like “Let us” and “If I had sneezed” (N, 2018 34:46, 39:09). Additionally, King repeatedly uses the pronoun “we” to convey a sense of community with the audience. Through repeating the phrase “if I had sneezed,” the King made numerous allusions to his accomplishments and participation in the Civil Rights Movement. He emphasizes necessary points in his dialog by using parallelism in the structure of the sentence. Some concepts and words are repeated, but they are never repetitive due to the strong language that enables him to feel connected with his audience.

The canon of memory can be examined based on King’s psychological performance. King’s ability to recall every element of the speech, including the citations he used, demonstrates how invested he was in the speech’s content. He gains legitimacy through the references to important historical moments because of the setting. King often uses powerful metaphors and images when describing the difficulties experienced by African Americans. Many of King’s concepts are sharpened through contrast, which helps to make the speech memorable. King concludes with a strong, persuasive call to action that prompts readers to take the initiative and behave honorably. Martin Luther King Jr. broke the speech into sections to memorize it quickly. The speech reveals his intense psychological commitment to sense and faith. The speaker’s delivery style indicates that he has had extensive memory training.

King’s mastery of the canon of delivery is evident in his speech. He delivered his address efficiently to adequately convey his optimism for a better future for America and his desire to live without prejudice. Speaking confidently and using strong language greatly impact the speech and contribute to its success (Hanifa, 2018). King’s delivery style, which included emotional intensity and heartfelt gestures, contributed to the speech’s effectiveness. King decided to forgo the script ten minutes before the speech and delivered it with genuine enthusiasm. He kept his movements simple while engaging with the audience by keeping constant eye contact and limiting his movements. King projected a severe facial expression, which helped him achieve his objective because the problem he discussed was significant.

Conclusion

This paper argues that King used rhetorical tactics such as ethos, logos, and canons to convince African Americans to unite and employ nonviolent protest to fight for their rights during the civil rights movement. King presented a powerful and convincing argument to the audience in this famous speech, “I have been to the Mountaintop.” His address was motivating and strong, inspiring African Americans experiencing unequal treatment to unite and fight for their rights. He delivered this speech intending to inspire African Americans experiencing poor treatment to band together and advocate for their privileges without using physical force. He introduced his lecture with quotations that illustrated the primary issues facing our world, helping his audience understand the focus of his address. He then captured spectators’ concentration and emotions using persuasive language while presenting his encounters and perspectives. After gaining their trust and commitment, he elaborated on a few supporting points, which gave the listeners a greater sense of self-assurance and self-awareness.

King used canons of rhetoric to underline the significance of the viewer’s resolve to struggle for freedom due to the heightened emotional response of the crowd. His address ended with a concluding section encouraging the listeners to maintain their optimism and faith. In conclusion, Martin Luther King delivered a persuasive argument to his listeners, urging African Americans to band together and advance their cause through nonviolent protests while driving for public rights.

References

Franzosi, R., &Vicari, S. (2018). What’s in a text: Answers from frame analysis and rhetoric for measuring meaning systems and argumentative structures. Rhetorica,36(4), 393-429.

Fredal, J. (2018). Is the enthymeme a syllogism? Philosophy & Rhetoric,51(1), 24-49.

Tevi, A., & Koslow, S. (2018). How rhetoric theory informs the Creative Advertising Development process. Journal of Advertising Research, 58(1), 111-128.

Hanifa, R. (2018). Factors generating anxiety when learning EFL speaking skills. Studies in English Language and Education,5(2), 230-239.

Meyer-Grant, C. G., Cruz, N., Singmann, H., Winiger, S., Goswami, S., Hayes, B. K., & Klauer, K. C. (2022). Are logical intuitions only make-believe? reexamining the logic-liking effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition.

N, (2018). Martin Luther King Jr. “I’ve been to the mountaintop” – April 3, 1968 – Final famous speech. Web.

Tay, D. (2019). Affective engagement in metaphorical versus literal communication styles in counseling. Discourse Processes,57(4), 360-375.

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