Matin Luther King- I have a dream Analysis

How does Martin Luther King inspire his audience with his 'I Have a Dream' speech?

Throughout his speech, Martin Luther King captivates his audience, in order to persuade them, by using a range of literary techniques. I will focus on his use of metaphors, hyperboles and the placement of juxtaposition within I Have a Dream and review the effects they provoke amongst the audience.

Martin Luther King uses hyperbole numerous times within his speech. His use of hyperbole serves to motivate his audience and all of Americas black population to fight for their rights. He includes definite articles and strong, confident statements which serve the same point. “I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low.” This is a good example of a hyperbole as MLK takes the idea that all black and white men living in peace will affect all valleys and hills as well. He applies the positive factors of equality to all other problems one might face. In other words he is stating that civil rights  amongst the coloured population will clear all other complications in life and hence makes the act of equality the more powerful. This amplifies the advantages of acting now and motivates the audience to do so exactly. Besides the hyperbole MLK also uses definite articles  such as “there will”, “must not” and “is not”. These contribute to the hyperbole as they prevent doubt from arising amongst the audience and gives them a single option only, one of success. Which motivates the audience further.

Besides hyperboles Martin Luther King incorporates numerous extremely powerful metaphors which point the audience in a wanted direction, helping them compare aspects of the speech to create a vivid picture in their mind, making the speech more powerful. Upon describing the situation in which the black population is in MLK strategically creates a link back to slavery. “manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” His use of diction and inclusion of ‘manacles’ and ‘chains’ paints a clear imagine of the torture slaves went through a couple years back. Which only fuels the fury within the minds of the black population and makes it the more likely for them to act upon the problem of freedom. “we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.” MLK refers to the misjudged decisions taken by the government as a bank of justice. Which is, again, a very powerful metaphor as it portrays the picture of debt owed to the black population and retrieves the fury that tags along with someone owing you.  However with that MLK claims that the bank is not yet empty, which leads his audience to believe something will be given back to them as long as they act upon it, this sparks motivation. 

Lastly I will look at the way Martin Luther King incorporates juxtaposition into his speech in order to attract the audiences attention and evoke their concern. Already at the start of his speech MLK introduces juxtaposition to make sure everyone is present and listening. “joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.”  He uses this juxtaposition when describing the effects of signing the Emancipation Proclamation. The juxtaposition portrays the signing of this agreement as the saviour which brought freedom to all of todays’ population of colour. He does so by comparing it to the horrible days which people of colour spent working as slaves. However with the use of past tense and the fact that everyone that was assembled in front of MLK was there in order of justice, they knew that the Emancipation Proclamation did not do much. As black people were still restricted of many human rights. Therefore this juxtaposition aims to give the audience a heads up as they know that MLK will argue about the lack of change the signing of this agreement gave the black population. Hence this juxtaposition actually leads to the situation of the black population at the time this speech was given, adopting the qualities of the time that black people were still slaves.