A Rhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King Speech

On April 4, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy gave his remarks on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Robert’s goal was to inform people on Martin Luther King’s journey and to strengthen people’s attitudes on the whole situation. Robert’s main points throughout the speech were how the country as a whole should move forward, why the states should not resort to violence but unity instead, and he also addressed that the country needed unity, love, and compassion.
Robert began his speech with giving the rough news on Martin Luther King’s death. People reacted with gasps and cries, so Robert started to explain Martin’s goal and how he died pushing for a change. Robert connected his point of unity by asking the audience to not resort to hatred and violence, but to follow Martin’s dream of unity and peace. He explained how the country has gone through hard times and has always recovered and how there will be more hard

For starters, Robert compares himself to how everyone might be feeling by bringing up the fact that he lost a member of his family to a murderer too. This gave people the impression that they were not alone and that Robert had similar emotions to them. A final way Robert makes the reader care is by telling them to do certain things like pray for Martin’s family and the country. Some rhetorical devices used by Robert in his speech were repetition, antithesis, and epistrophe. Repetition is used in the words “we” and “love.” Antithesis is used when Robert compares three things side by side, the past, present, and future, “We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We've had difficult times in the past.” Finally, Robert uses an epistrophe when he repeats, “a prayer for” at the end of multiple sentences. Robert’s strong and smart delivery of this speech kept the states in a positive mindset even at the darkest of