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Definition of Pathos
Pathos, along with logos and ethos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Pathos is an argument that appeals to... read full definition
Pathos, along with logos and ethos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Pathos is... read full definition
Pathos, along with logos and ethos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective... read full definition
Pathos
Explanation and Analysis—Feeling into Words:
This speech relies often on pathos—more than logos or ethos—to support its argument. King puts his listeners into the shoes of people who are suffering and emphasizes the pressing importance of change. King specifically describes the struggle that Black Americans have experienced:
We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs saying "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.
He describes how many in the audience have come from "narrow jail cells" and have been "battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality." With this evocative language, King makes brutally real for his audience the threat of violence and pain that Black Americans feel, putting all Americans in the metaphorical shoes of Black suffering.
King also uses pathos in his earnest calls to action in the speech by appealing to the feelings of his listeners. He attempts to stoke fear and urgency in the audience:
Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy; now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice; now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood; now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.
King strikes fear into his audience—it is a matter of life and death "to overlook the urgency of the moment." But he also is clear that there is hope to "make real the promises of democracy." King plays off these contrasting emotions in the speech, using pathos to support his argument.
Related Themes:
