Letter From Birmingham Jail Ethos Pathos Logos

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Throughout time the world’s most influential people have been able to articulate their thoughts, ideas and opinions to persuade others to agree with their position and most importantly to act on it. An effective argument has many facets and most people change how they argue over time based on their capabilities, experiences and results in previous arguments. Aristotle created the most widely accepted model for effective persuasion. He stated that effective arguments use pathos, ethos and logos. Pathos is appealing to the audience’s emotions, ethos is building credibility and logos is substantiating your argument with logic. Martin Luther King Jr. employed Aristotle’s appeals to influence people through his powerful speeches that moved people into action. One of King’s most effective arguments was his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” which was an appeal he wrote to a group of religious leaders from the southern states of the United States. …show more content…
Martin Luther King Jr. skillfully, passionately and cleverly argued that his course of action was the best possible, and that he was promoting peace not violence. King made his argument in “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by employing pathos, ethos, and logos making it a very effective argument. He wrote this letter from the jail in Birmingham, Alabama where he was arrested for participating in a non-violent direct action program to support the causes of a local religious group he was affiliated with (King 1). In King’s letter he appealed to the emotions of the religions leaders, confirmed his stature as a religious man to establish credibility and supported his position with logical arguments, thus using Aristotle’s formula of pathos, ethos and logos to strengthen his
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