Analysing three Contrasting Speeches: Martin Luther King, "I have a dream"Bill Clinton, "This has hurt too many innocent people."Earl Spencer, "The most hunted woman of the modern age"

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Analysing three Contrasting Speeches:

Martin Luther King, “I have a dream”

Bill Clinton, “This has hurt too many innocent people.”

Earl Spencer, “The most hunted woman of the modern age”

        In this essay I am going to analyse three contrasting speeches. The first is one of the most famous speeches of all time, Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream”. This speech was delivered on the 28th of August 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. It has gone down in history as one of the greatest demonstrations for freedom, against the merciless environment that black people of America were put in. The second speech is Bill Clinton, “This has hurt to many innocent people”. This speech was heard by over two thirds of America and many others over the world on the 17th of August 1998. The, then U.S.A President was speaking about his ‘un-appropriate’ relationship with Monica Lewinsky, one that he had denied earlier that year. Many people feared he would be impeached but his blunt, honest, sincere speech won over the American citizens once again. The third speech is Earl Spencer’s “The most hunted woman of the modern age”. This persuasive oratory was presented at Diana’s funeral, in front of millions watching on television, listening on radio and there in person at Westminster Abbey.

        Many speeches use powerful rhymes in their words to grab the attention of the audience. In Martin Luther King’s speech, he uses two words ‘segregation’ and ‘discrimination’. These to words sum-up his feelings, of how hope was given to the Negroes, then snatched away a few years later. Evidently the source of the speech’s power lies in the punctuation and King’s passionate speaking skills, this is backed-up with plenty of emotive language which gives the emotional feeling to the opening.

        Earl Spencer also uses this technique, as his opening portrays for his sister Diana. His heartfelt words are felt deeply by many, helped by his superlative imagery used at the start of the speech. “Representative of a family in grief, in a country of mourning, before a world in shock.” He conveys an image of an enormous loss, of a woman who many never met or knew, but on that day they could all feel like they did. It is used so effectively that it is a constant reminder of his astonishing pubic speech. At points the words seem innocent, almost irrelevant due to their simplicity and the various audiences hearing them, this allows many to relate directly to the moral he speaks of, even if it is on different levels of understanding.

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        Bill Clinton’s speech contrasts heavily with the other two. Where as he others are speaking from their hearts and illuminating their views on deep issues, Clinton is trying desperately to defend himself and win back a morsel of dignity and respect. In his opening he is very specific, maybe so that no one can twist his words to make him look a fool again, “This afternoon in this room, from this chair”. He then tries to get a sympathy vote. He is trying all through this speech to win back supporters, to win back admiration and to maybe win back ...

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