Analysis The King S Speech

Running Head: THE KING’S SPEECH 1

THE KING’S SPEECH

Student’s name

Institution

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THE KING’S SPEECH

SYNOPSIS

After his father, George V dies, and the reign of his brother, King

Edward VIII ends in a scandal involving him and a divorced woman,

Bertie, who has been suffering from a severe stutter his entire life,

suddenly gets the crown as King George VI of the United Kingdom. At the

time of his crowning, his country is at the verge of World War II. This

prompts his wife, the queen mother to be, to seek the help of a therapist,

Lionel Logue. The relationship between the king and the therapist is

arguably rough at the beginning. However, they eventually form an

unbreakable bond. With the unending support of Logue, the king’s family,

the government and the prime minister, George is able to overcome the

stutter and give an inspiring radio address that unites his people as they

head for battle. Overall, the movie is more about the movie is about the

British king George VI, prior to and after his ascendance to the throne. It is

also about his speech impediment; his stammering and his relationship

with his speech therapist Lionel Logue (Mark Logue, 2011).

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INTRODUCTION

The film, “The King’s Speech” is the film about stammering and

speech rehabilitation. The film presents a story about one famous man,

King George VI, (nicknamed “Bertie” by his family), his wife, and the

love of his life, Elizabeth, and an Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue.

Logue helped the king to regulate and understand the stutter that had

disturbed him since he was a child. It is the story of King George the sixth,

also known as Colin Firth. King George is a monarch who never had any

expectations of inheriting the throne. Born as Prince Albert, Duke of York,

to a simple background, the king suffers from a stammer, which severely

challenges his ability to give a speech in public (Mark Logue, 2011). In

several early scenes in the film, the agonizingly struggles to speak. After

several conventional attempts to overcome his stammer fails, Elizabeth, his

wife reaches out for the help of a therapist, Lionel Logue. The king

processes slowly but definitely.

Albert becomes the King of the United Kingdom after his brother;

King Edward renounces the throne with the intention of getting married to

a divorced woman. With the looming World War II, King George is

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quickly brought t the spotlight of the public. The speech impediment is

definitely a challenge to be overcome. George is the king of England at on

the eve of the Second World War and the people look to him for

inspirational speeches, speeches that would mean the difference between

faith or lack of it, high morale in the war or the complete absence of the

same when England went to war with the Nazis (British Crown , 2011).

Having watched the movie, every audience must be aware of the

many circumstances that preceded King George’s delivery of the first

speech concerning the war. Furthermore, the audience acknowledge of the

anxiety that surrounded Albert’s rise to the throne and his inability to

deliver an effective speech.

BACKGROUND OF THE STORY

The background observed in the film, both socially and politically, is

the depression depicted at home, the continued rise of totalitarianism

oversees and the coming of mass media as a major factor in our lives

today. At the center of the drama are four major incidents: the death of

King George V, the father of Albert, who was the first king to address the

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country via the radio; the eldest son, Edward ascending to the throne and

almost abdicating it immediately so as to marry Willis Simpson, an

American woman who was twice divorced; the crowning of George VI as

Edward’s successor; and the outbreak of the second world war (Seidler,

2012 ). In this war, King George and his wife, the queen became of great

and immeasurable national significance.

While the film shows a man who is able to overcome a number of

severe disabilities, it is not centered on triumph, neither is the film

sentimental. The major themes in the film are: courage, the source of a

person’s courage and how to put it into use; responsibility, and the need to

consider duty above one’s pleasure or personal desires and contentment

(British Crown , 2011).

At the beginning of the movie, Bertie and his audience are subjected

to agonies of serious embarrassments in his attempts at the stadium of

Wembley to give a speech. This was during the empire exhibition of the

1924. The rest of the story comes 10 years later when the Queen, Helena

Bonham Carter, arranges for King George VI to meet with the speech

therapist, Lionel Logue (Farndale, Jan, 2011). The story then continues

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shortly after the world war begins, at which time the king delivers an

important broadcast t the whole world from Buckingham Palace. Logue

conducts his speech from the other side of the king’s microphone.

Queen Elizabeth is a warm and charming presence. She is well aware of

her royal status when she reaches for the speech therapist. As for King

George V, he is irritated by the people’s increasing cries for democracy.

Since he earlier on suffered neglect from his own father, King George V is

not able to express a father’s love to his sons. Edward’s tendency to mock

his brother for stammering puts him beyond the pale.

However, with the aid of his therapist, George turns from a chocking

stammer to a skillful speaker. Across a wide gulf, the two of them become

great friends with the king slowly but steadily growing in confidence and

humanity. The first common person he has become friends with, Lionel

Logue effects this growth. Yet in the end, they realize that there is need to

maintain some distance even in their friendship.

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ABOUT THE FILM

The film/movie brings together all the necessary great dramatic

elements including the prospect and occurrence of a world war, a quite

reluctant leader/king, and a speech barrier. The premise of the film is quite

simple and the director goes about it with much deft. Albert’s story of a

slow and laborious journey fascinates yet inspires on a number of levels.

At the onset, he experiences a combative relationship with the therapist

(Dargis, Nov, 2010). This relationship matures to become a deep and

sincere friendship between them. Later, during the forgettable days if the

Second World War, their friendship proves to be a strong pillar. It even

gets to a point that Logue begins to call Albert by his nickname, Bertie. In

fact, the entire movie revolves around their friendship.

The sympathy of the audience is invoked by the emphasis between

King George’s stutter and his brother Edward’s antagonism. The audience

are inclined t regard Albert highly and see him as a modern royal. Edward

betrays the people when he abdicates the throne to marry a twice divorced

woman, Willis Simpson. While the decision to abandon the throne seems

to have influenced the life of Albert, the motives of Edward (David) were

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unessential given the looming world war. It also paints a negative picture

about the royal family. People learned that the royal family is not as high-

brow as everyone else had believed. On the contrary, they were just like

the common people (Mark Logue, 2011).

The stellar acting in the film, seem to be the main factors behind it

massive commercial fortune. Firth, Elizabeth (Bonham Carter), and Lionel

Loguo (Geoffrey Rush) are able to rise above typecasting, which depicts

them as strong characters compared to the other movies in which they have

starred. Elizabeth proves to be a caring and gentle wife and mother. She

truly and deeply loves her husband and family. As for Lionel, he is

sympathetic and witty. He assists Albert in reaching his full potential.

Albert displays more self-assurance, he is morally sound and has a lot of

self-confidence. These three characters form the emotional core of the film

by continually outdoing themselves (Farndale, Jan, 2011).

SETTING

The film is set in London, Buckingham palace. The palace covers a

huge area and is nicely and royally decorated with gold in lovely patterns.

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Also seen inside the palace are attractive ornaments and beautiful portraits

of the past times of kings. This makes an impression up on the king to be

crowned the main character in the film. It also shows the seriousness of the

place.

The audience is also introduced to Westminster Abbey, a big church

with pressing mood. The halls of the church are old and ancient. The worry

in George VI as he waits his crowning is evident as he strolls across the

halls of the church.

Lionel Logue’s office and home are dark, worn-out place with

wooden and squeaky floors. This shows the audience that the therapist

resides in an old place.

CHARACTERS

BARITE: (The Duke of York/ Prince Albert/ King George VI)

Protagonist

Barite is the star character of the movie. He has the main conflict and

every audience hopes that Berties triumphs over his adversity. He ends up

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becoming the king of England. At the end of the movie, Bertie overcomes

his setbacks. However, this does not come easy. He is forced to put a lot of

extra work with Lionel Logue, his mentor (British Crown , 2011).

Speech impediment: the king stammers which gives him low self-

confidence.

He is also stubborn, moody and has anger issues. This can be seen in

the way he behaves during the mentoring sessions with his therapist.

However, he is a good husband and father to his family.

King George represents a high culture in the movie

LIONEL LOGUE

Guide mentor

The audience wonders the kind of king that George VI would have

been had Logue not come into his life. What makes Logue a great mentor

is his ability to tell the King the truth even at the times when the king least

wants to hear of it (British Crown , 2011). Even when Bertie is pushed to

the point of walking away, he keeps coming back since he realises that his

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mentor was right. The skills of Logue as a mentor is best seen at

Westminster Abbey when he encourages Albert that he has whatever it

takes to become the king.

Professional

Lionel Logue knows his profession and the techniques that are

necessary to achieve the desired results. He is a calm person, which

enables him to cope with the anger and stubborn nature of Bertie.

He is a representation of low culture in the film.

ELIZABETH

Foil

Much of the credit of Bertie’s success has to be given to his wife,

Elizabeth as well. She is the person who searches for and finds Logue.

Even after her husband has lost hope, she continues to search for solutions

to his speech problem. She never quits. She knows what her husband can

become. She is a caring wife and mother to her children.

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DAVID (Edward VIII)

Antagonist

Not only that he wants to destroy his brother that makes him an

antagonist, he is also irresponsible and in the end creates many difficulties

for Albert. After the death of their father, David has the responsibility to

become the next king of England. Yet he betrays the people by walking

away from the throne, leaving Bertie with the difficult task of putting the

pieces together (Mark Logue, 2011). When Bertie confronts him about the

issue, he teases him and makes fun of his stutter.

THEME OF CONFLICT

Friendship conflict

There is conflict between Albert and Logue. While they have formed

a formidable relationship, Bertie is faced with the tough decision of

sending him away since he is not a real doctor. Bertie has to look for

another therapist. Another aspect of conflict between them is when Logue

believes that Bertie could be king and Bertie sees this as treason (Farndale,

Jan, 2011).

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Class conflict

This type of conflict comes out in the social classification of people.

Bertie regards himself as a royal and displays a high culture and he sees the

others as just “common men.” This shows a great division between the

upper class of royals and the middle class of the subjects (Dargis, Nov,

2010). Bertie says, “sometimes when i ride through the streets and see, you

know, the common man staring at me, I am struck by how little I know of

his life and how little he knows of mine.” The different backgrounds from

which Logue comes also portray this type of conflict.

Conflict of love

King Edward and Wallis were not allowed by the church to marry.

This forces him to end his reign as the king so that he could marry the

woman he loves. The woman was twice divorced and an American,

reasons that made the church to prohibit their marriage (Farndale, Jan,

2011).

CRITIQUE

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The king’s speech sounds wonderful, and it is of course a nicely

made film. However, the film seems to lack certain resonance. Perhaps the

speech has greatly been hyped as being one of the best movies in 2010-

2011. It may not be possible for anything to live up to such high

expectations. A slight warmer tone would sound much better for the film.

The historical and clinical handling of every aspect of the film leaves no

attention at all to Albert the man. All the attention is focussed on Albert the

king. In order to establish the desirable and necessary chemistry between

Albert and Elizabeth, there should have been more exclusive scenes

between the couple. The movie fails to portray the impact that the king’s

stammer has on his relationship with his wife. The audience is not made

aware whether there is no impact at all. Even though it is made clear that

they both love each other deeply, a stronger dynamic between the two

would strengthen the story.

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REFERENCES

British Crown . (2011). The King's Speech, The Life of King George

VI and Lionel Logue, The Speech and The Film . History Books .

Dargis, M. (Nov, 2010). Movie Review. The King’s English, Albeit

With Twisted Tongue , The New York Times.

Farndale, N. (Jan, 2011). The story of the stuttering sovereign: the

epic events that inspired the Oscar-tipped film, 'The King’s Speech’. The

King's Speech: the real story , The Telegraph.

Mark Logue, P. C. (2011). The King's Speech: How One Man Saved

the British Monarchy. Penguin Group.

Seidler, D. (2012 ). The King's Speech: The Shooting Script. Leipzig:

Reclam.

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