King Speech Essay

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The King’s Speech Imagine being in front of tens of thousands of people who, by the very right of your royal birth, should admire and love you. Add to this the important task of addressing them. This, alone, sounds imposing. Now, imagine the sweat dripping from your brow, nearly frozen with terror, as you await the halting awkward words that will not leap from your mouth no matter how hard you push and struggle. This humiliating experience, all the while, is made worse by the jeers and mockery of those who should adore you. Hardly the way one would expect the story of a leader of men to begin, yet, this is the experience of Albert, the Duke of York, and the King’s Speech is the story of his victory over this problem. The King’s Speech, is a movie about the Duke of York who becomes King George VI after his brother David abdicates, and he assumes the throne. King George VI has a stammer and is considered unfit to be king. He has dealt with a lifelong struggle to overcome his speech impediment. He has suffered from the stammer since the age of 4 or 5. (Farndale) King George VI dreaded any public speaking engagement. His speech at the closing of the 1925 Commonwealth exhibition in London was difficult for him and his listeners. He hired many different therapists through the years to try and help but it wasn’t until he met Lionel Logue that he began to make any progress. The plot of the movie takes place after the death of his father King George V (Michael Gambon) and the scandalous abdication of King Edward VIII (Guy Pearce), Bertie (Colin Firth) who has suffered from a debilitating speech impediment all his life, is suddenly crowned King George VI of England. With his country on the brink of war and in desperate need of a leader, his wife, Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter), the future Queen Mother, arranges for her husband to see an eccentric speech therapist,
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