After the death of his father King George V and the scandalous abdication of King Edward VIII, Bertie 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, the future Queen Mother, arranges for her
husband to see an eccentric speech therapist, Lionel Logue. After a rough start, the two delve into an unorthodox course of treatment and eventually form an unbreakable bond. With the support of Logue, his family, his government and Winston Churchill, the King will overcome his stammer and deliver a radio-address that inspires his people and unites them in battle. Based on the true story of King George VI,THE KING’S SPEECH follows the Royal Monarch’s quest to find his voice.
Watching guide:
Answer the questions as comments on this post.
DUE DATE: August 6th 2013 🙂
1. Describe Bertie, his wife and Dr Logue.
2. How is class difference made clear in the movie? Provide specific examples from scenes in the movie. (One good example is enough).
3. In the scene where David is looking for more champagne (58:53), Bertie warns him about a threat. What threat is that? Who will, according to David, sort him out?
4. In the conversation between Bertie and Winston Churchill, what are Churchill’s fears? (1:09:10)
5. Why does David, Bertie’s eldest brother, decline the throne?
6. How did Dr Logue start working as a speech therapist?
7. What is the humorous reference to Hitler as the Royal family watch the recording of the coronation?
8. Why does Prime Minister Baldwin resign?
9. What is the atmosphere in Dr Logue’s home as the listen to the radio broadcast on September 3rd, 1939?
10. Read through the King’s Speech. Transcribe the most significant part for you and explain why you made your choice. (Use link! 😉
1. Describe Bertie, his wife and Dr Logue.
2. How is class difference made clear in the movie? Provide specific examples from scenes in the movie. (One good example is enough).
3. In the scene where David is looking for more champagne (58:53), Bertie warns him about a threat. What threat is that? Who will, according to David, sort him out?
4. In the conversation between Bertie and Winston Churchill, what are Churchill’s fears? (1:09:10)
5. Why does David, Bertie’s eldest brother, decline the throne?
6. How did Dr Logue start working as a speech therapist?
7. What is the humorous reference to Hitler as the Royal family watch the recording of the coronation?
8. Why does Prime Minister Baldwin resign?
9. What is the atmosphere in Dr Logue’s home as the listen to the radio broadcast on September 3rd, 1939?
10. Read through the King’s Speech. Transcribe the most significant part for you and explain why you made your choice. (Use link!
1. Bertie: he was stutter, unsafe, responsible, closed and shy His wife: she was an intelligent, brave, and she always help Bertie Dr. Logue: he was an intelligent, crafty and he want to help his patients
2. In many scenes, such as in places of the castle there were a lot of servants, and expensive clothes that show a lot of money. In other scenes it was shown Dr. Logue’s house, that was an humble one.
3. Bertie warns about the war Hitler wanted to start. Also he said that he have to fulfill their duties. David didn’t care about it and continue looking for champagne for Wallis.
4. In the conversation between Bertie and Winston Churchill, Winston confessed that he was very afraid to talk in public
5. David declined the throne because he want to marry Wallis and she was divorced so the church didn’t accepted he as a king
6. Dr. Logue started working as a speech therapist in the war when he helped the soldiers who came traumatized.
7. The girl ask his father what Hitler was saying and he answer that he didn’t know but it was very convincing.
8. The Prime Minister resigned because England was entering in a war.
9. Dr. Logue’s family was very happy for what Lionel had done with Bertie, because he was stutter and Lionel was helping him.
What about the last point, Diego?
1)
Bertie: Before becoming King of England, he was the duke of York, son of King George V. However, he was not the heir. His eldest brother, the Prince of Wales was. He was married with Queen Elizabeth and had two daughters with her. He was crowned King of England when his country was entering war (WW2). He was stutterer, which feared and made him difficult to become King.
His Wife: She was Queen Elizabeth. She supported and accompanied his husband with his problem. Also, she did not want to presume that she was the husband of the duke of York. She was dedicated, patient and careful with his husband. She loved her daughters and him. She was sweet.
Dr. Logue: He had worked in the army, in the WW1. He was not a professional doctor. He did not have titles. All his knowledge he learnt it in war, many soldiers return from the front and could not speak because they were shocked. He helped soldiers by exercises invented by him. He was an actor without success. He was married and had three sons. When he attended his patients he tried not-common exercises.
2)
Dr. Logue needed equality to attend his patients. When they meet for the first time, Bertie did not want to be equal but, at the end they finish being equal during the sessions and out of them. They even became friends. However, when they were walking through the park, they discussed because Dr. Logue pressured Bertie to be King, but he was scared because of being stutterer. He wanted to convince his brother to remain being King, and supported his marriage. The King felt touched by Dr. Logue and said him: “Don´t take limits!”. He still showed Dr. Logue that he was inferior; he did not belong to the nobility, he was not part of the royalty.
Furthermore, in the party at the King´s country-side home, Churchill and Bertie´s wife are talking about David´s wife, Mrs. Simpson. They are criticizing her education and her social class. Also she was American and divorced twice. They say that in a party the guests should be welcome by the host and she welcome them and was not the hostess. The King was the host, David.
3)
The threat is the communism. Communism was growing and according to David, Hitler would sort him out. However, Albert re-asks him: “And who will sort out him?”
4)
Churchill´s fears are that the parliament won´t support the marriage between David and Mrs. Simpson but, above all is that war with Germany was coming. It was unavoidable, Hitler was very transparent. Also the fault of a King who could guide Britain and remain united the country was another one.
5)
Albert´s eldest brother declines the throne because he wanted to marry an American woman who had divorced twice. According to Elizabeth, this woman was not attractive but in some way controlled David. The woman´s surname was Simpson. The Parliament did not accept a woman who had divorced and either twice. Furthermore, she was American.
6)
Dr. Logue started working as a speech therapist during the WW1. As many soldiers returned from the front without being able to speak, he started working with them. Dr. Logue said that soldiers were shocked. They had been screaming and nobody had listened them, they were traumatized. Everything he knew, he learnt it at war. According to The British Society of the Speech Therapists, his methods were not orthodox.
7)
It is humorous because Hitler knew how to give a great speech. He knew how to speak to his people and that is what Albert needed. Albert says that Hitler talked very well; “I don´t know but he seems to be saying it very well”.
8)
Baldwin resigns and accepts that he was wrong; he trusted in Hitler. When he says that he was mistaken, in my opinion, he is trying to say that giving power to Germany by following The Policy of Appeasement it was a mistake. He thought that Hitler would not abuse of power. However, he did it. Baldwin was nervous, perhaps because of war. He accepts that Churchill was right, Hitler always had one of many intentions; take revenge. The new prime minister would be Neville Chamberlain. In my point of view, Baldwin is afraid.
9)
In my opinion, Dr. Logue´s house is the example of the common British family. There is an atmosphere of tension. The whole family is afraid and concerned because of war, because it is the second time in their lives that their country will be in state of it. They are nervous and worried. They feared war.
10)
“Over and over again, we have tried to find a peaceful way out of the differences between ourselves and those who are now our enemies, but it has been in vain.”
What he is trying to say is that they tried to avoid war, they tried to solve their differences with Germany peacefully, but is was in vain.
I chose this part because I liked the fact that Britain tried to resolve their problem with Germany diplomatically. However, it did not work and war could not be avoided.
Best Wishes,
Tadeo
Great work, Tadeo!!!
1. Bertie: He is the Duke of York that later became King. He is the main character of the story. Bertie is slow to reveal emotions or opinions. He has problems to speak in public, as he gets nervous and unable to speak under any kind of pressure. He regularly doesn’t want to talk about personal issues or his life as a child. When Lionel asks Bertie to recount his earliest memory he said “I’m not here to discuss personal matters!” He is reserved. In occasions, he can be stubborn and obstinate; he is determinate not to change his attitudes or positions, especially in important matters. He frequently has surprising temper tantrums; he easily gets angry or furious.
Lionel Logue: Lionel is an Australian failed actor who became a speech therapist after an experience at the war. He doesn’t have a title. He is one of the main characters. He is an emotionally-involved and supportive father who loves his children. While giving lessons to Bertie, Lionel becomes Bertie’s friend.
Queen Elizabeth: She is the king’s wife. She approaches therapist Logue to help the king. She is a very important character in the movie. She is kind and worried about his husband. She loves him and also her kids. She supports the king, she is patient. She is optimistic, she always believes in a cure for the king.
2. Class difference is made clear in the movie in some relationships between characters. For example in the scene 1:03:01 while Berti and Lionel are walking, Lionel said that Berti could be a great king, but Berti got mad at him and exclaimed “I am the son of a king… the brother of a king, and you are the disappointed son of a brewer, you are nobody”. This is a clear example.
3. He worries him about a problem “People are marching across Europe singing The Red Flag”, this means that communism is getting stronger. But, instead of getting worried, David says “Hitler will sort them out.” In an ironic way.
4. On the one hand, the parliament will not support marriage and on the other hand, the Churchill is worried because the king was careless with the issues of Germany and also there are those who are scared about his stand when war comes with Germany. The people need a king that they can all stand behind united when war comes and David is not prepared to afford that as a king; the man is asking Bertie to become king.
5. Bertie’s eldest brother declined the throne because he wanted to marry the woman that he loved, the parliament would not support marry. He has fallen in love with Mrs. Simpson, but she was a married woman. To marry David she had to get divorced. As the head of the church and king, he couldn’t marry a divorced woman. The church would never accept it.
6. When the Great War came, the soldiers were returned, a lot of them were shocked and unable to speak. Someone asked him if he could help them. He did muscular therapy and exercises, but knew he had to go deeper. Those people had suffered a lot and had noone to hear them. His job was to give them a faith in their own words and let them know that a fired was listening. After that he started to work as a speak therapist and had many successes. He had no titles but a lot of experience.
7. The humorous reference to Hitler as the Royal family watch the recording of the coronation is that even if they don’t know what Hitler is talking about or understand the language, they said that he was giving a great speech because of his emotion, determination and the people’s reaction.
8. The Prime Minister Baldwin resigns because of a question of principles, he was mistaken, and he found it impossible to believe that there is any man in the world so backing in moral filling as Hitler, and the world may be holed for a second time to the abysm of a destructive war. He doesn’t want to be part of this.
9. The atmosphere is pessimistic and tense; it was full of worries and fear. The family is worried and sacred about the war coming. The country is in war with Germany.
10. “It is a principle which permits a state in the selfish pursuit of power to disregard its treaties and its solemn pledges, which sanctions the use of force or threat of force against the sovereignty and independence of other states. Such a principle, stripped of all disguise, is surely the mere primitive doctrine that might is right, and if this principle were established throughout the world, the freedom of our own country and of the whole British Commonwealth of nations would be in danger. But far more than this, the peoples of the world would be kept in bondage of fear, and all hopes of settled peace and of the security of justice and liberty among nations, would be ended”.
I chose this part, because I think it is relevant as it explains the reasons why Britain was going to get involved in the Great War. The main topic of the speech is the war.
1) -Bertie: He is the main character of the movie. He is stutterer(stammers), and as he is the Duke of York, second son of King George the V, he has to deal with his stammering as the movie passes by, because of different speeches he has to make. This character is brave, but a little bit shy, and most of the time he is ashamed of himself and feels hopeless.
-Bertie´s wife: She is very considerated and patient towards Bertie. At the beginning she is almost the onlyone that can have flawless talks with Bertie and the only one thats understands him. She is very persistant about treating Bertie´s stammers, and is the one that contacts Dr. Louge.
-Dr.Louge: He is the one that treats Bertie´s stammering. He is in a low social class, was an actor and is now pretending to be a doctor, but he is not, he just treats his patients using experiences from World War 1. He is very intelligent and tricky at a times. He is from Australia.
2) The class difference is made clear in the movie with the contrast between Bertie and Lionel Louge. This two characters are from two completely different classes. Bertie is from the nobility, and is to become King of Britain. During the movie Bertie treated with delicacy by almost everyone and with respect. Per contra, Dr. Louge is in a difficult economic situation because he appeares to be a frustrated actor; this can be seen on how his house and office are.
This difference can be seen when Dr. Louge´s wife meets Bertie and Berties wife(royal couple-King/queen) for the first time; you can see it in her face, how amazed she was, and then she asks “are they staying to eat” because she didn´t expected such an important and honorable guest.
Another example of this class separation was when Bertie was mad because he was about to become king, and he insults Dr. Louge because his “family tree” comes from poberty and workers, such as “disapointing son of a brewer”, and then he compares Lion to himself and he sais “Im the son of a king”.
3) Bertie warns David about how People is marching across Europe singing “the Red Flag”, which means in favour of communism. And later David answers him that Hitler will sort them out.
4)Churchill´s feares were that the parliament would not support the marrige of David,
and that as David was careless with state papers, and lacked of commitement and results, he fears that David would not stand when war came with germany. Mainly he sais he fears that it is a fact that Britain was going to go to war against Hitler and Germany.
5)David declines to the throne because he was the head of the church and he wanted to marry Mrs. Simpson, who is a woman that has been married twice(she divorced for the second time to marry him), and he couldn´t marry her because divorce was against church´s rules. If he hadn´t declined he would eventually be fired.
6)Dr Logue started working as a speech therapist during the first world war becaus we was asked to treat some wounded/hurted people who couldn´t talk, becaus he was a great actor and he was good giving speeches. Finally he decided to help the people because he feltr they needed a voice to express what they felt. He never really had a diploma nor a certificate.
7) The humorous reference to Hitler as the Royal family watched the recording of the coronation is that Bertie´s daughter asks Bertie: “What´s he saying”(because Hitler was giving a speech in German) and Bertie answers her: “I don´t know, but he seems to be saying it rather well”.
8)Prime Minister Baldwin resigns because “it was a matter of principal”. He resigned because he was mistaken about war since the beginning, and Churchill was right about Hitler being such a “lacking-in-moral-feeling man”.He resigned because he fears war.
9)The atmosphere in Dr Logue’s home as the listen to the radio broadcast on September 3rd, 1939 was tense, sort of solemn and silent, every integrant of the family was afraid and remained in a peaceful and blue silence becouse of the near war.
10)”In this grave hour, perhaps the most fateful in history, I send to every household of my peoples, both at home and overseas, this message, spoken with the same depth of feeling for each one of you as if I were able to cross your threshold and speak to you myself.” I found this first part of Bertie´s speech very important because I feel within the scene of the movie, while pople is hearing the radio, their feelings of sadness and of that mere hope that Bertie is trying to spread among citizens. Mainly, I chose this quote because it shows how Bertie is trying to be connected to each one of his subjects(subditos)/”followers”, to bring hope, as i previously said, and to show how as he could cure his stammer, anything could happen, evilness could be cured.
Excellent work, Cande!
1. Describe Bertie, his wife and Dr Logue.
Bertie is a gentleman, he is responsible, and polite, but when he has to speak in public, he stutters and he gets frustrated, so he starts being aggressive and impolite with people.
His wife, Queen Elizabeth, was always taking care and helping her husband. She was a strong woman and she loved her husband.
Dr. Logue wasn’t really a psychologist, he was an actor. He had unusual methods and was unpredictable. He finally got the king to trust him.
2. How is class difference made clear in the movie? Provide specific examples from
scenes in the movie. (One good example is enough).
You can see the class difference between Dr Logue and the royal family, when Queen Elizabeth goes for the first time to his house and he says “I’m sorry, I don’t have a receptionist, I like to keep things simple”.
3. In the scene where David is looking for more champagne (58:53), Bertie warns him about a threat. What threat is that? Who will, according to David, sort him out?
The threat would be that communism is spreading, “People are marching across Europe singing The Red Flag”. According to David, Herr Hitler will sort it out.
4. In the conversation between Bertie and Winston Churchill, what are Churchill’s fears? (1:09:10)
He fears there not to be a King to lead the country when the war with Germany comes. He’s asking Bertie to become King.
5. Why does David, Bertie’s eldest brother, decline the throne?
Because he felt it was too much responsibility for him, and he had fell in love with a divorced american woman, and being a king he couldn’t marry her.
6. How did Dr Logue start working as a speech therapist?
Bertie’s wife made an appointment with him, she knew him from the President of “The Society For Speech Therapists”, Eileen McCleod, who told her that he had “unorthodox” and “controversial” methods.
In his first session he made Bertie to read Hamlet out loud, while he was listening to music, unable to listen to him, so that Bertie wasn’t uncomfortable with Dr Logue listening to him.
7. What is the humorous reference to Hitler as the Royal family watch the recording of the coronation?
While the Royal family was watching the recording of the coronation, Lilibet asks what is Hitler saying, and King George VI says “I don’t know but… he seems to be saying it rather well.”
8. Why does Prime Minister Baldwin resign?
Because he says that the Royal scandal has “weakened his position considerably”
9. What is the atmosphere in Dr Logue’s home as the listen to the radio broadcast on September 3rd, 1939?
There was a contradiction between the idea of declaring war and the accomplishment of a successful speech. There was joy, and fear in the atmosphere at the same time.
10. Read through the King’s Speech. Transcribe the most significant part for you and explain why you made your choice.
“For the second time in the lives of most of us, we are at war.”
I chose this part because is what the speech is about, war. He is talking about Britain declaring the Second World War. In that moment there was a mixture of feelings, the fear of war, and the happiness of having accomplished giving such a great speech. That’s why I think that it is the most important part of the speech.
1) Bertie, youngest son of the king is a stutterer and unable to speak fluidly,he is short tempered and closed with people from lower classes but he is more comitted into the country’s good than his brother.His wife is the opossite of him,she aprecciates life and wants the best for him,despite being from the royal class, she is very polite with everyone and tries to do stay in a low profile.Dr. Logue is the doctor of Bertie about his problem with speaking,he lives with his family and he has a middle class life.He is from Australia and is one of the best in his job and is working with all his care to help Bertie.
2) The Royalty and the high class is separated from the middle and the lower class, one of the best example is when Bertie tells the archbishop tha Dr Logue would sit next to the Royal family and the archbishop denies at first but has to agree.Another example is when Bertie’s wife tells him she denied his marriage proposal because she wouldnt resist being the queen because of what it meant.
3) Bertie warns David about how he is not caring about anything but her future wife and the threat is Hitler who would start a war in Europe.England.
4) Churchill fear the microphone and was unable to talk fluidly but he had an operation that was very risky.
5) Because he was the head of the church and wanted to marry a woman that had been divorced and he coulndn’t because it was anti-religious.He didn’t want to assume the responsability of being the king of England.
6) He wasn’t a speech therapist at first but was great giving speeches so a man told him he should help them and he did because he said that they need someone to listen to them.
7) Bertie said that he didn’t know what he was saying but he was surely saying it well.
8)Because he knew war was inevitable and he didn’t want to because he feared the biggest test was just to come.
9) There is a tense atmosphere in the house when they heard England was at war with Germany,they were scared.
10) ‘But far more than this, the peoples of the world would be kept in bondage of fear, and all hopes of settled peace and of the security of justice and liberty among nations, would be ended’ He tells the people the reason why they are in war,he wants to stop hitler before he controls the world and takes the freedom of the people.
1- Bertie is the favorite son of the King of England who died from an illness. He is stutterer, which made him very difficult to make speeches and be in a important position as the King. He has the support of his family and his doctor Logue, who was considered his friend after a long time as Bertie was rude and very insecure and hurried because of his problem at the beginning. He has anger problems also.
His wife is very comprehensive and helps Bertie a lot. She is always there for him and loves him. She has two daughters and she never was absent as a mother. If Bertie didn’t have her support, he would not had succeeded as a King.
Dr Logue is an specialist in his profession as doctor, despite his luck of diploma. He has sons and a wife, and he is not rich or in a high class. He has very good modals, for example he didn’t led Bertie smoke in his consulting room. He is direct and is very attentive with his patients.
2- An example of the class difference is when Bertie and his wife arrived to Dr Logue’s house. The Queen looked very careful the dining room and felt very comfortable despite her differences.
3- Bertie asks David were is de Russia’s zar and were their cousin Wilhem is, showing him that he had paying more attention to her lover than to his duties as the King. David says that Hitler will sort them out, believing that the Furer was a good person to trust.
4- Bertie was very worried about the marriage of his brother and the divorced woman. Churcill said that the Parliament will not be in favor because he is the head of the church. Churchill was also worried because David was careless with some business with the State. And he also said that some people think that he would not know what to do when the war with Germany start, he doesn’t trust David either. He also makes clear that a war with Germany will come, and that Hitler is crystal clear.
5- David declined the throne because he wants to marry a divorced woman, and as he is the head of the Church was prohibited to do that. He abandoned all his charges to marry the women he loves.
6- He acted in pubs and he taught dictions at schools. When the WW1 ended and the soldiers returned, a lot of them were unable to speak some people told Logue to help them. He did muscular exercises, but he knew he had to go deeper. His job was to give them faith in their own voice and let them know that a friend was listening. Everything he knows was from experience, for example that war.
7- Bertie said that he didn’t know what Hitler was saying, but it seems he was saying it quite well.
8- The Prime Minister resign because he fired of Hitler and thought he was a man with lacking of moral feeling and that the world will be hauled for the second time into a destructive war. He said that Churchill was right, that this was all Hitler’s intention
9- They were very serious, in silence and attentive. This announcement was so important, that when the eldest son knew about it he run to the living room to listen to it. They knew that a tragedy was coming.
10- “For the second time in the lives of most of us, we are at war”, this is the most significant part of the speech to me. These words are the most feared for the entire nation and the reason of the concerns of millions of people during a long time.