Corkern, L. The King's Speech

The King’s Speech is a film starring Colin Firth which chronicles the struggles of The Duke of York as he transitions into the role of King all the while dealing with a speech impediment. In the first few minutes of the movie we discover the first meaning of The King’s Speech. Known as “Bertie “ to those close to him the Duke of York steps in front of a microphone to deliver a speech to the people of England; the Duke opens his mouth but nothing comes out. Bertie has struggled with a speech impediment since the age of five. While this problem would trouble almost anyone, Bertie is even more troubled because as the son of the King he is required to make speeches to the people. The King explains to Bertie that in the age they lived the role of the Royal family was to cross the thresholds of the people via the radio.
Bertie seeks the services of Lionel, a speech therapist, to help with his stammer. Over the years of therapy Lionel and Bertie discover that his stammer stems from feelings of insecurity and inferiority. Bertie was always taken advantage of, overlooked, or mistreated by most of the people in his life. Lionel sees the potential in Bertie and pushes him to embrace the role in which he has found himself.
Due to a strange chain of events, Bertie finds himself as King of England during a time of great turmoil. Nazi Germany was invading Europe and England was in their path of domination. Bertie found himself facing not only the enemies trying to invade his country but also the enemy he had been facing his entire life, his speech. In this dark time Bertie needed to address his people to give them hope, comfort, and inspiration.
In the moments before the biggest speech of his life Bertie found himself in the company of his speech therapist and now friend Lionel. While all of England looked to Bertie for comfort and validation in this time of need, Bertie, The King of England, looked to a common man with no credentials for the same.