ABSTRACT
The King’s Speech echoes several scenes in the play—especially the campfire scene on the eve of the battle and the scene after the battle in which the king and Fluellen meet the common soldier who had challenged the king’s pledge not to be ransomed. In The King’s Speech, though Ariel is never mentioned, the enriching of Lionel Logue’s persona with that of Caliban, and the wonderful irony that the healer of the king’s defects as a broadcaster should be both an Australian and a Caliban are vital to the film’s portrayal of imperial radio as well as therapy. The King’s Speech and Olivier’s film both draw on the reformulation for a media age of the discourse and iconography of kingship developed in the reigns and in the radio speeches of George V and George VI.
