King George Vi Speech Analysis

Analysis of Winston Churchill’s Eulogy for King George VI

In Winston Churchill’s Eulogy for King George VI, he does an outstanding job of honoring the former king with respect and true sadness that a great friend and king had passed. While still addressing the grief everyone was experiencing from the loss of such a beloved and righteous king, he ends the speech with an optimistic air, respectively giving his best hopes and allegiance to the new queen. The eulogy uses ethos and pathos throughout to successfully reach the people and make the eulogy feel sincere. It was truly heartfelt and successfully eulogy, and touched any of those who heard it on the day of his passing, as well as any who have read or listened to it to this day. King George …show more content…
Churchill talks of how the King showed true character, telling a story of how him and the Queen had been thrown back by a bomb that had hit Buckingham palace, but never once mentioned it because they treated their own lives on the same level as the soldiers who faced this kind of threat everyday. This was not common knowledge, so mentioning was meant to appeal to pathos and ethos, evoking strong emotion at the idea that a King would think himself the same worth as a soldier and did so humbly. He admires the King’s masterful ability to handle the immense workload that came with being King and with fighting a war. The king was a very private man, but Churchill speaks of a great cheerfulness and spirit in King George VI, even with faced with great pain and discomfort. “The last few months of King George's life, with all the pain and physical stresses that he endured - his life hanging by a thread from day to day, and he all the time cheerful and undaunted, stricken in body but quite undisturbed and even unaffected in spirit - these have made a profound and an enduring impression and should be a help to all.” He urges listeners to learn from King George VI; to see what he has done even when faced with difficult situations and great discomfort and look to it as help in their own troubles. He talks …show more content…
Mentioning the King’s family strongly appeals to ethos, reminding those listening that the country might've lost it’s King, but his family has lost a noble, loving son, husband and father. It also appeals to pathos because of the sorrow that it evokes. “It is at this time that our compassion and sympathy go out to his consort and widow. Their marriage was a love match with no idea of regal pomp or splendour. Indeed, there seemed to be before them only the arduous life of royal personages, denied so many of the activities of ordinary folk and having to give so much in ceremonial public service. May I say - speaking with all freedom - that our hearts go out tonight to that valiant woman, with famous blood of Scotland in her veins, who sustained King George through all his toils and problems, and brought up with their charm and beauty the two daughters who mourn their father today. May she be granted strength to bear her sorrow. To Queen Mary, his mother, another of whose sons is dead - the Duke of Kent having been killed on active service - there belongs the consolation of seeing how well he did his duty and fulfilled her hopes, and of knowing how much he cared for her.” Winston Churchill eulogy was successful in respectively honoring the king, telling of his life and achievements, his heart and spirt, and also pays respect to his family as well