When you look at the title, The Princess Bride, you would probably think that this book is a normal fairy tale. But that is not the case. William Goldman, the author of The Princess Bride, takes a mediocre girl and makes her a beautiful princess. He takes an average farm boy and makes him a hero. He takes a normal prince and makes him more evil and insane than anyone else. Goldman tells the Princess Bride’s story with a much bigger sense of “high adventure” than any other fairy tale could.
One element that Goldman uses throughout the book is focusing on telling the story of two of the heroic minor characters, Inigo and Fezzik. This helps make the story more interesting and developed. The stories of these minor characters add events that Goldman ties into the main storyline. But also, these two characters help out and save the main characters, Buttercup and Westley many times. Without Inigo and Fezzik the story would not have existed.
Inigo, the sword man’s story is based on his revenge to kill the six fingered man who murdered his father. This story line is very important for Westley’s heroic rescue of Buttercup. Because Westley is the first to discover the six fingered man, Count Rugen, one of the evil Prince Humperdinck’s henchmen; Inigo’s and Westley’s stories collide and now rely on each other.
With Inigo’s story placed among the main story line of the Princess Bride, it adds to the expectancy. As the reader reads the story of Inigo, their thoughts are still wondering if Buttercup will marry Prince Humperdinck, or who the man in black is. But the character of Inigo had to be created. Without Inigo, he and Fezzik would not have made it through the Zoo of Death to save Westley (257-270). Without Inigo’s story, the quote: “My name is Inigo Montero, you killed my father, prepare to die,” would never have existed to become one of the most remembered lines (124).
Fezzik the Giant is also a minor character that is necessary for the health and safety of the major characters. Like Inigo’s story, Fezzik’s story is first introduced to us right before he fights the man in black, Westley (139). Goldman uses Fezzik to soften the reader, but to also give a little reality. The reader later finds out how important Fezzik is to the story line and the heroes.
Fezzik’s large size and brute strength helps save our hero, Westley. When attacking the front gate of the castle, Fezzik’s large size, and holocaust cloak are able to scare away the guards so that they could enter and save Buttercup (293). Fezzik’s arms were so strong he was able to climb the Cliffs of Insanity. His strength was also greatly appreciated when Fezzik had to swim himself, Inigo, Westley, and Buttercup to One Tree Island through the whirlpool to escape Princess Humperdinck one last time (379-383).
William Goldman does a great job in placing each character into a specific role with specific tasks to accomplish their own specific attributes and qualities. These roles tie them together. Through their common goal to help each other, these four friends, Westley, Buttercup, Fezzik and Inigo, now rely on each other. Westley and Buttercup need to be together because of their love. Inigo and Fezzik are close friends and keep each other out of trouble. Inigo has Westley to sword fight with to keep in shape. Fezzik has Waverly, Buttercup’s baby, to take care of because even if he is a giant, he has a talent with children. As the story comes to a close, their relationships tighten as they have a common goal to survive together.
William Goldman writes the Princess Bride as if he was not the original author. He writes that the Princess Bride is by S. Morgenstern. But Morgenstern does not exist. Also, Goldman wrote himself in as a fictional character abridging the Princess Bride. But the whole book is fictional. Even the introduction has included fictional events that William Goldman experienced in the process of making this book.
All the places in the Princess Bride do not exist. Florin, the country where the main story takes place is made up. However, as Goldman writes himself into the story, he tells us that Florin does exist and that he traveled there. He writes it as if it is a believably real place. It is written in a way that seems like all the events that happened to Westley and Buttercup actually did occur in a real place called Florin, even though, when he was a child, William Goldman thought they were all a mere fairytale (343).
In the middle of the story, William Goldman writes his own opinions on parts he remembered from his childhood. His father would read the book to him as an abridgement, never realizing his father was only reading him the interesting parts. The first time he adds this element to the story he explains why he is doing the abridgment. He even admits that he had never actually read the book before: “My father read it to me, and I just quick skimmed along, crossing out whole sections when I did the abridging, leaving everything just as it was in the original Morgenstern” (41).
William Goldman writes the Princess Bride with a background story of why he, the fictional Goldman, wrote the abridgement. The first event that inspired the fictional Goldman to write the abridgement was getting the book for his son’s birthday (17). But on returning home after a business trip, Goldman finds that his son could not make it through the book (26-27). On trying to find out why, Goldman realizes that his father had only read “the action stuff, the good parts” (29). Goldman realizes that Morgenstern was not writing a children’s book, but a history book on the country, Florin (28-29). This is why the fictional Goldman decided to write the abridgement. This might seem like a difficult narrative device to use, but Goldman achieves a whole new layer to his novel by doing this.
Throughout the book, he tells of the whole process of the abridgment of the Princess Bride. But in the introduction to the book, which is worth reading, the fictional Goldman explains that he wrote this abridgment to preserve his childhood memory. The memory of his father reading the Princess Bride to him and everyone being happy was what he remembered the best. However, he writes about how much legal trouble he had to work through to bring his favorite book to more people. There is a glimmer of happiness in his last sentence: “but this is life on earth, you can’t have everything” that he is glad that he got his favorite book published (XIV). In the introduction, he also tells of the making of the movie the Princess Bride. This is interesting because this and Goldman making Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is the only part of the book that is true.
Goldman wrote the fictional aspect of the world in the Princess Bride so well that it could be believed true. When I first read the Princess Bride I thought William Goldman actually did abridge the original book by S. Morgenstern. When I got to the part about Goldman traveling to Florin and him first realizing the events in the story to be real, I questioned what I had believed before. I looked up on the Internet and found that Morgenstern did not exist, but that Goldman had made him up. But it had all seemed believable when I picked the Princess Bride up for the first time.
William Goldman uses humor throughout the book. One of the most memorable passages in the Princess Bride, as short as it is, is the marriage that did not actually take place. What makes it memorable is how the words of the Archdean are written. The Archdean is in the process of marrying Humperdinck and Buttercup, but since he is very old, his words are slurred. “Mawidge is a dweam wiffin a dweam,” is how he talks, and how it is written. The text even goes to say “unless you paid strict attention to his title and past accomplishments, it was very hard to take him seriously” (300-301). Goldman uses this small bit of humor to lighten up the dark mood and suspense.
Another humorous conversation happens at the Cliffs of Insanity. The man in black is climbing up the cliffs and Inigo is waiting at the top to fight him. But Inigo, as a swords man ready to fight, is not very patient. In a normal situation, Inigo would wait for the man in black to lose his strength trying to make it up the cliff, and then beat him in the sword fight because he had no energy. But that is not the case here. Inigo is not a very evil villain so he helps the man in black up the cliff. A true villain would have dropped the rope, but Inigo gave the man in black his word that he would not. Inigo is not a true evil villain, he is just misguided at this moment of his life. However, there is still a strange sense of trust between two people about to fight (127-129).
In Buttercup’s Baby, Goldman comments on what S. Morgenstern wrote: “Can you believe that last paragraph? Buttercup’s about to die and she thinks of foliage? Horrible, horrible” (373). Goldman continues to write and wonder why Morgenstern could ever write sixty five pages of “Florinese trees, their history and importance” (374). What is the most hilarious part of this is the fact that it is not necessary. But it does add to the aspect of wondering why it is so entertaining. It gives the reader a moment to stop and think that Buttercup cannot die but you have to keep reading to find out what happens.
The Princess Bride is a believable story. One’s imagination would like to believe that all these events that took place did occur. Goldman uses things from the real world to convey this story. Inigo’s depression when he cannot find the six-fingered man is a problem that could happen to anyone. But Fezzik helping Inigo take his mind off his troubles also shows there is some hope.
There is also the huge aspect of leaders and followers. The fact is that some people are born leaders and those others are followers. This is displayed in the characters. We see Fezzik and Inigo unable to do anything productive once their leader Vizzini the Sicilian died (159). They realize that they need someone to follow. Westley, the man in black, who defeated them at the Cliffs of Insanity is the person they see as someone that could lead them, someone they could follow (153).
This sense of leaders and followers is very important in ones life. Inigo and Fezzik could not do anything without a leader. As followers they become loyal supporters and protectors of Westley as seen when they save him from the Zoo of Death. They do anything they can do to bring him back to life (257-270). It is the same with some people who need someone to tell them what to do. Goldman could have written this is as a subtle hint of what he needed in his own life in either a leader or follower position.
The Princess Bride is a great book to read for many reasons. Because of its minor characters, I enjoyed Inigo and Fezzik’s story lines almost more than I enjoyed the actual Princess Bride story line. The Princess Bride is not a normal fairy tale, and it has so many aspects of real life that I can relate to. This book is also very humorous. It has different layers of humor from conversations, for example, the one on the top of the Cliffs of Insanity, to what Buttercup is thinking about before she thinks she’s going to die. Also, the fictional S. Morgenstern, that some people actually think exists, and that Goldman wrote into his book, adds a whole new layer. All these bring together an interesting and exciting book that anyone could enjoy.