The Princess Bride Essay: What lengths would you go for love? Would you slave away for love? Would you fake your death for love? Would you change your whole identity just for love? Enduring through the challenges of life for love is one of the main themes found in William Goldman’s, The Princess Bride. More specifically, the great lengths Westley goes for his love, Buttercup. At the beginning of the story, Westley was working as a farm boy on Buttercup’s family ranch, where he tended to her every need without question. During this “farm boy” era, Westley hid his love and only expressed it through the chores he did for Buttercup. When Buttercup ordered him to perform tasks, he responded with unwavering loyalty and devotion, saying, "As you …show more content…
His fake death devastates Buttercup, but it is unknown to her that Westley’s life was actually spared. Dread Pirate Roberts, the man who showed Westley mercy, was intrigued by his plea for life for his one dearest Buttercup.” Why should I make an exception of you? and I explained my mission, how I had to get to America to get money to reunite me with the most beautiful woman ever raised by man, namely you.” This shows how Westley wants grace from death in order to be with his love, …show more content…
Despite his intimidating appearance, his actions are all driven by his love for Buttercup. When Buttercup faces imminent death, it is the Dread Pirate Roberts who swoops in to save her, demonstrating that his love is the guiding force behind his actions. While maneuvering throughout the Fire Swamp with Buttercup, Westley tells her about how he had to decline the opportunity to continue his days as the Dread Pirate Roberts. ” 'Thank you, sir, but I could never be a pirate,' and he said, 'You want to get back to that autumn-haired creature of yours, don't you?' and I didn't even have to bother answering that.” This action from Westley demonstrates how he is willing to give up a life of thrill and adventure just to be with his love, Buttercup. When Westley returns as the Man in Black, his love for Buttercup is once again evident in his actions. As he battles his way through obstacles to rescue her from the clutches of Vizzini and his crew, his determination is fueled by his undying love for her. His devotion is expressed through his words, as he tells Buttercup,"Death cannot stop true love." All it can do is delay it for a while.” Finally, Westley reclaims his true identity and reunites with Buttercup. Through all his transformations and personas, his love for her remains unwavering. In the story it expands upon this by saying,”He had been bitten, cut, gone without
The book that I read for my assignment was William Goldman’s, The Princess Bride. In this tale, true love remains a main topic and is engrained in every page almost. Does the time period affect the story? I believe it does. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman is an abridged version on S. Morgenstern’s tale. The story’s setting begins on a small farm in the make-believe country of Florin. On this farm, an orphan boy named Westley works for a girl named Buttercup’s family. Buttercup is rude and
In William Goldman’s novel, The Princess Bride, the author writes that one can simply forget about true love and high adventure; the rest of the book infact supports these very words through the events and actions that take place. Though love and adventure seem to prevail throughout the novel, they are firmly grounded by the happenings that take place outside of the fantasy storyline. The entire message of the book revolves around this fact and leaves the reader with a final statement that life
The Princess Bride is a fiction within a fiction, toying with the levels of reality. To accomplish the ingenious insanity that is The Princess Bride, author, William Goldman, brought together a variety of variables. The book is literally layers of information to analyze. Everything is questionable and made to leave you in controversy. Though the book had many things that make it an outstanding piece, from Goldman's interruptions to its unique beginning, the thing that plays the biggest part is
novel The Princess Bride, William Goldman satirizes both fairy tales and the standard literary process through his characters and their actions. Westley, a poor farmer, falls in love with the far from perfect maiden, Buttercup, but has to sail away in order to find his fortunes. Years later, Buttercup, thinking that Westley abandoned her, is forcibly engaged to Prince Humperdinck, a cruel and calculating man. Vizzini, Fezzik, and Inigo, three mysterious kidnappers, abduct the princess in hopes of
Why The Princess Bride is a Satire : William Goldman’s Take on Satire The Princess Bride’s humorous take on satire. In The Princess Bride, a novel by William Goldman, satire is used to showcase a character’s actions and personalities whilst bringing out a fairytales flaws. The Princess Bride is a satire because it makes fun of the fact that a fairy tale portrays its characters with only one purpose. It does this by making changes to its characters halfway through the story and building on that change
criticism is an extension of feminist literary criticism, focusing not just on women but on the construction of gender and sexuality, especially LGBTQ issues, which gives rise to queer theory,” (4.3 Gender Criticism and Queer Theory). In the novel The Princess Bride, the writer shows traditional and current views of what men and women should look like today. It can be argued that within the story there are challenges of gender stereotypes and how both men and women should act and behave in the traditional
When most people sit down to read a fantasy book they expect their mind to escape into a different world full of magic and adventure. In The Princess Bride by William Goldman, this expectation is eventually met, but first broken as instead of diving straight into the tale the author becomes the protagonist. He relates the story of how he came to love this book supposedly by Morgenstern, and how that drove him to abridge it latter in his life. This uncommon literary device is used to express things
of clothing and the colour of which in The Princess Bride (Robb Reiner, 1987), is indicative of each character’s motivations as well as alludes to the connection between them and their environments throughout the course of the film. The screenplay for The Princess Bride was written by William Goldman, who also wrote the book that provided the source material for the film. The fantastical mix between action and romance that is shown in The Princess Bride story, translates almost perfectly into a visual
Comparing the elements of William Goldman’s abridgement of The Princess Bride, to the classic tale of “Little Snow-White” by The Grimm Brothers’ allows the audience to determine that The Princess Bride does not meet those set fairy tale standards. Elements of a fairy tale are crucial in whether the story can be classified as a fairy tale or a work of fiction. Setting plays an important role in allowing the story to relate to multiple audiences in various cultures. Generally the numbers three and
Narrative Analyzed: The Princess Bride (film) Provenance: The Princess Bride was written in 1973 by William Goldman and later adapted into a film in 1987. Genre of the Narrative: The book is written as a satire in that it pokes fun at many themes and ideas in literature. The film follows suit with witty jokes and memorable quotes. 1. Principal Settings: The story begins on a beautiful and secluded farm in the country of Florin where everything is peaceful. It is here that the Westley and
The western is one of my personal favorite genres, not in the sense that I particularly like it but because it was one of the categories of movies I was raised on. I watched a host of John Wayne’s westerns, somewhere around two dozen, along with a few other movies from the genre. I still enjoy some of Wayne’s films, though I haven’t seen them in their entirety in years. What I’m trying to say is, I was excited to watch “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” a purported classic of the genre. And while