Morgenstern’s Contradiction of Fairy Tales

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“He built a tower to try and be closer to her and walled himself inside.”…She widened her eyes. “How does the story end? Did the sorcerer win his Moon Maiden?” “Of course not,” he said irritably. “She lived on the moon and was quite unattainable. I suppose he must’ve starved or pined away or fallen off the wall at some point.” (Hoyt, Duke of Midnight). This quote is similar to the writing style of Morgenstern; it starts out how you would expect, but then changes at the very last second to surprise the reader. There’s also a slight bit of dark humour in the quote, which is also similar to how Morgenstern writes his books. Morgenstern satirically writes The Princess Bride to disprove many fairy tale stereotypes. Some of the fairy tale stereotypes he contradicts are that Prince Charming isn’t as charming as people make him out to be, true love is not real, and happily ever afters don’t exist.
When people think of a prince, they think of someone who will come rescue the Princess from their terrible predicament, but in ‘The Princess Bride’, Prince Humperdinck is the man who puts Princess Buttercup in danger. This can be seen when Prince Humperdinck asks Buttercup to marry him. When Buttercup rejects his offer, he threatens to kill her if she does not become his fiancé, telling her, “Refusal means death” (Goldman, 90). Morgenstern also gives Prince Humperdinck qualities that are not that of a typical prince; princes are brave, innocent, and honest, while Humperdinck is cowardly, evil, and manipulative. Humperdinck’s cowardice is apparent when he hires Fezzik, Inigo, and Vizzini to kill Princess Buttercup because he doesn’t want to do it himself. He also has Count Rugen torture Westley, often when he’s not there because he doesn’t want t...

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..., thinking only this: thank God I was a giant after all” (Goldman, 448). This suggests that Fezzik really did die and isn’t revived in the same way Westley does. With this being the very end of the book, the audience is left with a terribly sad and unnecessary ending. The only logical reason that Morgenstern would write that chapter would be to further his point that happily ever afters are not real.
Everyone has foolishly deceived themselves when reading fairy tales. Morgenstern’s satire in The Princess Bride contradicts many fairy tale elements. Prince Charming is non-existent, true love is a made up concept, and nothing ends with a happily ever after.

Works Cited

Goldman, William. The Princess Bride. 25th Anniversary ed. London: Bloomsbury Children's, 2008. Print.

Hoyt, Elizabeth. Duke of Midnight. New York: Grand Central, 2013.GoodReads. Web. 9 May 2014.

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