The Character Of Buttercup In William Goldman's The Princess Bride

Buttercup, as presented in the book The Princess Bride, by William Goldman, lacks the many characteristics to claim the title “Princess.” In her world she may be considered princess material, but in this world, the modern world, my daughter as a much better chance of becoming a princess.
When thinking of a princess most people imagine someone who is sweet and kind, who is dressed to perfection and catches the attention of everyone around her by her beauty and grace. You tend to think more along the lines of beautiful dresses, grand ballroom dances, and elaborate dinners with fine food and wine. That is hardly the case with Buttercup. She lives on a dairy farm with cows that produce less than mediocre milk, her parents a peasants that are

unattractive and argue with each other all the time. Buttercup prefers riding her horse over bathing or wearing a beautiful dress. My daughter shares more characteristics that you would associate with a princess than Buttercup. While they do share some similarities, they are more different than they are the same.
Buttercup and my daughter Maddison were both born as commoners and are beautiful, but that is about all they have in common. Some people may consider Buttercup as more of a tomboy who does not care about her appearance or whether she is bathed. “She hated to wash her face, she loathed the area behind her ears, she was sick of combing her hair and did so as little as possible” (37). It’s made pretty obvious in her conversation with her parents:
“You didn’t bathe,” her father said.
“I did, I did” from Buttercup
“Not with water,” her father continued. “You reek like a stallion.”
“I’ve been riding all day,” Buttercup explained.
“You must bathe, Buttercup,” her mother joined in. “The boys don’t like their girls to smell of stables.”
“Oh, the boys!” Buttercup fairly exploded. “I do not care about the boys.’ Horse loves me and that is quite sufficient, thank you. (38)” Maddison, on the other hand, has always cared about how she looks. She takes great care to make sure that she is bathed, that she smells good, that her hair is just right, and that she is presentable for her boyfriend and others. She regularly throws dinner parties where she spends a great deal of time and money on the preparations. She is very particular about the clothes she wears and whether her hair style for the day is right for the attire she has chosen; she then chooses her fragrance accordingly. Even as a young girl she insisted that she have Miss Me jeans, Juicy Couture and Louis Vuitton bags, and has been getting manicures and pedicures since she was ten.
Buttercup is bossy and unkind in how she speaks to people and seems to care only about her horse.

She treats the farm boy worst of all, not even bothering to call him by his name:
He had been a farm boy when orphaned, he had come to work for her father, and Buttercup referred to him that way still. “Farm Boy, fetch me this”; “Get me that, Farm Boy-quickly, lazy thing, trot now or I’ll tell Father. (37)
The way she speaks to him shows her obvious lack of respect. She also makes no attempt to befriend any of the girls in the village. My daughter Maddison, however, is very kind spoken and makes sure to be respectful and kind to everyone. She is in a line of work that requires her to deal with people who can be less than friendly, and yet she maintains her sweet personality. Maddison is usually the first to speak up in defense of others that are being treated unfairly and tends to take them under her

wing.
Buttercup prefers to spend her time riding her horse rather than socializing with girls her own age or getting to know the boys in town as you would expect from a sixteen year old girl.

The boys, on the other hand, are taking notice of her, following her around town trying to make conversation. Still, she thinks of the boys as “The beef-witted featherbrained rattleskulled clodpated dim-domed noddle-noggined sapheaded lunk-knobbed boys” (39). This is not what you would expect from a teenager and certainly not from a princess. Maddison is a typical teenager with many friends and was boy crazy when she was sixteen. She hung out with her girlfriends at the mall and other social gatherings and had many sleep overs where they styled each other’s hair and shared secrets. She made sure to engage in conversation with cute boys whenever possible and even at times made sure to be in the right place at the right time to make that happen. Even now I’m sure she is not unaware of the glances from cute boys as she walks to class or runs errands around

town.
So as you can see, Buttercup, with her many negative qualities including lack of hygiene, lack of kindness and lack of wits, is not what you would expect from a princess. Whereas Maddison, with her style, grace, and loving nature, would make a fitting princess. That is why I feel my daughter has more characteristics of a princess than Buttercup.