The Princess Bride Character Traits

Heroes and True Love in all Shapes and Sizes

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes… literally. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman, shows us that anyone can exemplify heroic qualities even though they are not a hero. Westley is the primary hero in the story and possesses multiple heroic qualities. Even though, some of these qualities can be shared with other characters, he does have certain qualities separates him from the rest.

Similar to Fezzik and Inigo, Westley is very strong. Fezzik, by far, is the physically strongest character in the entire story, as he is a giant. He most commonly displays his strength by carrying multiple characters while on strenuous journeys. He first carries Buttercup alone, then, he carries Buttercup, Inigo,

and Vizzini while climbing The Cliffs of Insanity. Lastly, he carries Westley’s mostly dead corpse until Westley regains enough strength to stand and walk with Fezzik's aide. Inigo ultimately displays his strength when dueling Count Rugen. After taking multiple jabs at his body, Inigo does what you do to a wound and covers it. He continues on in the sword fight and kills Count Rugen. Westley’s strength is shown when climbing The Cliffs of Insanity, battling Fezzik, and maintaining survival in the Zoo of Death.
Not only does Westley have an immense amount of physical strength, he also has a great deal of mental strength. His mental strength works hand in hand with his physical strength as he is tortured in the Zoo of Death by the Machine and Count Rugen. Each time the Machine takes a year away from him, Westley isolates his brain from his body and thinks of Buttercup and her beauty.
Just like Inigo, Westley is brave and a skilled swordsman. They both spent years training in various styles of sword fighting. As displayed in their battle, Westley is the better swordsman, however, Inigo is not far from him. Westley demonstrates his brave confidence in every battle he encounters. My favorite is Westley’s final encounter with Prince Humperdinck, in which he threatens and intimidates Prince Humperdinck into surrendering, even though Westley knows he is unable to physically fight. Inigo exemplified his bravery at a young age when he challenged the six-fingered man to a sword fight after he murdered his father. Since then, Inigo has dedicated his life to his father and avenge his death, never losing his bravery.
But what sets Westley apart from all the other characters is his clever brilliance. Although Vizzini’s strength is his brain, to his surprise, it was also his greatest weakness. Since Vizzini lacks skill and strength, his battle with Westley was a simple but complicated battle of wits, in which Westley fooled Vizzini, resulting in his death. Because of the passing of their leader, Inigo and Fezzik turn to their past rival, Westley, for help and guidance. Westley replaces Vizzini and becomes the new brains of the group as he leads Inigo and Fezzik into the castle. Using Westley’s brains, Inigo’s steel, and Fezzik’s strength, they are successfully able to rescue the Princess and avenge Inigo’s father’s death.
All of the main characters in the story are either a hero or a villain, except for one, Buttercup. Buttercup is more a damsel in distress than a hero and quite frankly is a sexist depiction of women. Despite her shy obedience, Buttercup does have heroic qualities, one being loyalty. Even though she promised her ring finger to Prince Humperdinck, her heart remained faithful to Westley. Buttercup never wanted to marry Humperdinck, but she did not want to go back on her promise. She did display some bravery as she stood up to Humperdinck and confessed her love for Westley and her desire not to marry. They made a compromise, but after finding out that the Prince did not hold up his end of the bargain, Buttercup breaks out of her shell and insults him for the man that he is.
Westley falls into three heroic archetypes. First, he is a classic hero. The entire book is centered around his quest to be with his love again. As stated earlier, he is also very strong, skilled, and clever, which allows him to successfully rescue helpless Buttercup. Fortunately, the loss of his bride also prevents Prince Humperdinck from framing Guilder for murder and starting an unnecessary war. In doing so, Westley also helps Inigo reach the Count and avenge his father’s death. Secondly, Westley is a tragic hero, as his love for Buttercup leads him on a strenuous journey and unfortunately, to his “second” death. Third, Westley is a code hero. Because of his love for Buttercup, he feels it must be him to rescue her, but it does not happen easily. His quest is full of trials and he overcomes most of them. Unfortunately, the ones he does not overcome ends in “death.” First being captured by pirates and second being the Machine. However, true love prevails and Westley surprises others by rising from the dead for true love.
Inigo can be defined as a code hero.

His ultimate goal in the story is to avenge his father’s death and kill the six-fingered man, Count Rugen. His pride is solely built on his swordsman skills and feels the need to maintain his Wizard rank as it influences his confidence in beating Rugen. Unfortunately, his sword fails him when he first challenged the Count after his father’s death and in his duel against Westley. However, Inigo does not take his misfortunes and defeats easily and carries on for his greater purpose.

Fezzik is both a classic and code hero. He is an incredibly strong giant, which plays an important role in his success as a hero. Fezzik has always gone where the money takes him (ie. kidnapping Buttercup, Brute Squad). However, after finding Inigo, he goes where his loyalty takes him. As a result, Fezzik aides in the resurrection of Westley, the rescue of Buttercup, and justice for the Montoya’s. However, Fezzik has no real connection to the tasks he is aiding in, but gains a more personal connection as he gains confidence in his ability to work on his

own.
With every hero, comes a villain. In The Princess Bride, the protagonists encounter three main villains, Vizzini, Prince Humperdinck, and Count Rugen. A villain is someone who is selfish and only cares about themselves and their goals. These goals usually cause a great deal of pain to those around them as the villain lacks sympathy for those who complicate their plans. These plans are often evil and are intended to bring success to the villain to compensate for personal insecurities.
Vizzini is an example of a classic and rival hero. At the beginning of the story, Fezzik and Inigo work for him. Even though Fezzik and Inigo say Vizzini boosted their confidence, Vizzini does not care for them. He constantly threatens to replace them and leaves them behind to carry on with the job. He could care less if they died because the money is what he is really after. He is also Westley’s rival as he too is after Buttercup. After his Spaniard and giant fails him, he takes matters into his own hands and accepts Westley’s challenge to the death.
Prince Humperdinck also resembles a classic villain, but also a Bond villain. Prince Humperdinck is a rich royal with a huge ego. Despite his cocky attitude, he is very insecure because the people do not think he is fit for the throne. However, after he rescues Buttercup, from a plan he arranged himself, the people begin to believe in his abilities to rule Florin. But what they do not know is that Humperdinck isn’t as strong and loving to Buttercup as they believe. In actuality, he does not care for Buttercup and is only using her to start a war with Guilder. Since his plan was not carried out by Vizzini, he takes matters into his own hands and plans to murder Buttercup himself. He also enjoys watching his enemies suffer as he has a terrible temper. He himself killed Westley with the Machine because Buttercup insulted him and would not admit that he was the better man.
Count Rugen is a classic and bond villain too. He is of a high rank has a big ego too. He is a bit of a psychopath and spent years inventing the Machine “for science.” The Machine is a life sucking machine that Count Rugen uses on Westley and tortures him. Count Rugen also teaches others lessons by inflicting physical pain on his opponent. For example, to teach a lesson to the Spaniard child, Count Rugen cut both his cheeks. He knows he is doing wrong but could care less because he too enjoys it.
As most fairy tales over-romanticize true love, The Princess Bride displays true love in two forms, both a tad bit more realistic. Instead of the cliche, “nothing can stand in the way of true love,” The Princess Bride teaches us that, “not much can get in the way of true love.” We also learn that “even when it appears to be over, it might not be over,” so, “don’t give up! It ain’t over ‘till it’s over.”
We first see true love between Westley and Buttercup. Their undying love for each other is stronger than the forces that drove them apart, but their reunion didn’t come easily. The trials that Buttercup and Westley endured before their final reunion represent real-life relationships. Even when Buttercup thought their love was over, it was not. Even when Westley died for the “second” time, he did not give up and rose again. Romance aside, relationships are hard and take a lot of time, dedication, and effort from both people. It is not easy, but if you don’t give up and endure the trials together at heart, the relationship will get to where it needs to be.
Secondly, we see Inigo’s true love for his father.

Domingo Montoya was a man Inigo looked up to. Inigo was always amazed and proud of the word his father did. After his tragic death, Inigo dedicates his life to his father. Similar to Westley and Buttercup, avenging his father’s death is far from simple. Inigo spends 20 years studying various styles of sword fighting in preparation for the day he encounters his father’s murder. However, he loses faith in himself after Westley defeats him. Inigo relapses into alcoholism and questions his ability to defeat the Count. However, he carries on as his journey is not over. True love also comes to his recuse when fighting the Count. Although Inigo was bleeding out, he did not want to let his father

down.
Overall, true love prevails! True love gave Buttercup, Westley, and Inigo strength to endure the pain from their misfortunes. And yes, nothing in life is fair, but that doesn’t mean that life being fair is impossible. The goals that they set to be with their true loves in person and in spirit were achieved with diligence. True love is not only between lovers but also loved ones. Heroes comes in all shapes and so does true love.