Journal of William Goldman's The Princess Bride
The princess bride is an incredibly entertaining book. Although it was written mostly as a parody it contains many themes. The developments seen in the dynamic characters are astounding ones. The theme, or motif, which I'm going to follow through the story is that of Fezzik and his quest for self confidence and a good self image. From the time that the novel starts to the end, Fezzik achieves a good self image. He starts out with a very low self image and, by the end, he finds in himself talents that give him a better image of himself.
To begin with, Vizzini never allows Fezzik to provide an sort of input or to think in any way. When Fezzik, inigo and Vizzini first kidnap buttercup, Fezzik attempts to offer some good ideas, but Vizzini will have none of it.
''I think we should kill her now';, the Turk said.
'The less you think, the happier I'll be,'; The Scilian answered';. (Page 83)
And later on the same page:
'…the Turk mumbled. 'people are always thinking that I'm so stupid because I'm big and strong and sometimes drool a little when I get excited.';';
''The reason people think you're so stupid,'; the Scilian said, 'is because you are so stupid. It has nothing to do with your drooling.';'; Vizzini manages, with his constant verbal attacks on Fezzik to destroy any shred of confidence that Fezzik may have had before. Vizzini's ego is getting in the way of Fezzik.
From a very young age Fezzik was taunted by his school mates.
'At first, naturally, they were scared to death (even then Fezzik looked fierce) but once they found out he was chicken, well, they weren't about to let an opportunity like that get away…it would go on like that until Fezzik would burst into tears and run away.'; People never gave Fezzik any sort of chance. He has always been considered a fool out loud. Luckily he had his rhymes to comfort him.
When Vizzini dies, although it leaves Fezzik in a lot of despair, it is probably the best thing for him. The stopping of Vizzini's verbal attacks allow to build his confidence. I think that the first big confidence building experience for Fezzik is when Inigo begs him for help. From page 224:
'…Fly, Fezzik; this is Inigo begging you-- make a path—please!';
Well, Fezzik had rarely had anyone beg him for anything, least of all Inigo,';
The Princess Bride is a cliche love story movie about two lovers and their tale that tells how they became separated and found each other again. It tells this story using archetypes all throughout the movie. One of the most important of the archetypes being the magic weapon. Overcoming obstacles and and achieving goals becomes much easier with the help of a magic weapon.
Mrs. Ferenczi is different than everybody else for many reasons, like being an out of towner, making odd clothing selections, and having an accent. She introduces herself by telling a story about her royal and foreign background, “...her grandfather had been a Hungarian prince; her mother had been born in some place called Flanders...” (page 45, line 106-108). She dressed weirdly, “She was
The film The Princess Bride, directed by Rob Reiner, is describe as “Thrilling, exciting, very funny and absolute magic”. No wonder the film has entertained audiences since its release in 1987. While its entertainment value in generally agreed upon, The princess Bride is not precisely inventive, nor original. Westley, the hero, fits closely the profile of the Classic Hero. Similar, the film’s plot mirrors the path followed by the classic hero, across thresholds and into a fantastic adventure. And, like the Classic Hero, Westley must undergo a series of ordeals before he can achieve his goal, to rescue “Buttercup”, and prove true love can overcome all obstacles. The Princess Bride, like most contemporary fantasies, is a retelling of the Heroic
“Monty Python and the Holy Grail” is a satiric comedy about the quest of King Arthur. The movie starts out with Arthur, King of the Britons, looking for knights to sit with him at Camelot. He finds many knights including Sir Galahad the pure, Sir Lancelot the brave, the quiet Sir Bedevere, and Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir Lancelot. Through satire and parody of certain events in history (witch trials, the black plague) they find Camelot, but after literally a quick song and dance they decide that they do not want to go there. While walking away, God (who seems to be grumpy) come to them from a cloud and tells them to find the Holy Grail. They agree and begin their search. While they search for the Grail, scenes of the knight's tales appear and the reasons behind their names. Throughout their search, they meet interesting people and knights along the way. Most of the characters die; some through a killer rabbit (which they defeat with the holy hand grenade), others from not answering a question right from the bridge of Death, or die some other ridiculous way. In the end, King Arthur and Sir Bedevere are left and find the Castle Arrrghhh where the Holy Grail is. They are met by some French soldiers who taunted them earlier in the film and were not able to get into the castle. The movie ends with both King Arthur and Sir Bedevere being arrested for killing a real-life man who was a historian.
An author of a book plays a crucial part in the novel’s creation. The book tells you a little a bit about the author, his or her creativity and lastly their intellectual capacity. The author of the book The Princess Bride is William Goldman. Goldman was born August 12, 1931 in Chicago, Illionis, U.S. Goldman is a novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He got his BA degree at Oberlin College in 1952 and his MA degree at Columbia University in 1956. William Goldman had published five novels and had three plays produced on Broadway prior to writing his screenplays. Two of his notable works include his novel Marathon Man and comedy-fantasy novel The Princess Bride, both of which Goldman converted to film. William Goldman has been an influence to other authors such as: Stephanie Meyer, Dean Koontz, and Joesph Finder. People who were an influence to Goldman were: Irwin Shaw, Ingmar Bergman, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Flaubert provides a very believable backstory for Félicité, giving the reader a basis of her past and how it shapes her. Through Flaubert, we learn that Félicité has worked for half a century for Madame Aubain, and she comes from a broken family where she was left alone and worked on a farm. Because she experiences illness similar to real people, she continues to be portrayed as a realistic character, as she is not immune to sickness and disease. Throughout the story, Félicité becomes ill and deaf, and she experiences illness, similar to the characters around her who also got sick. She is not immortal; she must rest and learn to deal with this sickness as it affects her life greatly.
William Golding’s book, The Lord of the Flies is a wonderful, fictional book about the struggle and survival of a group of boys trapped on an uninhabited island. This book kept me very interested and made me want to keep reading. The characters were very diverse and each had very appealing qualities in themselves. The setting is brilliantly described and the plot is surprisingly very well thought out. Many things like these make this book such a classic.
From climbing up 700 foot cliffs, fighting off unusually large rodents, and coming back from the dead, The Princess Bride is the story of an adventure that always keeps viewers on the edge of their seats. The journey is displayed through a Romance Narrative structure that is predictable, but engaging. The structure consists of aspects prominently displayed during the movie: innocence, initiation, challenges, the Underworld, and the Return. We follow the hero Westley as he makes his way through this mission fueled by his love for a woman named Buttercup and the lengths from which he will go to be with her.
Satire with a funny twist. In the 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 causing war between the great nations of Guilder and Florin. These events and characters mirror those in a common fairy tale, but with many twists to them. The author, William Goldman, uses both his role as the editor and writer to bring the fairy tale to new light, in order to ridicule the traditional literary structure. He is not actually editing his own novel, in fact he is intentionally including annotations that perhaps would normally be part of an editing process, but are included in The Princess Bride to mock tropes of other fairy tales and the literary process as a whole. Through the portrayal of his characters as archetypes and their flaws, in addition to his unorthodox writing style which allows his to annotate directly in the novel, Goldman satirizes both the literary process and the standard fairy tale.
The novel Pride and Prejudice is about five sisters and the things that happen on
In the The Lord of the Rings, by J. Tolken, there are many things that make the story symbolic of a Christian influence. The constant emphasis of good vs. evil brings forth reason to suspect that this novel has a Christian basis. In this paper I will prove and backup my personal opinion through sighting specific examples of the influences from the book.
In the novel Pride and Prejudice , Jane Austen takes you back to times where Pride were not only for the
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is a timeless social comedy which is both satirical and full of sentiment. The title refers to the personalities of the two main characters and cues the reader to Austen’s broader thematic purpose: to satirize nineteenth century manners and morals, especially as they relate to courtship and manners. Although both characters contain both these traits, it is mainly Mr. Darcy who exemplifies ‘pride’ while Elizabeth Bennet exemplifies ‘prejudice.’ However, one of the book’s many ironies is that the prejudiced Elizabeth thinks it is Mr. Darcy who has the overall prejudiced disposition. Likewise, proud Darcy thinks it is Elizabeth who is most often proud. Through the course of the novel, these characters grow and through each other, discover their own foibles-- Elizabeth is indeed prejudiced and Darcy is indeed proud. Armed with this growth and heightened moral insight, the couple is rewarded with happiness and fulfillment at the end of the novel. But what if their initial beliefs were correct? Let’s say that Mr. Darcy’s pride and Elizabeth’s prejudice were switched within the context of Austen’s plot and narrative structure. Could a proud Elizabeth and a prejudice Darcy grow in self-awareness through the circumstances of the novel and gain a better understanding of human condition? Before Austen allows her characters to have a ‘fairy-tale’ ending, they must undergo self-growth. Given Austen’s overall view of English class structure and her empathy towards independent and spirited young women, it would be unlikely that Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy would resolve their differences and grow as human beings.
J.R.R. Tolkien's concept of too much power is summed up by Lord Acton when he once said, "Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely." In Tolkien's first book of his fantasy based trilogy, Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Rings tells a story of a quest to destroy a powerful ring throughout Tolkien's created "Middle Earth". This quest was headed by a "Hobbit" named Frodo Baggins who, in the end, becomes corrupted by power himself. This corruption begins when Frodo uses his ring to become invisible over and over again to escape certain situations. The quest to destroy the powerful "Ruling Ring" forms the basis for this story.
Over the years Ariza would do many things to attempt to woo Fermina back into his arms, none that would prosper. All of the acts he committed, he committed for the love he had for her. Most of the actions she would never know of, for he would never show nor tell her about such things. It seemed almost daily Marquez had Ariza writing Fermina a poem, a song or some sort of letter. Most which would never make it into her hands.