The Theme Of The True Hero In William Goldman's 'The Princess Bride'

Everything is not as it seemsAssuming As You Wish Doesn’t Make it True

The Princess Bride, by William Goldman, challenges a reader to look further into the story. In his introductions and the prologue he reveals the depth of his imagination. If the reader didn’t try to look further they would have just believed all of that was true. Therefore, I think that the main theme is that there is to never assume. There is no way to know the way something will work out. There is no one way someone can be or act; the characters show many personalities. Everything is not as it seems. I will prove why I think this is the theme by analyzing the characters and the story.

Who is the true hero? In The Princess Bride, the main hero is Westley, but Inigo, Fezzik,

and Buttercup show heroic qualities. This shows how we can’t assume that they weren’t heroes because they turned out to be the heroes this story needed. Based on the book, a true hero can be described as someone who is loyal, courageous, fights for what is right, perseveres, and is quick witted. Westley fits all of these characteristics because he is loyal to his love Buttercup by never leaving her. He is brave and courageous enough to climb the Cliffs of Insanity after Vizzini when the princess was kidnapped. He is fighting for what is right by saving his true love, Buttercup. He also perseveres through death to save Buttercup from the evil Prince Humperdink. Westley is a great example of a classic hero for these reasons.
Inigo shows great perseverance in the book. Inigo has been constantly looking for the six-fingered man that killed his father. He shows his perseverance even in the end when Count Rugen stabs him yet continues to stand up and fight to avenge his father. He also shows how he and Fezzik were able to brave the Zoo of Death to rescue Westley. Unlike Westley, Inigo is more of a tragic hero. He is fighting to avenge his father. For twenty years he had been looking for his father’s killer only to get stabbed with a dagger before fighting him. Inigo shows how he is a tragic hero by bracing through his wounds to achieve his revenge. …
Fezzik is a very unlikely hero, but one I was definitely cheering for. He never wanted to be a fighter, but his parents had brought him up that way to make money. Fezzik was more than just a brute; he was a loyal friend who loved to make rhymes. Though he is lacking intelligence he was important to getting out of the Zoo of Death. The Zoo of Death was this complicated maze, but both got through with their strength, courage, and instinct by running straight pass the killer spider. Fezzik is more of a code hero. He is out to right wrongs and has endured the misfortunes of his early life. At first Fezzik seems like just a strong idiot, but he proves he is a needed hero.
In the beginning of The Princess Bride, Buttercup is an unintelligent, selfish farm girl.

As she grows into a princess, she still has these troubles. It was only after she had haunting dreams about leaving her real love that she shaped up. She showed perseverance in believing that Westley would come to save her. She waited until the last moments of the wedding for Westley to save her. Princess Buttercup had stayed loyal to Westley by not loving anyone but him. She comes in clutch by being brave and helping Inigo, Fezzik, Westley, and her escape. It takes a lot of bravery to stand up to an army and lead them astray. In The Princess Bride, she decided that she was going to kill herself to stay true to Westley. That takes bravery and shows her great loyalty. I think that Buttercup is a Byronic hero. She is described as beautiful, flawed, and does things based on what benefits her, therefore she fits the description of a Byronic

hero.
The Princess Bride gives us three main villains, Prince Humperdink, Count Rugen, and Vizzini.

They were selfish, cruel, enjoyed other people’s pain, and wanted power and money. First, just to be clear, Prince Humperdinck is a stuck up, war loving, evil guy. He put together the whole plot of killing off the Princess so he could have a war with Guilder. He wants to have more power, and thinks a war will give it to him. Prince Humperdink has this unhealthy obsession with hunting, so much that the Zoo of Death is just a giant hunting ground. He loves to watch things squirm and beg. For these reasons I think that Prince Humperdink is more of a Classic Villain. He thinks only for himself and his own goals. He will do anything to achieve his goals even kill Buttercup. He bodies up his own insecurities through hunting, according to Buttercup when she called him out on being a coward. He is also a psychopath like a classic villain would

be.
Count Rugen is a villain because he does whatever he wants with the powers given. He kills Inigo’s father and Inigo knew he couldn’t go against a Count. He has no mercy towards Inigo and his Father. Count Rugen tortures Westley just to make a book about pain. Count Rugen most identifies with a classic villain. He doesn’t care much for the other people, but does care about his research on pain. Count Rugen doesn’t follow any rules but his own. It is also fitting that he dies from fear when fighting Inigo
Vizzini is a villain because he plans to kill the princess as a job to earn money. He never questioned the task; he just wanted to get paid. His greed for money leads him to become a bad guy. I think that Vizzini is more of just a rival to Westley. After Westley defeated Inigo and Fezzik, Vizzini saw how smart Westley was. Westley then challenges him to a battle of wits using poison. Vizzini tried to use any tactics to win, but Westley was cleverer than him and put the poison in both cups. Vizzini had failed his rival goal to beat the man that had hurt his pride. Vizzini was not a main villain, which is why I wouldn’t put him up as a classic villain.
I think that Miracle Max can be seen a hero if you look deep enough. He certainly wasn’t evil. He had just made a simple mistake that got him fired by Prince Humperdink. Miracle Max had once saved many people before with his miracles. He can seem not so hero-like when he denies that Westley was fighting for true love. He also said he wanted revenge on Humperdink, but it is okay because Humperdink is evil. He also becomes the hero of the story when he saves Westley. If Max didn’t know that Westley was only mostly dead then Westley would have just been dead. No more Westley; no more love story. He revives Westley and sent our main heroes, Inigo, Fezzik and Westley, back to saving Princess Buttercup. He also had no fear going up against Prince Humperdink, he didn’t care if he got caught. Though it is a stretch to call Miracle max a hero, he is not a villain.
As I mentioned before, all of these characters show how they are not what they originally seemed to be. Fezzik isn’t just a brute, but a soft giant that becomes essential to the story. Inigo’s revenge was not the end of his life. Westley survived through being mostly dead, and even continued after the Miracle pill was about to run out. Miracle Max has a greater story then just fired castle help. Princess Buttercup, showing she is more than just an airhead, even comes out to surprise and save the day. The villains also give us
It is also important to look how Goldman started and ended the book. He started the book with fibs that had readers second-guessing what he was doing. Goldman also chooses to leave the readers with an ambiguous ending. In a normal love story it just be a happy ending, but leaving it open left us guessing. I leave with one last lesson mentioned in the book, “Even when it appears to be over, it might not be over.”