The Princess Bride

“Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles.”

Goldman’s fictionalized father uses a list to summarize Morgenstern’s novel for his son. These lines reappear later in the chapter at the start of the adult Goldman’s obsession with finding the novel for his own son. They work as an intergenerational through line for the family’s connection with the book. The incorrect superlative “beautifulest” establishes the novel’s lightly satirical attitude toward the conventions of adventure and romance.

“But take the title words—‘true love and high adventure’—I believed in that once.”

The fictional Goldman struggles with what he wants to believe in versus what life has taught him. He goes from a young boy filled with hope and trust in the magic of the world to a cynical man afraid of courting more disappointment. However, this moment shows that his childhood wonder still has an important place in his heart, and he wants to pass that wonder on to his son. 

“Either Morgenstern meant them seriously or he didn’t. Or maybe he meant some of them seriously and some others he didn’t. But he never said which were the seriously ones. Or maybe it was the author’s way of telling the reader stylistically that ‘this isn’t real; it never happened.’”

In this moment of metafiction (of which there are several in the novel), the real Goldman describes himself through the fictional author. Like Morgenstern, Goldman blends fact and fiction, the serious and the not-so-serious, to create the novel’s narrative style. Morgenstern’s asides also mirror the fictional Goldman’s interjections into the “original” text. 

“She was starting to get very excited now. ‘Let me get this straight. Are you saying my love is the size of a grain of sand and yours is this other thing? Images just confuse me so—is this universal business of yours bigger than my sand? Help me, Westley. I have the feeling we’re on the verge of something just terribly important.’”

At the beginning of the novel, Buttercup is innocent and uncultured, with little comprehension of the world around her. This gives her room to grow and mature. Although her lines are simplistic and humorous, the final reference to something “terribly important” reflects the novel’s true themes and values, including the discovery, exploration, and preservation of true love. 

“Once he was determined, once he had focused on an object, the Prince was relentless. He never tired, never wavered, neither ate nor slept. It was death chess and he was international grand master.”

This moment uses characterization to foreshadow the conflict that will arise later in the novel. This quality of tireless pursuit of a goal extends to other characters, informing Inigo’s quest for vengeance, Fezzik’s strength, and Westley’s pursuit of Buttercup. In linking this characteristic to the novel’s primary antagonist, the author sets the tone for the story and the values present in the story’s world. 

“‘I’ll tell you what I want,’ he began then. ‘I want someone who is so beautiful that when you see her you say, “Wow, that Humperdinck must be some kinda fella to have a wife like that.” Search the country, search the world, just find her!’”

This dialogue is intentionally anachronistic, further blurring the lines between the novel’s multiple layers of reality. The scene is also hyperbolic, with the prince believing he must “search the world” for a woman who meets his impossible standards. His demands reveal his vanity and pride, which affect many of his choices throughout the novel. 

“There were, to be sure, some who, while admitting she was pleasing enough, were withholding judgment as to her quality as a queen. And, of course, there were some more who were frankly jealous. Very few of them hated her. And only three of them were planning to murder her.”

The novel uses a true omniscient narrator, a point of view that had largely fallen out of favor by the time Goldman wrote the story. This moment, however, displays how such a narrator can create tension and suspense. The narrator creates layers of characterization in a faceless crowd and parallels the mounting tension with the rhythm of the prose: The first line is longer and made up of multiple clauses, the second is shorter and separated into two sections, and the last two are snappier single-clause sentences that introduce the new conflict with comedic understatement. 

“‘She would have screamed,’ he said. ‘She was about to cry out. My plan was ideal as all my plans are ideal. It was the moon’s ill timing that robbed me of perfection.’”

This moment illustrates the importance of The Pursuit of Art in each character’s journey. Vezzini is more concerned with the artistry of his actions than the result. Even though he achieves his goal of regaining the princess, he feels he was cheated because he didn’t accomplish it on his own terms. This idea echoes his entire plan to begin a war, thereby showing the world that he is an expert in his craft. 

“Inigo lay flat, staring down, trying to pierce the moonlight and find the climber’s secret. For a while, Inigo did not move. He was a good learner, but not a particularly fast one, so he had to study.”

This small moment displays Inigo’s attitude toward all things in life, particularly his approach to learning the sword. It is this patience and attention to detail that allow him to become the expert swordsman he is and to continue his pursuit of revenge after an entire decade. Rather than being naturally intelligent like Vizzini or Westley, Inigo makes a concentrated effort to attain knowledge.

“I dream to be an artist. I pray that someday, if I work with enough care, if I am very very lucky, I will make a weapon that is a work of art. Call me an artist then, and I will answer.”

Although the cast of The Princess Bride exhibits a range of skills and talents, nearly all of them approach their skills as artists. In this moment, Inigo’s father draws a distinct line between craftsmanship and true artistry. Inigo carries this perspective with him into his later life, although on a more subconscious level. This distinction between function and art is a core underlying theme of the novel. 

“It was no match, of course. Inigo was disarmed in less than a minute. But for those first fifteen seconds or so, the noble was uneasy. During those fifteen seconds, strange thoughts crossed his mind. For even at the age of ten, Inigo’s genius was there.”

Inigo is a natural-born swordsman, but he needs time to learn and understand. His gift is innate but not supernatural, which lends realism and depth to a largely romanticized story. This interaction between the two characters foreshadows Count Rugen’s death later in the novel, displaying the way his arrogance and cruelty ultimately lead to his own downfall.

“At first the little hunchback only supplied him with stronger wine. But then, through a combination of praise and nudging, the Sicilian began to get him off the bottle. Because the Sicilian had a dream: with his guile plus the Turk’s strength plus the Spaniard’s sword, they might become the most effective criminal organization in the civilized world.”

In this moment, Vizzini’s gift for manipulation is apparent. He knows the best way to earn Inigo’s trust—first by making Inigo reliant upon him and then by showing Inigo his own strength. While their skills are complementary, this moment displays that only one person has been in control throughout their entire journey. In this way, Inigo becomes not a coconspirator, but an artistic tool for Vizzini’s craft.

“‘May my hands fall from my wrists before I kill an artist like yourself,’ said the man in black. ‘I would as soon destroy da Vinci.’”

Inigo approaches his craft as an artist; unlike Vizzini, who saw Inigo’s swordsmanship only as a tool, Westley recognizes the true nature of Inigo’s skill. Much like the Dread Pirate Roberts feels solidarity with Westley, here Westley recognizes an aspect of himself in Inigo. They come together as artists, which leads Westley to spare Inigo’s life and puts into motion the later events of the plot. 

“No matter how they reassured him, he refused to enter the arena. Because he knew something: even though outside he looked twenty, and his mustache was already coming along nicely, inside he was still this nine-year-old who liked rhyming things.”

As the novel explores Fezzik’s past, his innocence is juxtaposed against Inigo’s rage. However, each character was forced to grow up before they were ready for it. At this point, Fezzik is (internally) almost the same age as the young fictional Goldman was when hearing the story for the first time, implying that Fezzik’s story left a particular mark on him. 

“She had just spent several hours with three men who were openly planning to kill her. So why, she wondered, was she more frightened now than then? Who was the horrid hooded figure to strike fear in her so? What could be worse than dying?”

Goldman does not explicitly explain Buttercup’s fear of the man in the mask; the implication is that on some level, Buttercup recognizes Westley beneath his mask and is facing her own feelings of love, hope, guilt, shame, and fear of being disappointed. Until this point, Buttercup is a passive character who has been shuffled from one role to another; in this moment, she is forced to confront the choices she has made. 

“Consider: a little over three years ago, you were a milkmaid and I was a farm boy. Now you are almost a queen and I rule uncontested on the water. Surely, such individuals were never intended to die in a Fire Swamp.”

This line echoes the fictional Goldman’s belief in true love, high adventure, and changing one’s fate through the power of a good story. It reflects the ability to grow and challenge one’s circumstances, an overarching theme throughout the novel. While class and privilege play an important role in the plot, this moment shows that these axes aren’t fixed but instead mutable and fluid. 

“Westley fell like a beaten stone, his last conscious thought being of the Count’s right hand; it was six-fingered, and Westley could never quite remember having encountered that deformity before.”

This dynamic of the Count exerting power over Westley continues and heightens, as Westley soon becomes a victim of the Count’s experiments. This marks a turning point in the novel: Westley’s fortunes reverse, and he begins his fall after the (literal and figurative) rise. However, closing the chapter on this image (and with a suspenseful ellipses) also foreshadows the Count’s downfall and the indirect role Westley will play in it as all the heroes finally come together. 

“What happens here that you aren’t going to read is this six-page soliloquy from Inigo in which Morgenstern, through Inigo, reflects on the anguish of fleeting glory. The reason for the soliloquy here is that Morgenstern’s previous book had gotten bombed by the critics and hadn’t sold beans.”

In this interjection by the fictional Goldman, the author projects his own self-image onto Morgenstern, who in turn projects his self-image onto Inigo—a multilayered example of metafiction. There is a subtle attack on the literary industry as a whole and its relationship to personal worth, which contributes to the wider lens that the real Goldman uses to shade contemporary publishing. 

“I had pneumonia, remember, but I was a little better now, and madly caught up in the book, and one thing you know when you’re ten is that, no matter what, there’s gonna be a happy ending. They can sweat all they want to scare you, the authors, but back of it all you know, you just have no doubt, that in the long run justice is going to win out.”

Throughout the novel, the fictional Goldman wrestles with his loss of innocence and belief in happy endings. In this moment, he reflects on his childhood faith, but beneath the objectivity is a sense of mourning for the person he used to be. By conveying the injustice of losing this belief in happy endings, he illustrates the greater loss of emerging into a fundamentally broken reality. 

“I say that you are a coward and you are; I think you hunt only to reassure yourself that you are not what you are: the weakest thing to ever walk to Earth.”

This portrayal of Humperdinck’s character and relationship with the world around him conveys not only his personality but also the way Buttercup has grown and gained more insight into the people around her. Early in the novel, she simply accepts what the world thrusts upon her; here, she stands up for her beliefs and is no longer afraid of inciting conflict in the name of what’s right. 

“If you were Fezzik, you panicked, because if Inigo went mad, that means the leader of this whole expedition was you, and if you were Fezzik, you knew the last thing in the world you could ever be was a leader.”

This moment highlights the balanced dynamic that Inigo and Fezzik share. Each plays a valuable role in their friendship, but when one of these roles is absent, the dynamic becomes unstable. This line displays Fezzik reacting to the unbalanced dynamic and reassessing his role in the present moment. It also highlights Fezzik’s anxiety regarding his perceived lack of intellect and ability to lead.

“Funny thing—Morgenstern’s folks were named Max and Valerie and his father was a doctor. Life imitating art, art imitating life.”

The real Goldman incorporates small biographical details like this one to create a more immersive and convincing ruse. After the release of the film version of The Princess Bride, a rumor began that Goldman named these characters after his parents—likely propagated by this line in the novel. Goldman’s parents’ names were not Max and Valerie, but the cyclical nature of “life imitating art” shows how thin the line between Goldman and Morgenstern truly is. 

“Inigo looked down at him. The Count’s frozen face was petrified and ashen and the blood still poured down the parallel cuts. His eyes bulged wide, full of horror and pain. It was glorious. If you like that kind of thing.”

The Count has made an academic study of pain and the effects of fear on pain, so there is irony in his meeting his end this way. This moment also illustrates that he and Inigo are more alike than either suspected; Inigo takes deep pleasure and satisfaction from turning the Count’s own actions on him, displaying that they share a similar weakness.