The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure

The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure by William Goldman (1973)

Reader's Annotation

A tale of true love and high adventure, pirates, princesses, giants, miracles, fencing, and a frightening assortment of wild beasts.

Summary

In the country of Florin lives a beautiful girl named Buttercup. She delights in ordering about their farmhand, a boy named Westley, whom she simply calls Farmboy. His only response is to say, "As you wish." When Buttercup realizes she loves Westley, he leaves to seek his fortune so that they may marry.

Time passes. Buttercup learns that Westley has died at the hands of the Dread Pirate Roberts and now she will be forced to wed Prince Humperdinck, heir to the throne of Florin.

Before the wedding, Prince Humperdink, who clearly doesn't love Buttercup, hires a trio of outlaws to kidnap her to give him an excuse to start a war with Guilder. These three outlaws are Inigo Montoya, a Spanish fencing wizard; Fezzik, a giant Turkish wrestler; and their leader Vizzini, the evil Sicilian mastermind.

A mysterious man in black appears and defeats the three men, leaving Vizzini dead but gaining the respect of Inigo and Fezzik. Buttercup flees with the man in black, who turns out to be Westley, now owner of the Dread Pirate Roberts franchise.

After a harrowing journey through the Fire Swamp, Westley and Buttercup are captured by Prince Humperdinck and his six-fingered henchman, Count Tyrone Rugen. Buttercup agrees to marry Humperdinck if he will release Westley. Humperdinck agrees but orders Count Rugen to take Westley to the Zoo of Death for torture anyway.

Meanwhile, Inigo and Fezzik have learned that Count Rugen is the six-fingered nobleman who killed Inigo's father and upon whom Inigo has sworn vengeance. They rescue Westley from the Zoo of Death so that he can help them plan their assault on Humperdinck's castle.

On the day of the wedding, the three invade the castle. Inigo Montoya takes his revenge on Count Rugen, the man who killed his father, while Westley stops the wedding in the nick of time and rescues Buttercup.

Evaluation

The presentation of this novel is very unusual. Its framing material presents it as an abridgement of a novel by S. Morgenstern that Goldman's father read to him when he was sick. It was, however, written entirely by William Goldman. The story is a humorous fantasy adventure with  fairy tale elements. It's mostly good silly fun but the subplot in which Inigo Montoya seeks revenge for the death of his father is treated more seriously than the rest of the book and is my favorite part. To me, the story of Inigo Montoya is the true heart of the novel. The story of Westley and Buttercup is bland and uninteresting in comparison.

If you enjoyed the novel's humorous fantasy elements, you should try one of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. If, on the other hand, you preferred the Inigo Montoya subplot, you might try a swashbuckling tale of revenge like The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas or Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini.

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure
Subgenres: