The Princess Bride Essay Example for Free

The Princess Bride Essay It would not come as a big surprise if the Princess Bride is better known on its movie version than on its literary genius. There are a great deal of people who prefer to watch a movie than to read a good book and that is exactly where they are missing some of the fun a good book could offer. Sure, many would argue that movie is better since your eyes could capture what the book could not illustrate. However, there is also a certain magic in reading a book and envisioning the scenes than having them spoon-fed at you, not to mention that in a book, you could have the original and the full story. This does not mean, however, that the movie version of the Princes Bride is not worth watching since it is. The film and the book version alike shares a great deal in common, although there are certain things on which the two differs. Both could be considered a great masterpiece because the exciting and touching element of the story is always there that it is hard to miss. Westley and Buttercup for one, went overboard with their love for each other that it leaves no doubt in the audience mind that both means everything and that the two are worthy of each other. Inigo could convey the knack of fascination to a completely new level, and there could be no doubt that he was greatly devastated by the killing of his father and that he is justified for his plans of revenge. Fezzik, ion spite of his being a hired thug, is sweet at heart and is justified to do something right and good for once in his life. The audience, upon watching or reading the Princess Bride could not help but feel for these people and be mesmerized and held up on their escapades. The Princess Bride is basically divided into two stories. The 1st one of which is allegedly an shortened version of S. Morgenstern’s enigmatically, amusing take on the typical fairytale of great adventures in opposing good and gallant young innocents in opposition to the deceitful bad or evil guys. The second part of the story narrates the transformational occurrences which led Goldman to write the good parts abridged version and screenplay of the tale in which the good conquers evil. The story of fairytale is also ever present in the story; it is just as classic and exemplary which concerns the reconciliation of father and son as well as the search to recover an apparently lost gift. This too, is an entertaining story with indistinguishable connotations, both of which makes the audience unsure if the ending would be happy or tragic and these elements are similar in the film and the novel version of the Princess Bride although the novel version is more detailed in its telling something one could not hope to meet in a film version. William Goldman has one artistic stunt which is very beneficial for him in writing his literary masterpieces and was greatly evident in this particular story. Goldman is definitely an expert when it comes to run-on-sentences used to illustrate an action scene. The most notorious action scene in the story is the swordfight between Indigo and the Man in Black which is full of such sentences; however, one could not deny that the book holds a much greater succession of these scenes which is not present in the film. One could not help but notice that with its detailed plot and classy wittiness, this finely honed fairy tale is meant to suit tweens, teens, and adults. The version of the book, however, is more graphic than that of the film’s version to the point that the adventurous and exciting moments are more concentrated and the creepy scenes are much more scarier when read through the book than watched on the film. In the most passionate scenarios, Goldman concentrated on erecting tension and suspense wherein a small amount of illustrative accounts are kept short and concise. In the story (in film and in book) they managed to show that heroes comes in different shapes, sizes, gender, and the like wherein this particular story of good vs. evil showed how friends and strangers alike joined teamed up with each other to beat the bad guys and help the fight in keeping a great love alive. It is not possible to analyze the story without comparing the version of the book from that of the film. William Goldman, the author of the book, is also the one responsible in writing the film’s screenplay so the movie did not break away much from the original plot of the book. However, although there are certain scenarios which are similar in the screen and page version of the story, there is no arguing that the book is more detailed in so many parts, and that it contains more sinister, and frightening settings which are at times not in the film version or were toned down for cinema purposes. The version of the book also goes more profound into the mentalities of the major characters, and side characters are much cultivated, adding the sort of profundity one could never hope to obtain by watching a movie bound by time limits. As was the case in so many fairy tales, the Princess Bride did not depart from the traditional case wherein the story is narrated by a storyteller, with the effect of prompting the book lovers away from their daily lives and on into a world of magic and fantasy. Goldman’s wild journeys bring to mind every sensation and sentiment possible and the plot moves so fast in some areas that have the audiences catching their breaths. One of the things sure to catch the audience attention in the book are depictions of Prince Humperdinck’s Zoo of death as well as additional character advancement of Fezzik and Inigo Montoya by means of moving childhood memories. The portrayal of Humperdinck’s hobby enhances the element of pure evil which is lacking in the film version of the story. The film version of the Princess Bride is also enveloped in a syrupy story of a sick boy who is fortunate enough to have a loving grandfather who read the story to him. The novel version of Goldman’s story however, is enveloped in a completely different, not-so-syrupy story and it is this particular story which raises the captivating account of the Princess Bride from a cunning riff on fantasy stereotypes to a much more momentous and touching book. There are those who holds that the Princess bride is nothing more than a story of passion, duels, miracles, giants, and true love however, the Princess Bride is all that and something more. It is about the function of fantasy as well as its enticing promise of a break from the tiring world of which we are in. This is evident in Goldman’s prologue: true love and high adventure. I believed in that once. I thought my life was going to follow that path Obviously it didnt, but I dont think theres high adventure left any more. The Princess Bride is a story of fantasy which entices its audience to escape the world of reality and have a taste of fantasy and magic at its most demonstrative way. The story is presumably an edited version of a much longer work of S. Morgenstern. Goldman often disrupts the tale to remark on why he decided to remove a particular section of the story or he presents small clarifications on how effectual he felt some passages are. There are those who would view these breaks of narrative as nothing short of irritating, however, if one looks close enough, one would realize that the breaks came from a part of the storyteller who does not want to let go of the diversion and high romanticism of the said tale. The book is supposedly a tale wherein the hero always triumphs over evil and wherein the enemy is so evil, so immoral and dishonorable to the point that the audience would not feel an ounce of understanding or compassion for him, and wherein true love defeats everything and always succeed. However, all of these things mentioned above are fantasy and the point of the author’s intermissions (most particularly his delicately touching ending) is that life is not fantasy, life is not fair, and life is not inspiring â€Å"It’s just fairer than death, that’s all.† What makes the novel version of the story more touching than the film version is that, at the end, one could not help but realize that the enchanting tale of Westley and Buttercup is not really anything but a long mourning for confused and lost romanticism. This book, in a way, tells a person, by relating the most ludicrously tale of them all, is that our ideals or notions of love is of any real use and that by the time one’s end is near one would realize that they have lived a life nothing short of ordinary, and if perchance one did something out of the ordinary, that something occurred by means of serendipity and nothing more. It would make one realize that all that one would have left in the end is the recollection of a time when one have great faith on all of those ideals to the point that the prospect of disappointment did not even cross one’s mind. Of course, there could be other interpretations for the book, yet I believe that this is basically the reason why Goldman stated that the moral of the tale is â€Å"What you do with it will be of more than passing interest to us all.† To conclude, the one thing which I would greatly recommend is for one to read the book and watch the film, however, it would be much better if one read the book first to avoid confusion or to have better understanding of the plot of the story once you watch it in the screen. This advise is mainly because one would have a better understanding of the movie once one know the story behind it by reading the version of the book, it would also save one from getting left behind (if he is watching with someone who has read the book) in the story. Also, save for the fact that the film changed the book’s vague ending with a happier one and one would anticipate a mass entertainment film, the film version of the Princess Bride remained close and devoted to the abridgment of the book, and one would not be surprised to find this out especially if they know that the book’s author and the film’s screenwriter is the same. Works Cited Goldman, William. The Princess Bride: S Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure. Del Rey; 25th anniversary edition 1987.