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The Princess Bride (novel)

The Princess Bride AuthorWilliam GoldmanCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishGenreFantasy novelRomancePublisherHarcourt Brace Jovanovich (USA)1973Pages493ISBN0-345-41826-3OCLC53223777813/.54 22LC ClassPS3557.O384 P75 2003
The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure, The "Good Parts" Version is a 1973 fantasy romance novel by American writer William Goldman. The book combines elements of comedy, adventure, fantasy, drama, romance, and fairy tale. It is presented as an abridgment of a longer work by the fictional S. Morgenstern, and Goldman's "commentary" asides are constant throughout. It was originally published in the United States by Harcourt Brace, then later by Random House, while in the United Kingdom it was later published by Bloomsbury.

The book was adapted into a 1987 feature film directed by Rob Reiner from a screenplay written by Goldman.

William Goldman said, "I've gotten more responses on The Princess Bride than on everything else I've done put together�all kinds of strange outpouring letters. Something in The Princess Bride affects people."

A segment of the book was published as "Duel Scene (From The Princess Bride)" in the anthology The Best of All Possible Worlds (1980), which was edited by Spider Robinson. In 2015, a collection of essays on the novel and the film adaptation was published entitled The Princess Bride and Philosophy.

Plot
Map of Florin and Guilder
In a Renaissance-era world, a young woman named Buttercup lives on a farm in the country of Florin. She abuses the farm hand Westley, calling him "farm boy" and demands that he perform chores for her. Westley's response to her demands is always "As you wish." She eventually realizes that what he is saying is, "I love you." After Buttercup realizes that she loves him and confesses her feelings, Westley goes to seek his fortune so they can marry. Buttercup later receives a letter that the Dread Pirate Roberts attacked his ship at sea. Believing Westley dead, Buttercup sinks into despair. Later she reluctantly agrees to marry Prince Humperdinck, heir to the throne of Florin.

Before the wedding, a trio of outlaws�the Sicilian criminal genius Vizzini, the Spanish fencing master Inigo Montoya, and the enormous and mighty Turkish wrestler Fezzik�kidnap Buttercup. A masked man in black follows them across the sea and up the Cliffs of Insanity, whereupon Vizzini orders Inigo to stop him. Before the man in black reaches the top of the cliff, a flashback of Inigo's past reveals that he is seeking revenge on a six-fingered man who killed his father. When the man in black arrives, Inigo challenges him to a duel. The man in black wins the duel, but leaves the Spaniard alive. Vizzini then orders Fezzik to kill the man in black. His flashback showed Fezzik as a lonely boy who was "accepted" by Vizzini. His conscience compelling him, Fezzik throws a rock as a warning and challenges the man to a wrestling match. The man in black accepts the challenge and chokes Fezzik until the giant blacks out. He then catches up with Vizzini and proposes a Battle of the Wits, guessing which cup of wine is poisoned with iocane powder. They drink, and Vizzini dies. The man in black then explains to Buttercup that he poisoned both cups, having built up an immunity to iocane powder beforehand.

With Prince Humperdinck's rescue party in hot pursuit, the man in black flees with Buttercup. He taunts Buttercup, claiming that women cannot be trusted and that she must have felt nothing when her true love and sweetheart had died. She shoves him into a gorge, yelling, "You can die, too, for all I care!", and hears him call, "As you wish!" from the bottom of the ravine. She realizes he is Westley, and follows him down into the gorge, to find him battered but largely unhurt. They travel through the Fire Swamp to evade Humperdinck's party. At Buttercup's insisting, Westley tells Buttercup about his experience with the Dread Pirate Roberts and how he secretly became the latest in a line of men to use that identity.

The Fire Swamp has many obstacles, such as Snow Sand and Rodents of Unusual Size (R.O.U.S., /ru

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