Archetypes & Storytelling | "The Princess Bride" (1987)

Fig. 1 "The Princess Bride" Poster

Hero:

The story starts off in a poor village where our main hero, a farmer’s boy (Westley), lives his peaceful life with his true love Buttercup. Westley soon decides to sail away in hope to gain wealth for the sake of their future life. He is later presumed dead because of the Dread Pirate Robert’s raid and so Buttercup sees no other choice but to marry the current prince unwillingly. After a couple of years our hero returns as the mysterious masked man and decides to pursue Buttercup.

Shadow (Villain):

There are in total two villains in this movie. The main villain Prince Humperdinck, the man Buttercup is supposed to marry. He tries his upper best to either kill Westley or to hide him away from Buttercup since he knows that she will go after him. The side villain of this entire story is the so called “six-fingered-man” who killed the father of one of our hero’s allies Inigo Montoya a Spanish fencing master.

Herald:

The role of a herald is assigned to the grandpa who visits his sick grandchild and reads him the story of “The Princess Bride” like his father did to him when he was ill. Not only is the old man a herald but also an “ancient lady” who appears in the dream of Buttercup and yells at her: “How can you betray your true love?” The betrayal is referred to when Buttercup and Westley were trying to escape Humperdinck’s search for the kidnapped princess and got caught in the end where Buttercup sacrifices herself to the prince and agrees to marry him instead of running away with Westley.

Threshold Guardian:

The threshold guardians in this movie are the three men who kidnapped Buttercup: Inigo Montoya the Spanish fencing master, Fezzik the strong man and Fezzik the genius. When Westley found out their evil plan he tries to get Buttercup back. In order to do so he has to overcome the trial of defeating the three masters (fencing, strength and wits) and manages it in the end.

Trickster:

“Miracle Max” and his wife can be seen as the tricksters in this movie as they try to bring Westley back to life and so cheat death even though he is presumed dead already. The couple prepares a miraculous pill for the hero to swallow that will cause resurrection.

Mentor:

When the ship Westley was taking to another country in hope to acquire wealth got raided by the Dread Pirate Robert’s crew he was presumed dead. Later in the story of course the audience gets to know that Robert actually took Westley in onto his ship where he learned how to fight and eventually becomes the new “Robert”. The Dread Pirate and Inigo Montoya’s father who was a great smith can both be considered as mentors.

Allies:

After Westley overcame the trial of defeating the three masters killing Vizzini the genius, Inigo and Fezzik later on decide to join the hero on his quest of rescuing Buttercup. They were the ones who asked “Miracle Max” for the resurrection pill which brought Westley back to life.

Mother:

The only mother appearing in the movie is the mother of the sick child who gets the story “The Princess Bride” told by his grandfather.

Father:

The movie is split into two realities: the real world and the fantasy world where the story of Westley is told. As the grandfather plays the father role in the real world the king is seen as the father figure in the world of Westley.

Child:

Since the ill child at the beginning of the movie is the only child we see throughout the film, he will be assigned the archetype of “The Child”.

Maiden:

The Maiden archetype in movies mostly embodies purity, innocence, an uncorrupted nature, independence and strength. The character who represents that is Buttercups. She is pictured as the most beautiful, innocent and pure girl in the entire country this is highlighted by the fact that even the prince of Florin wants her as his bride.

Shape shifter:

Clearly Inigo Montoya is the shape shifter in the movie “The Princess Bride”. When he was ordered to kill Westley he did not play any dirty tricks to him, but he gave him a fair fight which Inigo lost. He was at that point neither on the side of Vizzini nor Westley’s. His only goal is to find the “six fingered man” who killed his father to take revenge. The fencing master who once tried to kill the hero becomes his ally in the end which is a clear sign of shape shifting.

Illustration List:

Fig. 1 "The Princess Bride" Poster. At: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmrXp7MVtJ9-4Zl3T58G_PEdGJeON3WUnAyVXaN04XwpSBWunNpDtwPmPtNE67dz-iGdpmO7KRTrZkhbPgr_kmOaIe_Hhpyd3aRQh7T-xof1Cevj1nXz-4mOnkQZIqXb-Ko8KacKdhAQzE/s1600/The+Princess+Bride+(1987)+Bluray+1.jpg (Accessed on 12/10/2017)