History Literature / ThePrincessBride

* CatchPhrase:

* CanonDiscontinuity: The entire fairy tale was supposed to be completely fictional, but later anniversary editions of the book have forwards in which William Goldman goes to Florin and Guilder to visit the exact places where events took place - which have become popular tourist spots. [[invoked]]

* RevengeIsSweet: Inigo Montoya tracks down and kills Count Rugen, the six-fingered man who murdered his father. While the book [[DecostructedCharacterArchetype does not shy away from the negative side effects]] of fixating on a decades-long revenge quest, Inigo still finds the revenge itself quite satisfying. In the movie, finally achieving his lifelong goal does leave Inigo wondering [[NowWhat what to do now]], but Westley solves that problem by suggesting Inigo could fill the recently vacated role of Dread Pirate Roberts.

* AndShowItToYou: Inigo ''literally'' cuts out Rugen's heart -- his idea of LaserGuidedKarma since Rugen (albeit metaphorically) cut Inigo's heart out by killing his father. Subverted in that Rugen dies of fright before Inigo can actually do it.

* ImposedHandicapTraining: One of Inigo's sword teachers emphasized this to the point of disdaining all else. He would rant about how fights to the death are rarely, if ever, going to be held under ideal conditions and thus you have to be ready for every possible bad scenario, such as [[YouCanBarelyStand what if you're trying to fight while severely injured]], if you're [[BattleInTheRain in the midst of terrible weather]], etc. Said master ridiculed other famous [[MasterSwordsmen master teachers]] for teaching as though bouts would take place in a ballroom, and when Inigo is badly wounded by Count Rugen, it's this training and experience he calls on to see himself through it.

* RevengeIsSweet: Inigo Montoya tracks down and kills Count Rugen, the six-fingered man who murdered his father. While the book [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome does not shy away from the negative side effects of fixating on a decades-long revenge quest]], Inigo still finds the revenge itself quite satisfying. In the movie, finally achieving his lifelong goal does leave Inigo wondering [[NowWhat what to do now]], but Westley solves that problem by suggesting Inigo could fill the recently vacated role of Dread Pirate Roberts.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The book contains quite a few, but especially when it comes to the life of Inigo Montoya, whose character arc is a massive deconstruction of the classic "I live only for revenge" character/plot.
** Inigo didn't know the name of the six-fingered man and was a child when the six-fingered man (aka Count Rugen) killed his father, so he doesn't remember much about Rugen aside from [[RedRightHand the six fingers thing]]. Saying that someone has six fingers on their right hand isn't a great description to use when trying to find someone, so as a result, Inigo has been unable to track Rugen down for years. Hell, Inigo's boss Vizzini was hired by Prince Humperdink, and Count Rugen is Humperdink's [[TheDragon right-hand man]] and co-conspirator, and yet Inigo didn't have a clue that he was so close to the target of his vengeance and likely would have MissedHimByThatMuch had he, Vizzini, and Fezzik completed the job as expected. (Taking this a level even further, Inigo was apparently living in Florin, the fictional country where Rugen was a nobleman and a major figure at court, and yet he couldn't find Rugen with just the description of "the six-fingered man.")
** The book notes that Inigo suffers from a case of CripplingOverspecialization; he was so focused on revenge that he threw himself into becoming a MasterSwordsman and barely paid any attention to learning anything else. Furthermore, Inigo's father might have been the UltimateBlacksmith but was also a half-mad recluse before being killed. The result is that Inigo is uniquely unworldly and ignorant of a lot of life skills like basic arithmetic. He is basically at a loss for how to function in society without someone like Vizzini to think for him.
** Inigo has been driven into becoming an alcoholic by his life. Inigo's obsession with revenge and becoming the greatest swordsman alive to make sure that he can carry out his revenge comes with a secret fear and anxiety that his skills won't actually be enough when the time comes. He also became depressed by his inability to find Count Rugen. Inigo dealt with both of these psychological stressors by [[DrowningMySorrows drinking them away]]. Before Vizzini found him, Inigo was [[TheAlcoholic a drunken wreck]], and after losing his duel with Westley, he has an [[INeedAFreakingDrink epic relapse]], since the loss reawakens his fears that his skills may be inadequate.
*** Speaking of his loss in the duel with Westley, when Inigo fought Westley, Inigo was fighting purely for the money and because Vizzini told him to do it. He hadn't fought anyone who could match him (even when fighting left-handed), in a long time and has been coasting on the strength of the training he has already done. Also, he's battling his alcoholism and, odds, are, regularly drinking when not on the job. Westley, on the other hand, is fighting to save the life of his true love, his swordsmanship is as sharp and polished as it's ever going to be, he's younger, and he's not wrestling with any addictions that have side effects like dulling his reflexes and response time. All of this results in Westley being just a little bit better, enough to make the difference in the fight.
** As [[LampshadeHanging he himself points out]], there's no money to be made by going on an epic quest for revenge, so he has to work as a mercenary for Vizzini to survive.
** When Count Rugen went to Inigo's father for a special sword, he claimed to be a MasterSwordsman, and that's part of the reason why Inigo was so obsessed with becoming a greater master. However, even if Rugen wasn't simply flattering himself, by the time Inigo catches up with Rugen it's somewhere along the lines of 20 years later and Rugen has been paying more attention to forming plots with [[TheEvilPrince Prince Humperdink]] and [[{{Sadist}} perfecting torture machines]] than honing his skills as a swordsman. Age and lack of practice mean that Rugen is completely out of his league against Inigo, and the duel between the two is rather anti-climactic, as even a badly wounded Inigo only needs to clash swords with Rugen a few times before easily overpowering Rugen.
** Naturally, after his obsessional lifelong quest for revenge is finally finished, Inigo admits that [[SoWhatDoWeDoNow he now doesn't know what to do with the rest of his life]].
** In the book, Humperdink doesn't take his humiliation and defeat well, and promptly orders his men to pursue Westley, Inigo, Fezzik, and Buttercup. The book ends on a SequelHook that notes that Inigo's wounds reopened and worsened during the attempt to escape pursuit, leaving his survival in doubt.

** Interestingly enough, there ''was'' a period of time that could be said to be "after America" and "before Europe"; specifically, the 1500s, between the discovery of the Americas, and the Thirty Years War (which started in 1618), which so redefined the terms of the relations of states that it has been claimed to be the beginning of "Modern European History." Australia, though, wasn't known to Europeans until 1606, and Britain didn't start [[SentencedToDownUnder sending convicts there]] until 1788.

* TerribleTrio: Vizzini, Inigo, and Fezzik are either an example of this or ThreeAmigos. Because Vizzini is a cad, but Fezzik and Inigo are mostly good, but on the other hand Inigo and Fezzik both help to kidnap Buttercup and, oh never mind! Later becomes heroic when someone gets slapped with iocaine powder.

* AnachronismStew: The setting is "before Europe", yet "after America" and before the invention of the word "glamour." Also, there is a mention of Australia being populated entirely by criminals, and Westley is described as wearing blue jeans. Oh, and stew is older than everything, except taxes. In-universe William Goldman states that this drove his editor bonkers, and had to explain that S. Morgenstern was being satirical and put them in to let a savvy reader know the story's fiction.
** Interestingly enough, there ''was'' a period of time that could be said to be "after America" and "before Europe"; specifically, the 1500s, between the discovery of the Americas, and the Thirty Years War (which started in 1618), which so redefined the terms of the relations of states that it has been claimed to be the beginning of "Modern European History". Australia, though, wasn't known to Europeans until 1606, and Britain didn't start [[SentencedToDownUnder sending convicts there]] until 1788.

* AsYouKnow: [[PerfectPoison Iocaine]] comes from Australia, as "everyone knows".[[note]]There is no such thing as iocaine, though [[CaptainObvious Australia exists]].[[/note]]

* BorschtBelt: Max and Valerie. InUniverse William Goldman always puzzled why S. Morgenstern wrote them as such, though he notes that with a name like "Simon Morgenstern", it was WriteWhatYouKnow.[[note]]Though it made casting Billy Crystal and Carol Kane in the roles easy.[[/note]]

* FracturedFairyTale: In the FramingStory, the original work wasn't a fairy tale at all but rather a dull historical treatise, which the narrator cut down to "the good bits". This leaves plenty of room for parody among the standard fairy tale tropes.

** Prince Humperdinck declares, "I swear it will be done," to Buttercup's demand that he send messages to the "Dread Pirate Roberts", knowing full well that Westley is in his dungeon. Count Rugen echoes it back to him immediately thereafter.

* MrFanservice: Buttercup starts noticing how hot "Farm Boy's" body is. Westley later says he got ripped so that she would notice him. There's a ''reason'' the TagLine for the book is "A Hot Fairy Tale".

** Made more explicit in the “Buttercup’s Baby” sequence; Goldman says that Morgenstern became obsessed with Florinese foliage, writing about them extensively in his novels in an attempt to convince the country of Florin to stop cutting down trees. Replace “foliage” with “architecture”, and you have the RealLife motivation for the writing of Literature/TheHunchBackOfNotreDame, which had been left in a state of disrepair by the French when Hugo wrote his novel.

* PaintingTheMedium: When Humperdinck breaks the orangutan's back, it's done with a "C-R-A-C-K", with each letter descending in an arc down the page.

* RoboticTortureDevice: Rugen's "Machine", which applies the principles of suction to "suck out years of a person's life".

* ScheherezadeGambit: Westley's relationship with the previous Dread Pirate Roberts is that he will "most likely kill him in the morning". He says this for several years before finally becoming fast friends.

* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: Roberts saying "[[spoiler:As you wish]]", reveals himself to be [[spoiler:Westley.]]
* SoWhatDoWeDoNow: [[spoiler:Inigo gets his revenge, but he spent all his adult life in pursuit of it. What should he do?]]

** Inigo didn't know the name of the six-fingered man and was a child when the six-fingered man (aka Count Rugen) killed his father, so he doesn't remember much about Rugen aside from [[RedRightHand the six fingers thing]]. Saying that someone has six fingers on their right hand isn't a great description to use when trying to find someone, so as a result, Inigo has been unable to track Rugen down for years. Hell, Inigo's boss Vizzini was hired by Prince Humperdink, and Count Rugen is Humperdink's [[TheDragon right-hand man]] and co-conspirator, and yet Inigo didn't have a clue that he was so close to the target of his vengeance and likely would have MissedHimByThatMuch had he, Vizzini, and Fezzik completed the job as expected. (Taking this a level even further, Inigo was apparently living in Florin, the fictional country where Rugen was a nobleman and a major figure at court, and yet he couldn't find Rugen with just the description of "the six-fingered man".)

* WhoAreYou: Inigo screams this at The Man in Black when the latter is showing he has better skills than even a ranked wizard at swordsmanship.[[note]]"Wizard" is the rarefied level even above "master".[[/note]] The narrative [[WorfHadTheFlu leaves Inigo an "out"]] -- they were largely fighting in cramped quarters; in an open space Inigo would have won easily.

* AffectionateNickname: Buttercup and Westley's daughter Waverly refers to Fezzik as "Shade".