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The Princess Bride. By: William Goldman. Author William Goldman. William Goldman (born August 12, 1931) is an American Novelist, Playwright, and two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter. He lives in New York City.
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The Princess Bride By: William Goldman
Author William Goldman • William Goldman (born August 12, 1931) is an American Novelist, Playwright, and two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter. He lives in New York City.
Goldman has won two Academy Awards: an Academy award for original screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay for All the Presidents Men. He has also won two Edgar Awards, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Best Motion Picture Screenplay: for Harper in 1967, and for Magic (adapted from his own 1976 novel) in 1979.
Simon Morgenstern is both a pseudonym and a narrative device invented by Goldman to add another layer to his novel The Princess Bride. He presents his novel as being an abridged version of a work by the fictional Morgenstern, an author from the equally fictional country of Florin.
The details of Goldman's life given in the introduction and commentary for The Princess Brideare also largely fictional. For instance, he says that his wife is a psychiatrist and that he was inspired to abridge Morgenstern's The Princess Bride for his only child, a son. (The Princess Brideactually originated as a bedtime story for Goldman's two daughters.) He not only treats Morgenstern and the countries of Florin and Guilder as real, but even claims that his own father was Florinese and had immigrated to America.
Major Characters • Buttercup - The most beautiful woman in the world and the heroine of this story. Buttercup loves Westley and her horse. She is feisty and tomboyish • Westley - Buttercup's beloved Farm Boy. Westley is a brave, multi-talented man who leaves to seek his fortune,
Prince Humperdinck - The heir to the Florinese throne. Humperdinck is squat, hunting-obsessed and rather ridiculous. • Vizzini - A Sicilian man of genius. Vizzini is the brains behind the trio (himself, Fezzik and Inigo) He is smug and ruthless
Fezzik - The timid, large-hearted and obedient giant who accompanies Vizzini. Fezzik loves rhymes and his friend Inigo, and he is excellent at lifting heavy things. • Inigo Montoya - Vizzini's man of steel. Inigo is the world's youngest sword-fighting wizard and an extremely skilled and dangerous man. He has spent his life learning the sword in order to avenge his father's death at the hands of Count Rugen. He is an inherently good and loyal man, and he loves swordfighting, brandy and Fezzik.
Count Rugen - Prince Humperdinck's right-hand man. Count Rugen has six fingers on his right hand. He loves torture . • The Countess - The Count's wife. The countess is the most fashionable woman in what would become Europe. Her attentiveness to Westley stirs envy in Buttercup. • King Lotharon - The King of Florin, and Humperdinck's father. King Lotharon, by the time of the story, is quite old, deaf, and difficult to understand.
Queen Bella - The Queen of Florin and Humperdinck's stepmother. Miracle Max - Once the king's leading miracle man, but Humperdinck fired him and so he retired. Valerie - Miracle Max's wife. Valeries stands in as his witch, since all miracle men must have their own witches. Dread Pirate Roberts - The most feared pirate name on the seas • .
Vocabulary Ch1 • One – “The Bride” • Vocabulary • scullery – kitchen • adversary – enemy • bewilderment – confusion • sublimity – perfection • unfathomable – unimaginable • hovel – hut • antiquity – history • dumpling – a term of endearment • supplication – humbleness • dullard – a stupid person • droll – odd‚ humorous • careening – knocking‚ rolling randomly • visage – face • inadvertent – accidental • moldering – decaying • undaunted – resolutely
