The Development of Drama and Comedy in The Princess Bride: An Analysis

Much like the tone of the dialog and choreography in the fight scene in The Princess Bride (1987), the music begins dramatic and slowly gets more comedic, yet it maintains a level of suspense throughout. The music begins with a long, high pitched violin note, underscored by a low horn. This creates a feeling of unease which creates a suspenseful feeling for the viewer. Light drums and clicks stretch out the time between sword clangs. As Wesley retaliates, the strings get higher, which heightens the tension.

Once they speed up their fighting pace, the music becomes faster and more exciting to match. This carries on for a few minutes as they jab and parry.

The dynamics of the music rise and fall to allow the dialog to be easily heard. This also works to create dramatic moments after the "zinger" lines ending each verbal volley, by crescendoing the music and bringing back the horns. While most of the sword clangs do not line up with the tempo of the music, a few hefty thrusts on the stairs are underscored by loud, dramatic horn blasts.

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This keeps the fight both visually and aurally interesting, and makes these thrusts feel more powerful.

Just as Inigo Montoya pushes Westley against the stone wall, the music drops down very quiet, just like it was in the beginning. This signals that the tone has gone from action to suspense, and increases the tension as the audience wonders if Westley will prevail. A loud musical hit comes just after his reveal, assigning importance to this shift in dynamic, and then the mood of the music begins to change.

Trumpets play a regal tune which pulls the scene from suspenseful to fun, thus showing that Westley now controls the scene. At this moment, too, the music becomes more comical. The action and music are choreographed more closely together, such as the music dropping out as swords fly through the air. The music also creates sort of sound effects, such as the whammy sound when Westley's sword sticks into the ground and the glissandi up and down as he flips through the air. The music falls dramatic again as their fight resumes, but continues to pull in elements of comedic timing. Finally, the music becomes chaotic to match the intensity of the end of the battle, until a final hit punctuates the music when Westley disarms Inigo Montoya. All in all, the music in this scene does a very good job of matching and enhancing the tone changes throughout the fight, and adds elements of comedy while maintaining suspense.

The book starts with explaining Buttercups parents. Her mother nice and sweet, but she often got after her husband for small insignificant things. Her father shuddered at his wife's voice, a hard worker and loving father. They are both talking when they see a huge procession of horses and guards heading towards their home. At first the assume it was their neighbors but then the crowd was past all their neighbors houses and land and going straight towards them. The mother shrieks at her husband that he forgot to pay the taxes and that they were going to be locked up for the rest of their lives and it was all his fault. When the procession arrives out comes the Count and Countess from their carriage. The Count automatically notices Buttercup's beauty and the Countess notices Wesley, his muscles and how young and handsome he is. The Count and Countess say they are interested in how the father raises the cows and feeds them. Because his cows are the best in the land. When they finally leave, the Count tells the Prince about the most beautiful woman in the Village and the Prince is immediately impressed. So one day while Buttercup is out riding her horse, whom she named "Horse," she was approached by the Prince. He told her how beautiful she was and that he wanted to court her and then marry her. She was not impressed, and rode off, she did not know it was the Prince.

Yes her and Wesley did fall in love, it was him always bending to her every whim, we all know the famous, "As you wish..." There are some very outstanding differences between the book and the movie though, they kiss and they plan to be wed. But Wesley wants to earn money for his family and wife so he got on a ship and sailed away, he said he would send word as soon as possible. Then when he had enough he would send her a ticket to come be with him. Then he was gone. Buttercup then recived word that the ship he was on had been over throne by the Dread Pirate Roberts, who does not take any prisoners. So she knew her beloved Wesley was no more. She locks herself in her room and cries and cries, she is in there for 3 days if I remember right. When she comes out her parents are eating dinner and she tells them how much she misses Wesley and that she will never love again.

She does consent to marring the Prince Humperdink. Who only wants to marry her so he can kill her to start a war. The book describes how he is a great hunter, and how the Count is really into torture. Their was place they had called the zoo, four levels of animals for the Price to hunt. But the fourth and final level, the bottom one, was empty it was for the hardest and most deadly animal of them all. The keeper of the Zoo was an Albino male, he never really talked, but went about his business and never bothered a soul.

Well she goes riding one day which is exactly like the movie she is stopped by three men, very odd looking men. Who say they are from the circus and they are lost. They kidnap her and they tear a piece off of a uniform from an officer of Gilder. They get on a boat and go to the cliff of insanity where the murder will take place. On the boat she jumps into the water and tries to swim away, when Vincinni threatens to prick his finger which will drive the man eating eels crazy. Which will then kill her. They see a ship behind them it is Wesley. It gains on them and they begin to climb the cliffs. It is exactly like the movie in all the fight scenes. The book goes along the movie until he gets put into the Zoo. In the zoo Inigo Montoya and the giant work there way through the zoo till they get to the forth level where they find Wesley lying there dead. They take his dead body to a miracle worker who after much persuasion finely agrees to heal Wesley. He gets healed, they go to he Castle save the Princess and Inigo fights the six fingered man and they ride off into the night and Wesley and Buttercup kiss, it was not just any kiss it was the kiss. Then they all live happily ever after.