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Life is Archetypes, Highness
(Anyone Who Says Differently is Selling Something)
What does a legend from thousands of years ago have to do with the inhabitants of today’s world? Everything, according to Carl G. Jung—because humans have been incorporating special symbolic images, characters, and situations, what Jung calls archetypes, into all media from the dawn of civilization up to the present. These images are concretions of the abstract idea behind archetypes, which are, in essence, ideas and styles of thinking that are inherited by people as a sort of racial memory. Works produced by a human, be they books, movies, short stories, or almost anything else, nearly always contain at least a few archetypes. William Goldman’s The Princess Bride, an MGM motion picture, is no exception. Its use of archetypes unfolds to reveal the central theme of the piece: that love conquers all.
Firstly, Princess Bride’s copious usage of character archetypes partially stems from the minor atmosphere of parody that encompasses the entire movie. The two main characters, Wesley and Buttercup, are insanely star-crossed as far as Star-Crossed Lovers go; not only does Wesley die (twice!), Buttercup goes so far as to marry someone else (even though it later turns out she really didn’t). Buttercup also represents the classic Damsel in Distress; she first requires rescuing from a group of kidnappers and then from her pseudo-marriage to Prince Humperdinck (who, incidentally, is plotting to murder her on their honeymoon). When Buttercup believes that Wesley is dead and she’s married to Humperdinck (sort of), she prepares to stab herself. Only Wesley’s appearance at that very moment prevents their story from ending in tragedy like those of Pyramus and Thisbe or, more recently, Romeo and Juliet—both stories in which two lovers kill themselves over a rather unfortunate misconception on one side that the other is already dead. The ridiculous odds Buttercup and Wesley have to face only exemplify the strength of their bond to one another. Character archetypes return through Inigo and Fezzik: these two initially kidnap Buttercup along with their boss, Vizzini, who plans to kill her in order to start a war with a neighbouring country. However, it turns out that they’re apparently Evil Figures with such Ultimately Good Hearts that they even comprise Wesley’s Hunting Group of Companions in the final stage of the movie. The Creature of Nightmares makes a compulsory appearance as the disgusting R.O.U.S. (Rodent of Unusual Size) that Wesley must slay to protect Buttercup, although he gets fairly chewed up in the slaying process. This scene is somewhat annoying as Buttercup only screams for help and doesn’t do much in the way of attempting to protect herself; this behaviour contrasted with Wesley’s self-sacrificing defence suggests that she does not yet love him as completely as he does her, although her devotion will grow to match his by the story’s end.
Of course, while Princess Bride certainly is not stingy in its dispersion of character archetypes, it turns out to be just as generous with its archetypes of the symbolic variety. Fire v. Ice takes a personal turn with the giant Fezzik, whose stagnant pre-movie existence was being “unemployed in Greenland,” as godforsaken a frozen wasteland as the next ice block trying to pass itself off as a country. Fezzik’s burning rebirth takes place as Wesley and Inigo actually set him on fire (but he’s wearing a holocaust cloak!) in order to infiltrate Humperdinck’s palace. This is one of the first times Fezzik has actually known for sure that he’s instrumental for the accomplishment of anything really good and worthwhile and that he is truly needed. Interestingly, many of the negative aspects to the classic symbolic archetypes are present without their positive counterparts; for instance, the Wilderness is obvious as Wesley and Buttercup fight for their lives in the Fire Swamp, and Wesley’s imprisonment, torture, and death in the secluded Pit of Despair are very representative of Hell. However, at no point in the movie is there any defined safe haven or heavenly aspect, and the characters don’t achieve any real peace or rest until the conclusion. This usage of such negatives without clear counterparts emphasizes the difficulty of the protagonists’ journey and the sweetness of their eventual victory.
Lastly, it’s discovered that Princess Bride doesn’t skimp on its situational archetypes, either! Buttercup’s Fall occurs when she agrees to go with Prince Humperdinck if he’ll spare Wesley’s life. She later has nightmares in which an old woman scorns her cruelly for marrying another while her true love lives. Of course, Death/Rebirth is what really takes centre stage as Wesley is murdered on the high seas by the Dread Pirate Roberts, then returns five years later to reveal that he is the Dread Pirate Roberts (a rather interesting turn of events). Wesley dies the real death after Prince Humperdinck uses Count Rugen’s “Machine” to suck out every year of his life. However, Inigo and Fezzik discover from Miracle Max that Wesley is only “mostly dead” and are able to revive him with a Miracle Pill that Max reluctantly agrees to concoct when he learns that Wesley’s reason to live is true love. This yielding by Max, revealing that love is truly considered to be the noblest of all causes even in the somewhat misplaced priorities of many of the characters, reinforces the supremacy of love in the story.
The overlying message of The Princess Bride is the power of love to overcome greed, envy, and even death itself. It communicates this message through the use of universal symbols that are understood on a primal level by all people. Humanity invariably tends to fashion embodiments of the abstract but ever-present ideas that are archetypes, sometimes intentionally, but often only by instinct. These models make their way into all facets of life simply because they represent a part of what it is to be human.
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