Death In The Princess Bride

Great Essays
According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, the definition for the word death is “a permanent cessation of all vital functions.” This does not have any bad or scary connotation to the word, yet the word brings a sense of grief and gloom to those affected. Death of a loved or a close one is definitely a hard obstacle to overcome as it represents the end of one 's life on this earth. However, I argue that death does not necessarily have to be all demoralizing as it brings more than just sadness and loneliness. As can be seen in the works of The Princess Bride and “Lancelot the Knight of the Cart”, death itself represents the quest through multiple stages of a hero’s journey, bringing a new dimension of life that does not simply mean the end. …show more content…
Actually, death plays such a significant role that the heroes are often shaped by death and they bring a form of it with him or her in their quests. One character that death has a strong impact on is the protagonist, Westley. In his journey, death appears as the abyss stage, and he encounters it twice in the movie. The first time he enters this stage is when he encounters the Dread Pirate Roberts, when he was captured in an attempt to amass a fortune to marry Buttercup (Reiner 42:50). In her work, Molly Kaushal analyzes a hero through all the stages of the hero’s cycle, and in the abyss stage, she describes how the hero reacts in the the most critical moment of his or her journey. “Very often he brings back a part of this world along with him and thereby successfully establishes a quasi harmony between the two domains” (69). The two domains Kaushal mentioned represent both the world where the hero originated from and the abyss the hero is currently situated in. As Westley explained himself in the story, he pleaded to the pirate that he needed to live for his true love Buttercup. On the brink of death, he brings his love and his old life to the dark realm as Kaushal explained. Likewise, as Westley returns to rescue Princess Buttercup, he appears as the new Dread Pirate Roberts, bringing a new arsenal of experience and knowledge with him. These include the knowledge of …show more content…
Through multiple groups in the study, the overall conclusion was that death does in fact have a significant connection, adding that death “may promote a sense of meaning in life” (1462). This research claims that death does not necessarily mean the end. This idea is further supported through Westley’s line, “Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while” (Reiner 40:10). This shows that death is simply just an obstacle that can be conquered. Through the journeys of Westley and Inigo in The Princess Bride and Lancelot in “Lancelot the Knight of the Cart”, death plays a multiple roles other than the usual role of the end as death is linked to starting a new phase for multiple characters on multiple occasions. In others, they represent obstacles or boundaries that divide the familiarity and the unknown. All in all however, death shapes and completes the journey of the characters, bringing more than simply the ending. Although it may signify the end of one life, it often represents a beginning of another, and helps cherish how truly special life is. Death is not so much a destination, but rather part of the

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    People believe death is the end of life. And, they are afraid of dying since the death is unavoidable. However, in The Things They Carried, Linda’s death changes the meaning of the death. In the chapter, “The Lives of the Death,” Tim O’Brien tells readers the life can continue after death by recalling his memory with his first love, Linda. Linda died because of her disease, brain tumor, when she was nine years old.…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Epicurus, Lucretius, and Nagel are philosophers with very different views on death, and whether death is bad for the person who dies. Their understanding of life and what happens when it ceases, is the distinguishing factor. Epicurus was a philosopher who understood the universe and life as being composed of matter in the form of small particles. He stated that when one dies, the particles which make up our existence dissolve and our consciousness comes to an end. He considers what he understands to be mental and physical pain and pleasures to determine the various aspects of life.…

    • 1190 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Death causes the entire story to develop into something darker and more gothic than what it was originally. For example, the beginning plot of Frankenstein goes from Victor only being burdened by his creation and the thought of the monster being out in…

    • 1164 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In many works of literature what happens after death is a common theme found throughout many different styles and authors. Through the analysis of Hamlet, Obasan, ¨The Open Boat,¨ and ¨The River Clarion¨ it is easy to see that many of the authors share similar views on mortality and how people should deal with it. I agreed with nearly every author, in different ways, but overall I feel that we should be able to accept death, but not spend our lives worrying about it. Instead we should spend our time making the most of our own lives, and being the best we can be, and as Hamlet believed, we should just let…

    • 1647 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The concept of the hero’s journey was developed by Joseph Campbell. The journey is made up of a series of stages the hero has to endure and complete. Ender’s Game, a science fiction novel by Scott Orson Card, is about an alien species called the buggers attacking Earth twice and almost destroying the human species. To make certain that the incident would never happen again the world government has started to breed military geniuses and train them in the arts of war. The early training takes the form of ‘games’ and a genius prodigy, Ender Wiggin wins all of the games.…

    • 1257 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Frankenstein Respect

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Death is a very hard thing, sometimes even for those going through it themselves. The monster in Frankenstein said before his death, “‘I shall die, and what I now feel be no longer felt. Soon these burning miseries will be extinct. I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly,’” (303).…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Daniel Hwang Porter English II Pre-AP/GT- 7 8/31/2016 The Book Thief Discussion Question Answers Death symbolizes the idea of the very fact that everyone is destined to die. Death is the one who experiences everything that a single person enjoys or dreads. He is the one who everyone is destined to meet when they die even if they do not want to.…

    • 2077 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Death is something that, no matter what works any human does to prevent, will inevitably happen to everyone, but is death something that just happens without a care or is death a tragedy that causes much mourning a grief? Even though we all will perish, death is very tragic and causes much pain to people. Gwen Bristow uses death in her novel Celia Garth, and shows the pain and sorrow that comes with death by showing it through the reactions and events of the characters in the novel. Death can be very traumatic for friends and families of those who are deceased and can have a permanent impact on lives of those who were touched by the one who has passed on while they were alive. Gwen Bristow does an excellent job showing this through the death…

    • 1007 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Road Mccarthy Analysis

    • 1324 Words
    • 6 Pages

    McCarthy in The Road and Trethewey in Native Guard both struggle with the ambiguity of legacy after death, searching for a purpose in mortality and for a way to entwine one’s existence with the rest of history to create progress. However, McCarthy, writing about the apocalypse in The Road, does not specifically focus on the mortality of humans, but the mortality of morality itself, the slow death of the goodness of people. Each author deals with the concept of legacy after death--McCarthy with a father’s noble sacrifice for humanity’s redemption and Trethewey with her mother’s murder and the forgotten history of the Native Guards--to demonstrate two concepts: the prevalence of mortality and the fragility of legacy as it is completely dependent on the memories and acknowledgement of others. Essentially, death is a journey.…

    • 1324 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Death, a subject we tent to restrain from in conversation. Wither for personal fear of leaving, or losing someone close to us. Poets Catherine Davis and Dylan Thomas both have different and unique views on the topic of death. One believes we should rage at the end while the other sees all losses being the same after a time. Personally I see death as returning to a place we cannot remember.…

    • 888 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Death is a word, event, a part of life everyone tries to avoid. When confronted by it (in any form) a form of sadness or fear comes along with it. Mostly everyone has, some time or another, experienced a form of death. The 4 stories we tell ourselves about death and how they may or may not have changed over time is surprisingly accurate. These stories have proven itself over time, and I have either heard of all of them or experienced them.…

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Death is inevitable, whether rich or poor, evil or good, adored or despised. In the end, death makes all people equal. Edgar Allen Poe’s story “The Masque of the Red Death” is about Prince Prospero and his friends who attempt to hide in luxury from the Red Death, but in the end they endure a similar fate to the suffering people they left behind. Similarly, the movie Titanic is a tragic love story that takes place on the RMS Titanic where no one is safe from the fate of the ship. Both stories pose the idea that everyone is equal in the presence of death and is demonstrated in the setting, characters, and symbols.…

    • 1093 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Narrative Essay Death is an experience that nobody wants to experience, but unfortunately everyone dies. It 's a depressing time, and a time to be thankful for everything you 've ever been blessed with. For my grandfather, death was knocking at his door two years after he was diagnosed with bone cancer. He had gone through treatment, but eventually it stopped working and the only thing anyone could do was wait.…

    • 2574 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Death is final with no point of return and extremely painful for the ones left behind to grieve. This was especially true for me when I lost my mother. Losing her was one of the most difficulty experiences in my life because I was not prepared for her death. Looking back on the situation, there was nothing for which to prepare; she was only fifty-one years old. I knew her health was not the best; however, the diagnosed health problems were not what killed her.…

    • 1227 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    We all die. It’s an inevitable truth that we all face. Although we don’t know when death will catch up to us, we know that it’s one of the few things that you can count on in the world. Recently, there has a been a strong focus on helping individuals prepare for death and assist them in dying well. It’s counter-intuitive, to think about death as we are often told to embrace life, but since the dying process is the last chance you have to embrace life, preparing for it will hopefully enable you a deeper sense of satisfaction and provide closure.…

    • 1030 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays