2). The Princess Bride movie opens the same way when the grandfather reads to the sick boy in bed. The boy’s reaction to the romantic fairytale is a sign of disgust and reflects the attitude toward pastoral romances. The ending of Daphnis and Chloe focuses on two young sheep and goat herders that fall in love in rural Lesbos, living it an even older literary style by the word usage, setting, and pastoral themes. The Greek ideality revolves around a young couple that proves their love and fidelity through an almost impossible length of obstacles, only to be together happily in the end. The movies’ long storyline comes at the price of any significant character development, an aspect that The Princess Bride uses comedic advantage. The movie places a large amount of insane barriers between Westley and Buttercup knowing about what they have both been through psychologically. Our knowledge of the characters is based only on their relation to the plotline. Their motivation to get passed these obstacles is simple, “true love”. This is the big theme that consumes the otherwise a hero for both man and …show more content…
The Princess Bride keeps this concept, renamed “true love”, as a central theme that brings together the main characters, moving their actions and eventually the plotline, too. The movie tagline says true love is the driving force behind Westley’s quest: “Scaling The Cliffs of Insanity, battling huge rats, facing the torture in The Pit of Despair: True Love has never been a snap.” True love’s ability to meet these sorts of limits comes from the Greek romantic prototype, in which love in and of itself is a cause of suffering. In the Greek novel, love is treated as a disease reduced by violent means of Eros’ archery; it is a “tragic madness” with physical as well has behavioral signs. As Longus write about Chloe’s love-struck condition: Her heart ached; her eyes wandered uncontrollably…She took no interest in food; she lay awake at night…her face went pale and the, in turn, blushed red. Even a cow stung by a gadfly does not behave so madly.” (pg.27) Daphnis’ signs were similar: He ate none of his food except just a taste; when he had to drink, he didn’t no more than to moisten his lips. He was quiet, even though before he had chattered more than the grasshoppers; he did nothing, although before he had been more energetic than the goats…his face was paler than the grass in the summer