Conveying a story about love but not traditional romance, The Princess Bride incorporates a frame tale, which is a technique of putting a story within a story. The frame tale separates the outer frame from the inner frame of the story. The Princess Bride is far more than just a story; its frame tale explicitly portrays the main message of the story: generational love and the love of family. The first indication is revealed with this idea of generational love in the selection of the protagonist. The protagonist, the grandson, is the only character to experience any form of meaningful character change. The boy views his grandfather as his antagonist when the grandfather reads the first scenes of the fairytale. He hates that his grandfather …show more content…
The intense love for the family is portrayed by Inigo Montoya. Inigo expresses his need to avenge the death of his father during his childhood. His revenge gives him a way to memorializing his father. His personality gathers in strength and determination and he is willing to sacrifice his own life for finding justice for his dear father. In contrast, Humperdinck reveals the lack of love in him. He is hardheaded, and not moved by Buttercup’s love for Westley. The prince is mostly a loner, and he uses fear, not love, as the only method of compelling his rule. Continuing on, when Inigo kills the six fingered man, Count Rugen, Humperdinck is left completely alone. The prince has lost his only friend and also his political tools, Buttercup and Vizzini. Inigo is injured, but he still has the support and the love of his friends. Love comes in all its forms—family, friendship and romance—has achieved all adversities in the inner story. Referring back to the frame tale, the boy has internalizes the fairytale and unconsciously makes a change. He rethinks the time spent with his grandfather and invites him back to reread the book with him. At this point, the boy now sees the true value of his grandfather and their relationship which leads to the ending of the film. The Princess Bride is written for the little boy. The idea