Humperdinck the Barrel
"Prince Humperdinck was shaped like a barrel. His chest was a great barrel chest, his thighs mighty barrel thighs."
Here we have a simile that leads naturally into a metaphor and the figurative language all leads to the same destination: Humperdinck is shaped like a barrel. And what are the properties of a barrel? Unimaginative. All barrels essentially look the same, they are heavy only when full and deceptively light when empty. They can present a danger if left to topple over and roll, but are essentially harmless when kept on an even keel. And it goes on.
Resurrection of the Body without Soul or Will
“The man in black sat immobile, like a ventriloquist's dummy, just his mouth moving.” The simile used to portray Westley immediately after taking Miracle Max’s resurrection pill as a something akin to ventriloquist dummy is one of the most sublime characterizations of what the body would be like without the soul in 20th century literature. The imagery is immediately understandable to anyone who has ever even heard of ventriloquism. In one efficient sentence, William Goldman describes the slow-moving effect of the resurrection working its way from body to soul while also giving us a powerful pop culture conception of what existence without free will would really be like.
A Life Saver...Figuratively Speaking
Metaphors and similes are actually vital to Westley saving his own life. While under the constant of threat of walking the plank on the ship of the Dread Pirate Roberts, it is Westley’s masterful engagement of figurative language to describe the beauty of Buttercup that keeps him alive for another day. Phrases like “Hair the color of autumn and skin like wintry cream” have the power to spark the imagination of the pirate and thus fend off premature death for the hero.
Mysteries Not Meant for the Lazy
The death of Westley has left Buttercup profoundly changed to the point where one of the most elegant metaphors found in the book encapsulate her soul in just a dozen words: “Her heart was a secret garden and the walls were very high.” What makes this metaphor so unusually lyrical is that it really says two things. One, Buttercup’s heart can never be known by a lazy admirer like Humperdinck. At the same time, the second part of the image hints that while her heart may be a secret garden, that doesn’t mean it is a garden that can never be discovered by another.
The "Good Parts"
The entire conceptual premise of The Princess Bride in book form is an extended metaphor. The literary conceit is that the author, William Goldman, is really just creating an abridged version of an older text written by S. Morgenstern. Goldman’s memory of the story that thrilled him is one that inevitably leads to disappointment as an adult revisiting the story by actually reading the book. Turns out his father made the story more exciting by taking out all the boring parts and leaving in only the adventure. If that’s not a metaphor for how humanity goes about the daily process of existing, nothing is.
