The Princess Bride: Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

In the year that Buttercup is born, the most beautiful woman in the world is a French scullery maid. She attracts the attention of the duke she works for, and the duchess sets about foiling their romance by plying the maid with chocolate so that she'll gain weight. When Buttercup turns ten, the most beautiful woman lives in Bengal but loses her status after the pox plague hits. When Buttercup is fifteen, an Englishwoman is the most beautiful until, one day, one of her suitors points out how perfect she is. She spends hours looking at herself in the mirror before it occurs to her that her beauty won't last. This thought makes her develop worry lines and then wrinkles.

Buttercup doesn't care about any of this. She's somewhere in the top twenty most beautiful women, but only because of her potential, and she cares more about riding her horse, Horse, and taunting the farm boy, Farm Boy. Both Horse and Farm Boy do everything that Buttercup asks them to, and Buttercup's father vows to leave Farm Boy an acre in his will. Buttercup's parents annoy her by asking her to bathe, and she gets especially upset when they note that boys don't like smelly girls. Regardless, about the time that Buttercup turns sixteen, the girls in the village stop talking to her. One girl finally accuses her of stealing the village boys, which Buttercup resents: she doesn't want anything to do with the boys and refuses to play their flirty games.

Some evenings, Farm Boy beats a few of the boys so they'll leave Buttercup alone. She always thanks him, and he replies with the same answer every time: “as you wish.” When Buttercup is about seventeen, the first rich man stops to look at her ride and he mentions Buttercup to Count Rugen.

The narrator explains that before Europe, the country of Florin existed between Sweden and Germany. This note is in parentheses. The king, King Lotharon, is technically in charge, but he's very old and senile. His son, Prince Humperdinck, is the real ruler. He only trusts Count Rugen, whom he made a count as a birthday present. Rugen's wife, the Countess, buys her clothes from Paris. In parentheses, Morgenstern notes that this is after Paris, but only just after the invention of taste. She spends her time being rich and glamorous.

In an aside, Goldman tells the reader that he'll leave his comments in italics and just wants to explain how Morgenstern uses parentheses. He says that his copy editor was in tears over the parentheses. He doesn't even know if Morgenstern meant for people to take them seriously, and he believes that they signify that something didn't actually happen.

Returning to the story, Buttercup's father looks out the window of their house and begs Buttercup's mother to come to the window. They argue, but then Buttercup's mother goes to the window. They ooh and ahh at whatever is out there and after a minute, Buttercup joins them. She's also awed and watches Count Rugen and the Countess, along with their procession, go by on the road. The procession turns to enter the farm, which concerns Buttercup's parents. They go out to meet Rugen, who asks to see Buttercup's father's cows and learn the secrets of good dairy farming. This is strange, as Buttercup's father is well aware that people hate his milk.

Count Rugen asks to speak to Buttercup about the cows. She suggests that Rugen speak to Farm Boy, which piques the interest of the beautiful Countess. The Countess snaps her fingers at Farm Boy, who introduces himself as Westley, and asks him what he does to the cows. When he says he just feeds them, she takes his arm, follows him to the barn, and watches him feed the cows. Buttercup follows, as does Rugen.

After dinner later, Buttercup's father remarks that Westley didn't do anything special to the cows. Buttercup's mother gives Buttercup a bowl of stew to give to Westley. Buttercup gives it to him, but coldly tells him that she wants him to bathe, braid, and massage Horse until he's glistening. Her mother calls her out on her rudeness. Buttercup goes to bed but every time she closes her eyes, she sees the Countess staring at Westley. Buttercup rolls in bed feeling feverish and thinks of how handsome he is. She decides that the Countess must just like Westley's teeth and remembers that Westley looked back at the Countess. Weeping and thrashing, Buttercup's jealousy overtakes her and takes the fourth-place spot for historical fits of jealousy.

Before dawn, Buttercup wakes up and knocks on Westley's hovel door. He's beautiful. Breathlessly, Buttercup tells Westley that she loves him more every minute and will do whatever he wants her to do to earn his love. Westley closes the door in Buttercup's face. She runs back to her room and flings herself on her bed. She thinks about Westley and tries to tell herself that he said nothing because he's dumb, but she knows it isn't true. This decided, Buttercup tells herself that he must not love her back. She spends the whole day crying.

At dusk, Westley knocks on the door. Buttercup adopts a fancy tone and apologizes for playing a joke on him earlier. He ignores this and says that he's here to say goodbye. This shocks Buttercup, but she sticks to her attempts at being fancy and says that she won't take Westley back when the Countess finishes with him. Westley again ignores this and says he's going to America to seek his fortune. He's already trained himself to not need sleep, so he'll be able to take multiple jobs and buy a farm and a house. Buttercup points out that the Countess won't be happy on a farm.

Westley tells Buttercup that he loves her and has done everything for her. He says that when he told her “as you wish,” he was actually saying, “I love you.” Buttercup promises that she'll love nobody else. Westley starts to step away but turns back and kisses Buttercup. The narrator notes that there have only been five great kisses in the last four millennia, but this kiss was greater than all of those.

Buttercup spends a while moping before realizing that Westley could meet a beautiful girl in London or America who would be prettier than her if she keeps crying. She runs downstairs and asks her parents for advice on how to make herself look nicer. They suggest bathing and brushing her hair and Buttercup immediately sets to work. She gets up every morning, does the farm chores, and then dedicates her afternoons to her appearance. She exercises, bathes, and brushes her hair a thousand strokes per day. Almost immediately, Buttercup starts jumping up in the ranks of beautiful women. A letter from Westley catapults her from ninth to eighth and she talks about him endlessly.

Then, one morning, Buttercup gets home after delivering milk and finds her parents sitting still at the table. Buttercup's father whispers that the Dread Pirate Roberts attacked Westley's ship and killed him. Buttercup hurries to her room and stays there for days. When she finally emerges, Buttercup has clearly transformed from a girl into a woman, and she's finally become the most beautiful woman. The narrator notes that this is because she now knows pain and suffering. She tells her parents that she'll never love again.