France is accredited for the creation of the theatrical style of melodrama in the late 18th century, to accompany the romantic literary period; later adopted by the Americans. This new style was characterised by exaggeration to appeal to the heightened emotions of the audience. Melodrama’s are typically a humorous production with a moral undertone, rather than manipulate realism; the unrealistic genre was created. Melodrama has endemic conventions including: plot organisation, divided into three sections, these include: the provocation, pang and penalty. The style also requires stereotypical characters referred to as stock characters, exaggerated movements, gestures and effective costuming. Through the utilisation of these melodramatic conventions…show more content… Stock characters are characters based on definite stereotypes; the hero is characteristically a masculine, ethical male who is the source of all justice, the heroine is a beautiful, moral female who will need to be saved by the hero, the villain is an immoral male who will devise plans to either murder or injure the heroine and the villain’s accomplices primarily serve as comic relief, due to their visible deformities and inability to complete all tasks. Sock characters have visibly been displayed in The Princess Bride. Buttercup fulfils the criteria of a heroine, as she is an innocent female who pure of heart, Although, Buttercup is incapable of ensuring her own safety and doing simple tasks, as when she was drowning in the quick sand, Westley was required for her salvation. Also Princess Buttercup’s high pitched voice also helps in distinguishing her from other stock characters. In turn, due to Westley’s gallant actions, he is classified as a hero, as his masculinity shines through his impressive sword fighting skills. Also, his return to rescue his beloved from her death and his exposure of Humperdinck’s wicked plans, emphasis his just qualities. Finally the source of all evil presented in the film is Prince Humperdinck, which categorises him as the villain. Humperdinck is simply the antagonist of the hero and heroine; all of his plans were devised for self-enrichment but consequently Buttercup (heroine) would have had to be murdered. The Princess Bride filmmakers have created definite roles and characters. Each character’s attitudes, beliefs, intentions and actions had to be developed focusing on the stereotypical aspects of their personalities, in order to form the convention of stock characters. The filmmakers manipulated the dramatic element of role and character to create the convention of stock characters.