Justice and Fairness in 'Mort' (Pratchett) and 'The Princess Bride' (Goldman): Fantasy’s Satirical Commentary on a World Reality Josiah Hanson College

In both Terry Pratchett’s Mort and William Goldman’s The Princess Bride, the Authors make use of their novels to make commentary about the reality of fairness and justice. Both authors explore how the concepts of fairness and justice effect people in exaggerated or fanciful situations. Both novels present a similar understanding of justice and fairness namely that they are not nearly as rigid or present as one may think.

First, in Pratchett’s Mort there is an exchange where Death takes Mort on his first collection. The person that Death and Mort are collecting is a king who is being assassinated. Mort is quite perturbed by this and this exchange happens: PAY CAREFUL ATTENTION, said death, YOU MAY BE ASKED QUESTIONS AFTERWARDS. “Wait,” said mort, wretchedly. “It’s not fair. Can’t you stop it?”FAIR? Said Death. WHO SAID ANYTHING ABOUT FAIR?“Well, if the other man is such a—”LISTEN, said Death, FAIR DOESN’T COME INTO IT. YOU CANT TAKE SIDES. GOOD GREIFT. WHEN IT’S TIME, IT’S TIME. THAT’S ALL THERE IS TO IT, BOY. (Pratchett 48-49)In this exchange Death is claiming that there is somethings in life that supersede fairness, namely, death itself. This is important to the commentary that Pratchett is trying provide through the text....