Miracle Max

Character Analysis

This guy is only in this book for one scene, but he makes quite an impression. After all, the book wouldn't get very far if its hero (Westley) stayed dead after being killed by Humperdinck. And that's where Max comes in—he heals him. The guy is a bit of a crab, though, and he doesn't seem all that keen on doing the resurrection at first. He tells Inigo and Fezzik to scram, saying:

"I got work to do. I was feeding my witch when you came in; I got to finish that now." (7.151)

It turns out, though, that Max and Inigo and Fezzik have some common ground: They all hate Humperdinck. It's only when Inigo tells Max that resurrecting Westley will bring pain to Humperdinck that Max finally agrees, shouting, "'Now that's what I call a worthwhile reason […] Give me the sixty-five; I'm on the case'" (7.211). So now everything seems fine, which just goes to show that you can always count on pure spite to bring people together.