Prince Charming (Adam & the Ants song)
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Prince Charming is a
fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...
stock character A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a fictional character in a work of art such as a novel, play, or a film whom audiences recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition. There is a wide range of st ...
who comes to the rescue of a
damsel in distress The damsel in distress is a recurring narrative device in which one or more men must rescue a woman who has either been kidnapped or placed in general peril. Kinship, love, or lust (or a combination of those) gives the male protagonist the motiv ...
and must engage in a
quest A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. The word serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical. Tales of quests figure prominently in the folklore of ever ...
to liberate her from an evil
spell Spell(s) or The Spell(s) may refer to: Processes * Spell (paranormal), an incantation * Spell (ritual), a magical ritual * Spelling, the writing of words Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Spell'' (1977 film), an American t ...
. This classification suits most heroes of a number of traditional folk tales, including " Snow White", " Sleeping Beauty", and " Cinderella", even if in the original story they were given another name, or no name at all. Often handsome and romantic, these characters are essentially interchangeable, serving as a foil to the heroine; in many variants, they can be viewed as a metaphor for a reward the heroine achieves for the decisions she makes. The prominence of the character type makes him an obvious target for revisionist fairy tales. "Prince Charming" is also used as a term to refer to the idealized man some people dream of as a future
spouse A spouse is a significant other in a marriage. In certain contexts, it can also apply to a civil union or common-law marriage. Although a spouse is a form of significant other, the latter term also includes non-marital partners who play a social ...
.


History of term

Charles Perrault Charles Perrault ( , also , ; 12 January 1628 – 16 May 1703) was an iconic French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier folk tales ...
's version of '' Sleeping Beauty'', published in 1697, includes the following text at the point where the princess wakes up: "'Est-ce vous, mon prince?' lui dit-elle, 'vous vous êtes bien fait attendre'. Le Prince charmé de ces paroles... ne savait comment lui témoigner sa joie". ("'Are you my prince?' she said. 'You've kept me waiting a long time'. The prince charmed by her words... did not know how to express his joy.") It has sometimes been suggested that this passage later inspired the term, "Prince Charming", even though it is the prince who is charmed (''charmé'') here, not who is being charming (''charmant''). In the 17th century, Madame d'Aulnoy wrote two fairy tales, '' The Story of Pretty Goldilocks'', where the hero was named ''Avenant'' ("Fine", "Beautiful", in French), and '' The Blue Bird'', where the hero was ''Le roi Charmant'' ("The Charming King"). When Andrew Lang retold the first (in 1889) for ''
The Blue Fairy Book ''The Langs' Fairy Books'' are a series of 25 collections of true and fictional stories for children published between 1889 and 1913 by Andrew Lang and his wife, Leonora Blanche Alleyne. The best known books of the series are the 12 collectio ...
'', he rendered the hero's name as "Charming"; the second, for '' The Green Fairy Book'', as "King Charming". Although neither one was a prince and the first was not royal, this may have been the original use of "Charming". In the early Disney animated feature, ''
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as Ta ...
'' (1937), when Snow White tells the dwarfs about her prince, she says, "Anyone could see that the prince was charming, the only one for me." However, he is never referred to specifically as "Prince Charming".
Andreas Deja Andreas Deja is a Polish-born German-American character animator, most noted for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Deja's work includes serving as supervising animator on characters in several Disney animated films, including the Disney ...
initially struggled with the concept of animating a handsome villain in '' Beauty and the Beast''. Deja ultimately based
Gaston Gaston is a masculine given name of French origin and a surname. The name "Gaston" may refer to: People First name *Gaston I, Count of Foix (1287–1315) *Gaston II, Count of Foix (1308–1343) *Gaston III, Count of Foix (1331–1391) *Gaston ...
's appearance on those of handsome soap opera actors in order to create a grotesque version of the Prince Charming
stock character A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a fictional character in a work of art such as a novel, play, or a film whom audiences recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition. There is a wide range of st ...
. In other languages, like Spanish and Italian, he is called the "Blue Prince". In Portuguese, a translation mistake occurred and he is called "Charmed Prince" (''Príncipe Encantado''; the correct term for "Charming" should be ''Encantador'' or ''Charmoso''), coincidentally closer to the sense in Perrault's story mentioned atop this section.


Modern usage

*The Broadway musical '' Into the Woods'' (first produced in 1986) explores the character as lecherous, and where there are not one, but two Prince Charmings. Here, they are shown as brothers pursuing Cinderella and Rapunzel, then later, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, after they have married their first wenches. Cinderella's Prince has an affair with the Baker’s wife as well, and when confronted about his womanizing, states "I was raised to be charming, not sincere." The princes are portrayed by
Robert Westenberg Robert Westenberg (born October 26, 1953) is an American stage actor, acting teacher and professor. He appeared on Broadway in ''Sunday in the Park with George'', ''Les Misérables'', ''Into the Woods'', and ''The Secret Garden'', as well as sev ...
and Chuck Wagner in the original Broadway cast and by
Gavin Creel Gavin James Creel (born April 18, 1976) is an American actor, singer, and songwriter best known for his work in musical theater. Creel made his Broadway theatre, Broadway debut in 2002 in the leading role of Jimmy in ''Thoroughly Modern Millie ( ...
and
Joshua Henry Joshua Anthony Charlton Henry (born September 2, 1984) is a Canadian-American actor and singer of stage and screen. He is best known for portraying Haywood Patterson in Kander and Ebb's 2010 musical '' The Scottsboro Boys'', for which he rec ...
in the original 2022 Broadway revival cast, Andy Karl played both princes for limited runs in the revival and Cheyenne Jackson played Cinderella's Prince for a limited run as well. In the 2014 Disney
film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...
of ''Into the Woods'', the Prince Charmings are portrayed by Chris Pine and Billy Magnussen. * As implied by the title, the 1991 fantasy novel ''
Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming ''Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming'' (1991) is a fantasy novel by Roger Zelazny and Robert Sheckley. Introduction Every millennium a big contest is waged between the forces of good, and the forces of evil, a contest that determines the tur ...
'' by Roger Zelazny and Robert Sheckley includes sharp satire of the traditional fairy tale theme. *Prince Charming is a prominent character in the '' Fables'' comic book (2002–2015). Polygamy is explored again: in that version, he successively married Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella with each marriage ending in divorce due to his compulsive womanizing. He himself comments: "I always truly love a woman when I first pursue her...I'm just no good at the happily-ever-after part." He parlays his charm into election as the mayor of Fabletown, the underground "Fable" community, and finds the job more difficult than he had anticipated. He died in the Battle for the Homelands by activating a bomb to End the War. *The character of Prince Charming is deconstructed in the 2004 movie '' Shrek 2'' and its 2007 follow-up '' Shrek the Third'', wherein he is the son of the Fairy Godmother and has an unpleasant and ruthless personality unfitting for a fairy-tale prince. *In the fantasy novel series ''
The Sisters Grimm ''The Sisters Grimm'' is a children's fantasy series written by Michael Buckley and illustrated by Peter Ferguson. The series features two sisters, Sabrina Grimm and Daphne Grimm, and consists of nine novels that were published from 2005 to 201 ...
'' (2005–2012), Prince Charming is the mayor of Ferryport Landing, a town inhabited by fairy-tale characters- or ''everafters''. He is shown to be rude, arrogant and boastful, but turns out to be a valuable ally to the protagonists of the series. He is shown to have married and slept with many of the girls in this town, among them Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. But he clarifies that he truly loves Snow White and proposes to her. He then separates himself from her for her protection. *The concept of the Prince Charming is parodied in the 2007 film '' Enchanted'' when Edward is looking for Princess Giselle in the New York City. While knocking the doors he finds a pregnant housewife holding three kids, who tells him, in a scoffing voice, "You're too late." *In the television series '' Once Upon a Time'' (2011–2017), Prince Charming (portrayed by Josh Dallas) is the husband of Snow White, though neither of them remembers this in the cursed Storybrooke, where the character's name is
David Nolan David Nolan may refer to: * David Nolan (politician) (1943–2010), co-founder of the United States Libertarian Party * David Nolan (American author) David Nolan is an American author, civil rights activist, and historian. Biography Nolan was b ...
("Charming" is the nickname given to him by Snow White). In his previous life, David is actually the brother of the real prince James (also portrayed by Josh Dallas) who died and was replaced with his twin. Both brothers were born to a poor farm couple who made a deal with Rumpelstiltskin to save their farm; they gave up one son to King George, whose wife could not conceive. After James's death his brother found out the truth and took his place, becoming engaged to Abigail, daughter of King Midas (reluctantly, after his family is threatened by the real prince's adoptive father) in a deal that unites two kingdoms with Midas giving the King George gold in exchange for the prince defeating a dragon. Later, the prince meets and marries Snow White with whom he has a daughter named Emma. In Storybrooke, David is a John Doe with amnesia who meets and falls for Mary Margaret, who is really Snow White, before recovering his memory and working at the Storybrooke Sheriff Department. He later has another child with Snow White named Neal. * In the book series ''
The Land of Stories ''The Land of Stories'' is a series of children's fiction, adventure and fantasy books written by American author, actor and singer Chris Colfer. The first book, ''The Wishing Spell'', was released on July 17, 2012. The sixth book was published ...
'' (2012) by Chris Colfer, there are four Prince Charmings, who are brothers named Chance, Chase, Chandler and Charles Charming who are married to Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Red Riding Hood respectively.


References


External links


Merriam-Webster.com: Prince Charming
{{Sleeping Beauty Cinderella characters Fairy tale stock characters Fantasy tropes
Charming Charming may refer to: Fiction * ''Charming'' (film), a computer-animated musical comedy film * Charming (''Sons of Anarchy''), a fictional town where the television series '' Sons of Anarchy'' is set * Prince Charming (disambiguation), a stock ...
Literary characters introduced in 1697 Male characters in fairy tales Sleeping Beauty characters Snow White characters Pantomime