Which Prince is Prince Charming? Quiz

Answer: His mother

The fact that he isn't totally brave does NOT mean that he can't be Prince Charming, however. He is still brave, along with sweet, and I'm sure, good looking.

Both Perrault's "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood" and the Grimm Brothers' "Little Brier Rose" mention this prince's courage. While other princes were afraid to enter her castle due to the thorns surrounding it, and in fact, the princes who did try, failed and died miserable deaths in such thorns and bushes, her true love wasn't afraid. He was determined to find the sleeping princess.

Despite his overall bravery, the prince was afraid of none other than his mother. Perrault explains how his mother, or stepmother, depending on how one interprets the text, was a terrible ogre. The prince's father only married the ogre for her money! The prince was more afraid for his children's lives than he was for his own, because the ogre didn't behave well around young children. He kept Sleeping Beauty and their children a secret from his mother for two years, out of fear that she would hurt them.

Answer: A whole day

Contrary to Disney's depiction, the prince didn't kiss Snow White to bring her back to life. Instead, in the 1812 edition, the prince has his servants bring her coffin to his castle. One of his servants got so mad at having to carry Snow White around, that the servant hit her back and the poisoned apple piece came out of her mouth. Therefore, she came back to life. In the 1857 edition, the servants have trouble carrying the coffin, so they don't even make it to the prince's home. In the 1857, one of the servants stumbles on a bush, which causes the apple to come out of her throat.

The following quote portrays the prince's love for Snow White, from the 1812 edition.

"The prince had it carried to his castle, and had it placed in a room where he sat by it the whole day, never taking his eyes from it. Whenever he had to go out and was unable to see Snow-White, he became sad. And he could not eat a bite, unless the coffin was standing next to him."

Now, the fact that he couldn't even eat without her there shows romance and commitment to me.

Answer: He threw himself off the tower.

The Grimm Brothers' "Rapunzel" is about a witch who raises a girl as if she was her own mother. She put Rapunzel in a tower and kept her there. When the witch wanted to visit the beautiful maiden, she would yell, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" The prince heard the sorceress use that phrase, so he began using it himself. One day, Rapunzel foolishly revealed to her stepmother that she was allowing a prince to climb up on her hair to see her. The story implies that she and the prince had been carrying on an affair for a while, but the exact length of time isn't known. The witch was so angry with Rapunzel; she cut most of her hair off and dropped Rapunzel off in the wilderness. She assumed that Rapunzel would die, but she survived.

Her stepmother tied a long strand of Rapunzel's hair onto the tower, so when the prince came for his nightly visit, he thought she was still there. When he reached the top, he saw the witch, who told him that his beloved was dead. The prince was so distraught that he threw himself off the tower (the witch also implied that she was going to murder him, but I think he thought that suicide was a better option than fighting her). However, he survived, and after wandering around for years, he ended up in the wilderness where Rapunzel was. The ending is very romantic. The prince was blinded from his injury, but when Rapunzel cried over him, her tears fell on his eyes and he magically was able to see again.

Answer: True

"The Frog King", sometimes called "The Frog Prince" and "Iron Henrich", is about a prince who was under a spell. It is uncertain when the idea of the princess kissing the frog came about, because in the original story, she threw him against a wall and then he transformed back into a human. However, whether she kissed him or threw him, the frog relied on the princess to break his curse.

The princes in "Cinderella", "Sleeping Beauty", "Rapunzel", "Snow White" and similar tales are considered Prince Charmings because they rescue the girls from danger or wicked situations in one way or another.

There is another definition of Prince Charming, though, which is basically the ideal husband. Merriam-Webster states that he is handsome, polite, brave, etc. Indeed, the princess found the frog to be disgusting at first, but she must have been absolutely shocked when, after throwing him violently against the wall, her slimy acquaintance became a handsome young man. By this second definition, the frog prince might be a Prince Charming.

Answer: Peanut butter

In these versions, Cinderella went to more than one ball, so she met and danced with the prince, left, and then did the same thing on another night. Re-reading them again, I realized something I hadn't before: the prince caused her to lose her slipper! While Perrault doesn't include the prince making a trap in his version, both Joseph Jacobs and the Grimms do.

"The Cinder Maid" states that after the second ball, the prince ordered his soldiers to pour honey over stairs. He was hoping to prevent her from leaving, but she escaped anyway. After the third one, he commanded them to put tar on the staircase. Although she ran away, one of her *golden* (the glass slippers come from Perrault!) slippers got stuck in the tar.

The Grimm version includes pitch being poured on it.

Cinderella's prince isn't named in any major literary variation of the tale, but Disney chose to actually name him Prince Charming in their franchise.

Answer: He murdered Griselda and their daughter.

The prince didn't murder his wife, Griselda, or their daughter, but he did originally hate women. He also began to treat Griselda cruelly to test her loyalty to him. In addition, he took away their daughter from Griselda when the girl was only a baby. This hurt Griselda greatly. Even though the princess was alive and well in a convent, he lied to his wife and told her that she died. Apparently, one of the tests was to see if Griselda would remain a good and obedient wife even after the supposed death of her child.

In short, Perrault's "Griselda" tells of a popular but misogynistic prince who meets and marries the beautiful and sweet Griselda. She was a shepherdess. The prince originally didn't want to marry anyone, but he changed his mind when he met her. Even though he loved her at first, he eventually become suspicious of her good nature. He thought that she was simply faking her loyalty to him, so he started testing her. Frankly, he was abusive to her, and the strangest, cruelest thing he did was how he pretended he was going to marry his own daughter. He basically was trying to make Griselda jealous, because Griselda didn't know at the time that the pretend bride was their daughter.

Personally, I don't consider this prince a candidate for Prince Charming.

In his article, "Fairy Tale Redux: Charles Perrault", Benjamin Farr states that Perrault condemned the oppression of women during his time. Farr argues that Perrault was using "Griselda" to question the way society treated women.

Answer: True

A passage from Perrault's version of "Sleeping Beauty":

"Trembling in his admiration he drew near and went on his knees beside her. At the same moment, the hour of disenchantment having come, the princess awoke, and bestowed upon him a look more tender than a first glance might seem to warrant.
'Is it you, dear prince?' she said. 'You have been long in coming!'
Charmed by these words, and especially by the manner in which they were said, the prince scarcely knew how to express his delight and gratification."

"The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood" was originally published in 1697 and in French. In French, the charmed prince would be similar to "Le Prince charme". Some people believe that this quoted passage inspired the term "Prince Charming", despite the fact that the prince was charmed (charme) by the princess and therefore not the charming (charmant) one.

Answer: White

She was cursed to be a white cat. The tale is also titled "The White Cat". Although the prince is not named in the story (likewise, the princes in "Cinderella", "Snow White", etc. aren't​ named) he fits the description​ of the Prince Charming archetype. He rescues the damsel in distress, at least in a way. While the Queen of the Cats needed him to break the spell, she was very artistic and intelligent and capable to do a lot by herself! As a cat person, I think "The White Cat" is very cute.

Madame d'Aulnoy alludes to Sleeping Beauty and Puss in Boots in "The White Cat".

Answer: Yes

Yes, Goldilocks and Charming wed at the end, because Goldilocks's first husband, the king, died. The full text of "The Story of Pretty Goldilocks" can be found online, along with the other tales discussed in this quiz.

Interestingly, Goldilocks tells Charming that she's going to make him king, but Charming is called a prince as well--Prince Charming! I must note that in the original French fairytale, his name was Avenant. In Old French, "Avenant" meant "fine" or "beautiful". When Andrew Lang translated it to English in 1889, Lang slightly changed the character's name to Charming. (I say that he slightly changed it because fine, beautiful, charming, etc. are synonyms.) This was actually one of the first mentions of a Prince Charming in a literary work.

Answer: Florine

The origins of Prince Charming mainly go back to d'Aulnoy's fairytales. While some do suggest that Perrault's description of the prince in his "Sleeping Beauty" may have contributed to the idea, it must be stressed that in that context, the prince was charmed, not charming. D'Aulnoy's "The Blue Bird" features "Le roi Charmant", which translates to the Charming King or King Charming. Interestingly, in Edmund Dulac's edition of "The Blue Bird", he truly calls him Prince Charming!

Florine is French and means "flower" or "blossom". For the record, the incorrect choices are French too. Francine is the feminine form of Francois. Aurore is equivalent to Aurora and Aimee means "beloved".