Prince Charming is a fairy tale character who comes to the rescue of a damsel in distress and must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell. 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.
