The Princess

Alternate Titles: Beauty, Maiden, Damsel, Beloved

This is that feminine heroic archetype that feminists despise. There's really no way around it: she's sweet, beautiful, largely passive, and she is available as a prize to the most worthy suitor. She stands singing at windows and flowers spring up beneath her feet as she frolics through the meadows. Men's hearts melt before her grace, and merely to see her is to love her. Modern attempts to gussy her up as a lively, spunky, self-determinining are generally doomed to failure. In the best examples, she shifts archetypally and becomes a Shrew. In the worst, (Disney's Little Mermaid comes to mind) she becomes a self-important brat. This is because the Princess is Woman possessed of every natural grace: she has wealth, beauty, charm, learning, etc. etc. Only through humility, only by turning these graces over to the other, can she avoid becoming insufferably proud or wontonly dissolute.
That said, the Princess is capable of great integrity. Whether she cleverly thwarts the throngs of suitors who are gobbling up Odysseus' wealth, or endures a year without eating in the depths of the Underworld, her submissiveness is neither indescriminate, nor is it the result of weakness. She is not simply available to whomever wishes to take her. Only the one who is truly worthy, and perfectly suited to her, may claim her hand.

Examples:

Archetypal Events: Sleep, Radiate (light, flowers, peace, etc.), Become Apparelled, Sing, Look out the Window, Marry, Charm, Promise, Play, Explore the Castle

Common Princess Plots:

The Tale of True Love: The Princess is terribly lonely, even though flowers spring up under her feet and the birds sing to accomany her every move, she yearns desperately for love. Her adventures carry her very nearly into the arms of many ill-suited men, until at last she finds her Prince, and it is love at first sight.

Into the Underworld: A Usurper arises from a deep and dangerous realm, under the mountain, beneath the opera, or in the land of the dead. He seizes/seduces the Princess and carries her away into darkness. She may, later, be rescued by a Prince.

The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth: The Prince and Princess are in love -- until her virtue is besmirched by the some vile Trickster's schemes. In the best of cases, this leads to a delightful comedy of errors, and all's well that end's well. In the worst, she is murdered, or dies or grief, and only too late is her innocence revealed.

Who's the Fairest of them All?: A Princess must flee the spiteful designs of a jealous Psiren who cannot bear the thought that another woman is more beautiful, and more beloved, than she.

The Princess' Chamber: The Princess' home is the most intimate room of her palace. It represents her virginity, which is emblematic of the purity of her heart, and also her innocence: the reader can enter her bedchamber without shame or titillation, because it has a sort of Edenic, unfallen quality to it. It is also an ideal place to sleep or look out of windows from. Because her home is so small, the Princess is able to leave it without actually going very far; the corridors of the rest of the palace often contain sinister old women, buried secrets, or dire adventures for the Princess who goes wandering in them.
The Princess' Thorns: The Princess possesses natural defenses that prevent anyone who is unworthy from getting near to her. When this is physically manifested, it is often as a barrier of thorns or a wall that will only part for the rightful prince. The unreasonable quest set by her father, in which unworthy suitors are pruned away, is an abstracted form of this weapon.
Minor Symbols: Hair, Rose, Dowry

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