Princess Classic/Playing With

Basic Trope: The generic innocent, pure female character with a royal title.

• Played Straight: A pretty, innocent princess whom is kind to all and lives happily in a castle.
• Exaggerated: Extremely sweet and always kind to everyone and everything. Purity Sue to the extreme.
• Justified: The princess is naive and sweet because she was raised in a convent.
  • Or simply because she has an easy life and everyone is nice to her because of her looks and status.
• Inverted: The princess is really the Alpha Bitch and/or she might be very ugly.
  • Or she's an ugly elderly peasant with such a stuck up attitude that she's earned the nickname "Princess."
• Subverted: The princess is a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing, a Royal Brat or a master propagandist.
• Doubly Subverted: The princess is believed to be unfair or bratty at first, but turns out to actually be very sweet and sheltered, owing her bad reputation to other factors.
• Parodied: The princess is an airhead, but this is overlooked by everyone because of her beauty and magical singing voice which attracts nearby animals-from cute chipmunks to vicious vultures.
• Deconstructed: The princess is woefully unprepared for making the tough choices and ruling a kingdom because she is so sweet and sheltered.
  • The princess causes the kingdom to crumble into anarchy, while the Evil Chancellor takes over as dictator, all because of her incompetence.
  • The princess' father or husband is a tyrant, who treats her as property.
• Reconstructed: The princess is competent, but cultivates an image of purity and naivete to appeal to her subjects and mislead her rivals.
  • The princess may not be competent, but she stands for important values she trully believes in. She gives many a Rousing Speech who push the Knight in Sour Armor to still uphold his values and save the kingdom just like she saves animals and minorities from crual treatments.
  • But her marriage is annulled because she is treated poorly or her father is condemned for the crime of high treason. She spares their lifes, and marries a Hot-Blooded prince she reciprocically loves who treats her as well as she treats him, and who indeed rules and makes good political decision, while her generous and indulgent nature temperates him, as she slowly grows into an Honest Advisor.
• Zig Zagged: The princess has this image at first, but she's really an energetic, rebellious young lady with a sailor's mouth. But then, when around her suitors, she upholds this image.
• Averted: The princess acts as a normal person would.
• Enforced: "This show is aimed at younger girls, so they'll be more drawn to a character who's pretty and sweet."
• Lampshaded: "Of course. Instead of a REAL monarch, we get a fairy tale princess in pink..."
• Invoked: The princess picks out her wardrobe and takes lessons to live up to this archetype.
• Exploited: The Evil Chancellor ensures that the princess, who is heir to the throne, remains innocent and naive so that she is easier to manipulate and does not question his plans to set himself up as Regent for Life.
• Defied: "Just because I'm a princess, that doesn't mean I'm some sweet little monarch in a sparkly dress!"
• Discussed: "Beautiful, sweeter than honey, royal title...next thing we know, she'll be singing to some bunnies and deer."
• Conversed: "Why do princesses in these shows always spend more time sparkling and looking pretty instead of performing any political duties?"