Haizea Caceres Urtaran,

Modern languages and management,

Group 1.

OSCAR WILDE, THE FISHERMAN

AND ITS SOUL: IS
 LOVE LIMITED?
INTRODUCTION

The concept of love has been modified and studied multiple times by various psychologists and

specialist throughout time, such as Beall & Sternberg (1995) or Hegi & Beregner (2010).

According to Orsini (2006), although it may be a universal feeling, it can be different depending

on factors such as culture or language. In England in the 19 th century, love was nothing more

than marriage of convenience between the two different sexes; a woman was needed for

housekeeping and chores, and a man for economic stability. Nevertheless, different sexualities

were starting to be more visible for the public and also more punished. That is why in the case

of the Irish writer, Oscar Wilde, who contravened traditional love and saw no limits in it

(Bergler, 1956), this feeling was his downfall and consequently meant, the end of his career.

The Irish writer wrote the story of The Fisherman and His Soul in 1915 where he

similarly portrayed his private life and explained the points of view he had about love in an

unconscious way; however, it would be necessary to analyze in detail what were exactly his

thoughts regarding this concept. It should be mentioned that although this feeling has existed

since the appearance of the first human being and has had various studies made upon it, there

is very few research that focuses on whether it has limits or not.

Basically, the aim of this essay is to find the answer of questions such as the following:

Are there any limits regarding the concept of love for Oscar Wilde? Is love worth leaving

everything else aside? Was the type of love Wilde experienced “healthy”?

The previously mentioned purpose, is achieved by contrasting and developing the main ideas

using the different articles gathered in the reference list and the story of The Fisherman and

His Soul which represents uniformly the topic discussed. These articles help building an

explanation and give supporting evidence to the final conclusion. The main points that will be

developed in the essay will be the following: On the one hand, how was the love Oscar Wilde
felt and how it altered his surroundings to know if he saw any limits; whereas on the other

hand, if the writer’s self-love was stronger than the love for Bosie and if his life interest could

have been stronger.

OSCAR WILDES LOVE AND SURROUNDINGS

The word love can be highly ambiguous and its multiple meanings are the reason behind the

different research that has been done on this topic, as Fehr & Russel (1991) stated, “Love can

be studied as a relationship, as an attitude, as an experience, and so on.”(p. 426). This

universal feeling can lead people to act in uncommon ways; moreover, it might provoke

human beings to think less clearly of their consequences or their actions. There are different

types of love, according to Hatfield & Walster (1978), there are two valid forms: On the one

hand, Passionate love, which is an intense need to unite with another person; while on the

other hand, companionate love is simply the deep feeling of fondness for a person but only if

their lives are connected with each other.

Oscar Wilde was known to have experienced the feeling of love towards Lord Alfred

Douglas (Bosie), his lover; furthermore, after analyzing the definitions and the writer’s

biography, it may indicate that the Irish writer felt more passionate than companionate

regarding love. As Dickinson (2005) stated when referring to The Profundis, “Act One is called

“Deciding to Stay,” and concludes with Oscar’s decision not to flee England for the Continent,

based on his continuing love for Bosie” (p. 419). This demonstrates that the necessity of being

with Bosie must have been stronger than the love he felt for his family, friends or

surroundings, and more powerful than his desire to live freely; In addition, he stated the

following when he was warned not to return to England by his acquaintances, “My friends are

extraordinary. They beg me to be careful. Careful? But how can I be careful? That would be a

backward step. I must go on as far as possible.” (1991). It can be appreciated how the writer
wanted to be with Bosie in any way possible resulting in the oblivion of his environment

(friends, family, life…) and lack of fear concerning the consequences. Blinded by love, the Irish

writer gave everything he could, however, the sacrifice was not enough and was finally

sentenced to prison for indecency. Oscar Wilde thought that by limiting passion there was no

life and no beauty in it, and had the idea that by surpassing all boundaries in love would lead

to the feeling of having lived his live.

There is also another figure created by Oscar Wilde, recognized to have felt this

feeling, his character, the fisherman from The Fisherman and His Soul. The lead of this work

was infatuated by a mythological creature known as the mermaid. Due to the physical

differences, the only way both characters could unite was if the fisherman relinquished his

soul. Precisely as Oscar Wilde´s situation, the fisherman focuses on his beloved and leaves the

rest of life aside. In the end, when the soul suggests him to leave, he receives a no as a

response and the justification stated in the story is the following: “Love is better than wisdom,

and more precious than riches, and fairer than the feet of the daughters of men.  The fires

cannot destroy it, nor can the waters quench it.  I called on thee at dawn, and thou didst not

come to my call.  The moon heard thy name, yet hadst thou no heed of me.  For evilly had I left

thee, and to my own hurt had I wandered away.  Yet ever did thy love abide with me, and ever

was it strong, nor did aught prevail against it, though I have looked upon evil and looked upon

good.  And now that thou art dead, surely I will die with thee also.” (Wilde, 1915, n.p). Proving

that passionate love can blind people like it blinded the fisherman and Oscar Wilde to the

point where nothing else can be as important as it, not even the opportunity to live.

SELF-LOVE AND SELF-WORTH

Love is not only directed towards other people; each person can also direct it to themselves,

and this phenomenon is called self-love which is highly related to self-esteem. According to
Crocker & Park (2004) it is considered to “produce pleasant feelings and enhanced initiative”

(p. 392) and additionally, a considerable amount of people pursues it because of the benefits it

can have when managing fear or even anxiety (Crocker & Park, 2004). There are also studies

which even relate self-love with narcissism or egocentrism, for instance; Narcissism, self-

esteem, and the positivity of self-views: Two portraits of self-love (Campbell, Rudich &

Sedikides, 2002) or Does self-love lead to love for others? A story of narcissistic game playing

(Campbell, Foster & Finkel).

In life, people may question themselves if the love for others is stronger than the love

for oneself. There are some who might prioritize oneself and its needs but others have the

opposite apprehend concerning the topic. In the case of the writer of The Fisherman and His

Soul, Oscar Wilde, the existence of self-love was in its entirety true, it could be observed in his

way of living and his way of thinking, as he once stated “To love oneself is the beginning of a

life-long romance.” (1895). Nevertheless, it could be said that he did not prioritize himself and

preferred to focus on his love for Bosie rather than his own life and wishes. The Irish writer

knew and was warned of the consequences of numerous of his actions, yet decided to follow

his love, Lord Alfred Douglas (Bergler, 1956). Wilde decided to remain with Bosie and his affair

because the passionate love he felt at that moment; however, when a person has given

everything to someone without thinking rationally, then problems might appear in that

individual’s life. The consequence for Oscar Wilde, as previously mentioned, was the prison

sentence that happened due to his sexual orientation and the love that existed between him

and Bosie. In the end, it could even be suggested that self-love and oneself is a limit in love,

because when a person prioritizes themselves in an appropriate way, that individual has more

space to think reasonably about their lives it and their interest, resulting in the decrease of the

probability of atrocious consequences.

CONCLUSION

Lastly, subsequent to the analysis of aim, the main ideas and the arguments, the outcome

would be the acceptance of the following statements and conclusions:

Firstly, love can be limited, as argued throughout the essay, one of this limits could be

the prioritization of each individuals needs and preferences. This could be attributable to the

possibility of logical thinking that appears when love is not thought as the solution to

everything. Precisely as Oscar Wilde´s situation, his self-esteem could have been beneficial to

see those limits; however, the love for Bosie was to profound.

Secondly, love is not worth leaving everything else aside. In life there are more aspects

apart from love and all of them are as important as it, such as family, friends or even a career.

Moreover, if one of those parts does not function, it is more probable for that person’s life to

have problems

Lastly, it could be said that it was not a healthy love due to the different levels of

implication that each person had in the relationship. What is more, Wilde was even prepared

to leave his writing career for Bosie. In the end, to conclude, the following implication may be

done: love is a powerful feeling, however, just like everything else in life, it also has its limits.

REFERENCE LIST

- Beall, A. E., & Sternberg, R. J. (1995). The Social Construction of Love. Journal of Social and

Personal Relationships, 12(3), 417-438.  https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407595123006

- Bergler, E. (1956). “Salome”, The Turning Point in the Life of Oscar Wilde. Psychoanal. Rev.,
 43(1):97-103.

- Campbell, W. K., Foster, C. A., & Finkel, E. J. (2002). Does self-love lead to love for others? A

story of narcissistic game playing. Journal of personality and social psychology, 83(2),

340.

- Campbell, W. K., Rudich, E. A., & Sedikides, C. (2002). Narcissism, self-esteem, and the

positivity of self-views: Two portraits of self-love. Personality and Social Psychology

Bulletin, 28(3), 358-368.

- Crocker, J., & Park, L. E. (2004). The costly pursuit of self-esteem. Psychological

bulletin, 130(3), 392

- Dickinson, P. (2005). Oscar Wilde: reading the life after the life. Biography, 414-432.

- Fehr, B., & Russell, J. A. (1991). The concept of love viewed from a prototype

perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(3), 425–

438. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.60.3.425

- Hatfield, E., & Walster G. W. (1978). A new look at love. A revealing report on the most

elusive of all emotions.

- Hegi, K. E., & Bergner, R. M. (2010). What is love? An empirically-based essentialist

account. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 27(5), 620-636.

- Wilde, O. (1915). A House of Pomegranates  (7th. ed.).

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/873/873-h/873-h.htm.