Oscar Wilde’s Fairy Tales

Tóth Anita Tímea

Two collections of tales:
- The Happy Prince and Other Tales in 1888
- A House of Pomegranates in 1891

They did not create large sensation

“The Happy Prince,” he wrote in a letter, “is an attempt to

treat a tragic modern problem in a form that aims at delicacy
and imaginative treatment; it is a reaction against the purely
imitative character of modern art.”
Scholars often wonder why Wilde wrote fairy tales at all.

Perhaps he was influenced by his wife, Constance Wilde (two sons,

Cyril and Vyvyan)

Fairy tales are expected to share some sort of message, or moral,

with readers - Wilde provides readers with plenty to think about after
reading tales

Moral intent, aestheticism, Satanism, decadence, and degeneration -

the real Oscar, beneath the masks and poses, was a Victorian
gentleman who could not entirely avoid a Victorian predilection to
preach—indeed, to be moralistic
Two audiences: He wrote for children, but adults also read them
- Golden Rule–type messages
- more complex and sometimes controversial philosophies and
ideas.

Tragic problem even is fairy tales

Vices and virtues

Expose and criticize selfishness and insensitivity.

The main character recognizes his error and achieve grace

Reveals human folly and wisdom - uphold virtuous
behaviour

Not to encourage faith or advocate Christianity

They propose decency and generosity in human relations

“The Happy Prince” and “The Nightingale and the Rose,”
- self-sacrifice and love and portray
- characters who give their lives for others, (for the poor
and for love)
- The world takes little note of these sacrifices, it is
indifferent if not hostile to selflessness.

“The Fisherman and His Soul,” the most difficult of the

tales (doppelganger theme in which the body and soul are
separated)
The Happy Prince
The Happy Prince
- a majestic statue that looks down over a city
- tied to that immobile, sumptuous statue, bathed
in gold and with precious stones
- observe the misery of most of the inhabitants of
the city – becomes his pain
- a swallow who was flying over the city on his
way to Africa – felt sorry for him and agreed to
help
- The swallow took out all the precious materials that
covered him to give them to the people who needed
them
- Mayor and his Town Councillors notice the lead
statue (uggly)
- Notice the swallow
- The statue was torned down, will be melted down
- God, watching from heaven, tells one of his Angels
to bring him the two most precious things in the city
(bird will song in heaven forever, Happy Prince will
praise God in his ‘city of gold’)
Judging others

Poverty versus wealth

Being greed

Society full of injustice and inequality

Importance to superficial beauty and a life full of luxury

and escapism

No compassion for each other

Self-sacrifice and kindness, love

An allegory with a message that promotes charity

Even if good deeds may not always be rewarded, the

happiness which comes with performing a good deed
soon becomes a reward in itself.

Humans should do good and help those in need (do not

be greed)
The Nightingale
and the Rose
The Nightingale and the Rose
- A boy of philosophy fallen in love with a
professor's daughter
- Dance for a rose (hard target)
- He cried that he lost his love
- A nightingale listened him and understood him
- It went to tree to tree to bring a red rose for the
boy (but it was winter)
- A tree of white rose gave a solution that if it
would punch its heart in the thorn and sing a song
in moonlight then the red rose would be produced
- The boy found the rose and went to the girl, but
she rejected him (jewels)
- The boy threw the rose in to the gutter and
said"what a silly thing is love".
„The nightingale is the true lover, if there is one.
She, at least, is Romance, and the Student and the
girl are, like most of us, unworthy of Romance.’ He
added: ‘I like to fancy that there may be many
meanings in the Tale – for in writing it […] I did
not start with the idea and clothe it in form, but
began with a form and strove to make it beautiful
enough to have many secrets and many answers.”
Characters

The Nightingale
- the protagonist
- romantic by bature and inspired by love
- sings about love all the time and waits to see it
- the whole story revolves around his sacrifice and
selfless nature
- not appreciated at the end
- that true does exist but people make it selfish.
The Student
- young boy
- appears as a true lover, crying for the love of his life
- lead by practicality and lacks the ability to feel true emotions
- he calls the girl ungrateful and suddenly all his love fades away
- love is unpractical and unrealistic
- material person, not a person who believes in love and
selflessness
- does not appreciate the Nightingale’s sacrifice
The girl
- the boy should bring a red rose for her if he wants
to dance with her
- she rejects it because she is provided with jewels
by another rich suitor
- selfless – materalistic and shallow perspn
- values wealth more than true love
The rose tree
- There are three rose trees in the story but only one
plays a major role in it, (the white)
- It refuses to tell the bird how to get a red rose – to
safe its life
- The only one who recognizes the Nightingale’s
sacrifice and remains sympathetic her.
The Lizard
- At the beginning
- Laughs at the Student
- He finds it useless to cry for a red rose
- Pessimist
- Motivation by self-interest rather than acting
for selfless reasons
- Features of traditional fairy tales (hero, love
interest, helper), but Wilde mess them up
(unromantic and boorish hero, love interest ist
fickle and materalistic)
- the hero often has to produce a special gift in
order to impress the father and to win the heart
(and hand) of the heroine. Here the girl herself
who control this.
- Gift = token of affection, love (not a dowry)
Pointless or not?

The Nightingale believes in true love but gives its

life in a pointless gesture.

The rose is a beautiful work of art (fusion of the

Nightingale’s song, the power of nature, and
sacrifice) – not pointless
Thank you for attention!