The Nightingale and the Rose Oscar Wilde


Oscar Wilde

He was an Irish poet and playwright. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays.

His parents were Anglo – Irish in Dublin. He was very fluent in French and German. In 1855 the family moved to No.1 Merrion Square. Until nine Oscar Wilde was educated at home where a French nursemaid and a German governess taught him their languages. Oscar Wilde impressed his peers with his humorous and school stories. His oral translation of Greek and Latin texts won him multiple prizes. He was one of best at Portora to win a Royal school scholarship to Trinity in1871. At Trinity Oscar Wilde established himself as an outstanding student. He won the demy ship, a half – scholarship worth £95(£8,900 today) per year to Magdalen College Oxford. Catholicism deeply impressed him. He was speechless after an audience with pope Pius Ⅸ in Rome.

Wilde won the 1878 Newdigate Prize for his work Ravenna (poem). He in mid1881 at 27 years old

 published poems which collected revised. On May 29th 1884 he married Constance Lloyd. The couple had two sons. Wilde published The Happy Prince and other Tales in1888.he was more concerned about the effect of moralizing on art, in his political text he argued about the political conditions (“The Soul of man under Socialism) by 25th November 1900 Oscar Wilde had developed meningitis and died on 30th November 1900. Wilde was buried in the Cemetiere de Bagneux outside Paris.

 

Study plan

  • About the Author
  • Review / plot summary
  • Character Analysis
  • Themes structure
  • Literary Analysis 
  • Repetition, Simile, Tone, Sibilance
  •  Personification. Irony, Oxymoronic, imagery,
  •  Foreshadowing, metaphor
  • Language style
  • Symbols
  • Setting

Plot summary

Sitting on the branches of oak tree the Nightingale over hears a young man’s feeling for a girl who promises to dance with him at a ball if he brings her a red rose. The young man is so upset because he could not get any red rose to give her. The Nightingale tries to find a red rose but unfortunately could not find one. The nightingale seeks help from white, yellow rose but they refuse to help. So asks the rose tree. But the rose tree tells her to spend the night singing with one of his Thorns in to existence. So her blood will dye its petals red, slowly it would kill her. The Nightingale scarifies her life using her blood to stain the rose with blood. Now the student finds the red rose outside window. He gives it to the girl. but she changes her mind his red rose as she has a better gift from another young man a wealthy young man. In anger the boy throws the red rose and storms off, he decides that love is not worth, and the boy goes home and continues his studies.

 

Character Analysis

The Nightingale

  • The Nightingale is the main character of the story. She is a hearted by nature.
  • She sings love songs all the time.
  • She sacrifices her life for a student who cries for a red rose.
  • She dyes the white Rose with her blood to change into red rose,
  • In this process she dies
  • The whole story goes around her sacrifice and selfless nature.
  • All her efforts go unnoticed
  •  Her scarifies is ignored and wasted by the student
  • Her faith and belief in true love shows that true love would change due to selfish thought.

 

The student

  • He is a young boy with beautiful eyes and red lips
  • He loves a young girl
  • The young student loves her so deeply
  • His cry and love inspires the Nightingale to help him
  • The young boy could not feel the sincere emotions of the Nightingale
  • He is occupied with various thoughts and fails to notice the emotions of the Nightingale
  • The girl rejects his red rose and love
  • The sincere love for the girl quickly fades away from the student
  • The student is a materialistic person and changes his mind and feelings quickly he ignores the true sacrifice of the Nightingale
  • He fails to fulfill the wish of the Nightingale to be faithful to love
  • His unsteady mind rejects the true sacrifice
  •  

The Rose Tree

  • The author presents three rose tree in the story. But only one plays a major part. The tree under the student’s window helps the Nightingale in turning the white rose into res rose.
  • When the Nightingale asks him an idea to get a red rose the rose tree refuses to help her as he does not want her to lose her life, such a noble thought.
  • The rose tree is the only one who could feel the sacrifice of the Nightingale and feels sad for him.

 

The Girl

  • She comes for a short while
  • She is the sweetheart of the student
  • Professor’s daughter
  • Demands red rose from the student if he wants to dance
  • But after getting the red rose she rejects it and refuses to dance with him
  • She receives better and expensive jewels by another suitor
  • Very materialistic
  • Selfish
  • Narrow minded person who values wealth more than love

 

Lizard

  • Comes in the beginning of the story
  • Laughs at the student who cries for love
  • The Lizards thinks it is useless to cry for a red rose
  • The author presents the Lizards as a pessimist because the lizard believes that people are more
    selfish and give priority to their own benefit.
  • His belief is true as the symbol of love the red rose is rejected by the selfish girl and thrown out by the coward student.
  •  

The Oak Tree

  • Minor character
  • The Nightingale
  •  Lives there
  • It is quite sad to see the sacrifice of the Nightingale and asks her to sing a last song for him.

The white Rose

  • Plays a small role in the story
  • The Nightingale goes to the white rose tree for help
  • But white rose could not help her so he says to go to another tree
  •  

The Yellow Rose Tree

  • Small character in the story
  • Nightingale goes in search of red rose red rose
  • Same as white rose, the Yellow rose tree suggests go to another to get red rose
  •  

Literary Analysis

“The Nightingale and the Rose” is written by Oscar Wilde and published in 1888. It is one of the story in a collection of children’s story. “The Happy Prince and the other Tales”

This children’s story deals with philosophical emotional feelings of various character which could quite hard for the children to understand. The author uses more personifications, similies and symbolism to give a deep analysis of the story. Various themes by the story bring out the materialistic and selfishness of humans.

 

Themes

Sacrifice

Major theme of the story.  When the nightingale overhears the cry of the young student, she decides to help the student to see his success in love.  The nightingale trusted the young student’s love on the young girl.  Her unshakeable belief in love makes her to go to the extent of sacrificing her life.  she gave her life to dye the rose in red color.  So the young boy could give that red rose to his sweetheart.  But she refuse to take it as she gives her heart and mind to expensive jewels of another suitor.  The sacrifice of the Nightingale is wasted and unnoticed and not appreciated.


Love

The author brings out the truth lies behind love.  The readers could see various views of love.  The student’s love on the professor’s daughter is temporary, for he decides and changes his mind after her refusal to accept his red rose. The girl first loves the red rose and the suitor then she changes and gives priority to the expensive jewels from another suitor.  Her love proves to be totally a fake one.  The Nightingale who believes in love sacrifices her life for the students as she trusted his love on his sweetheart.  Oscar Wilde is expressing that there is nothing like true love, but people make true or fake according to their benefits.

 

 

Material life

The theme of materialistic hunger is well explored by the young girl and the student.  He did not realise the emotional feelings of the Nightingale for him the red rose is more important to succeed in his love.  Even he could not understand the voice and the songs of the Nightingale.  The young boy gives importance to the materialistic needs around him.

On the other hand the young girl also very selfish and materialistic. She rejects the red rose of her suitor.  Even the Chamberians’s nephew is an ordinary person, he brings expensive jewels to the girl to show his love.  He too knows well what could attract a girl so that he could win her easily.  All these three characters bring out the theme well to understand the meaning of love.

Setting

The story goes along with nature.  The bush is very close to the young student’s window.  But he does not care what he sees every day.  The red rose is a symbol of true love.  The Nightingale sacrifices her life to color the rose with her blood to change it into a red rose.  This shows how important the feeling of love to the Nightingale.  But the student does not care to see the value of sacrifice behind the red rse just like that he takes to the girl, and just like that he throws it when his sweet heart rejects him.  This shows their selfish nature and greediness for worldly pleasures.

Repetition

The nightingale says, “Here at last is a true lover and here indeed is the true lover?”

First the nightingale decides that the student is the true lover, in the second situation it sounds as a doubt whether he is a true lover or not.

Simile

Passion made his face life pale ivory.  The readers could imagine how much love he has for the lady.  Soon the nightingale’s face turns pale ivory that too indicates the passion it has for the young student’s feeling. “As white as the foam of the sea” the opposite color of the red.  It gives a visual picture of the color.

Tone

The lizard’s way of asking about the cry of the student sounds softer and more quite.  It creates a fairy tale atmosphere.

Personification

“The tree shook its head” it symbolizes as a soft rejection.  It gives a fairy tale surrounding.

Irony

“So he returned to his room and pulled out a great dusty book and began to read” this shows how irresponsible and unfaithful the young student to his love.

Imagery

“He threw the rose into the street…



The author brings out the nature of the human.  Their selfish and shallow and narrow thinking towards life.  the sacrifice of the nightingale goes wasted and unappreciated.

Fairy tale elements in the story

Green lizard – it represents a very casual person.

Butterfly – for curiosity

Daisy – purity

The trees – personified for rejecting the nightingale

 

Conclusion

Thus this beautiful story brings various emotions and feelings for the readers.  The various literary devices such as simile, oxymoron, for shadow metaphor and paradox and interesting personifications give a deeper meaning behind this story.  Oscar Wilde explores the nature of human and the bird, trees and the lizard and the sacrifice of love from the nightingale is ignored by the human is the bottom line of the story which makes the readers guilty of being shallow and selfish.

 


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