The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde

 


Hey everyone! Today, I got to read another of Oscar Wilde's amazing stories, called 'The Happy Prince'. It is such a touching tale, which also makes us realize some harsh realities of the world. The story is about the relationship between a swallow and the statue of the prince of the state. The swallow, during its travel to Egypt, happens upon the statue which comes to life immediately and tells the swallow about how the prince got his name, 'The Happy Prince'. The prince says that he was brought up with much leisure, such that there was a huge wall surrounding his palace which prevented him from witnessing his citizens or his city. He remained happy as long as he lived, and then his statue was established decorated with rubies in his sword and having sapphires for his eyes.

The prince asks the swallow to remain with him for one day and help the citizens who are facing hardship, under his directions. First, the swallow takes the rubies in his sword to help a young woman who is working hard to help her sick son, and next, it follows with the sapphire eyes being used to help more people who are in need of money. Finally, the swallow decides to stay with the statue itself, as it has been blinded after losing its sapphire eyes. The statue loses everything precious in its making to help the poor in the state, and the swallow dies in the winter out of cold. 

The ending of the story is a tragic as well as a cruel one, as the prince's statue is demolished and the statue of the new mayor is established. The story contains the characteristic irony of Wilde. Firstly, the story is a harsh reflection of the situation of any state, where the wealthy, or the aristocrats, who invest less work were given the utmost respect, while the real situation of the people who worked hard in the state went unnoticed. And the story also reflects how even those of the aristocrats, when they try to sympathize with the commoners, are pulled down tragically by the other aristocrats. The prince had been happy as long as he remained unaware and carefree of the people in his state, but the moment he started caring and became aware of the situation, he began losing his precious belongings one by one and finally, himself. The swallow, too, meets with the same situation. It could have flown to Egypt and enjoyed with its friends, but it chose to remain and help the prince, ultimately facing an agonizing death. It is a testimony to the fact that world had been governed by selfish and self-centered people and belongs to them, and the rest, who try to make a difference, are simply rejected.

The aristocratic society is prepared to bring down one of its own when they begin socialising and replace them with another typical aristocrat, ensuring that they remain prosperous and the poor remain in distress. If at all the poor attain prosperity, it would mean they would come to wield self-respect and question oppression, which would result in the compromise of the comfortable livelihood of the aristocrats and they should cease to enjoy unquestioned authority. This story may appear cynical, but this is a result of the 'Realism' movement in literature I guess, and therefore, a registration of truth. It was a very touching story and I recommend every reader or literary enthusiast to check on Oscar Wilde to find an unforgettable reading experience.

Thank you people, see you✌️

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Gap Year

 Hello people! Welcome to my blog. This is my first post and my hearty thanks to all you people for supporting it by visiting it. I am a first year under-graduate student of the course B.A. English Language and Literature. Today, I would like to share with you my journey towards choosing this course and how I have perceived it so far. To start with, I heard about this course for the very first time when I was in my eighth grade. It was suggested by my father at a time when I was on a spree of writing stories. Thise were neither short stories nor essays or poetry. Those fit in a category which is yet to be founded. I had then had a notion that I would go on to make those of my stories into films in the distant future, although now I laugh at myself for having such crazy ideas with those kind of stories. It was at that point of time when my dad suggested that I take up English Literature for my UG and then pursue Film Studies for my PG, reasoning that such a path could help me shape myse
Read more

Dad's Chicken Gravy

 Hello friends! Today I am going to share with you about my dinner experience and how it led me to do some things which were unusual of me. To start with, I was going home from college and I was terribly famished. As I went closer and closer to my house, I was thinking only about having anything to chew in my mouth. But unfortunately, I had no other choice other than the curd rice my mother had made in the morning. The side dish was lady's finger roast, which, too, I knew would have gotten over by the time I got home. So, it's just curd rice and nothing else to have for a side-dish. Now I do like curd rice, but having it without anything for a side dish makes me a bit unhappy. But just when I got home, I came to know that my dad had made chicken gravy for dinner. I was not a big fan of his chicken gravy till then, but this particular day, I don't know what got into me. I was hell-bound to have it. Coincidentally,  while having lunch with my friends, one of them mentioned ab
Read more

My ICA Enlightenment

 Hi people! Today, during my Allied Paper class, there were presentations being done by the candidates for their Internal Continuous Assessment (ICA) II. I too am assigned to the same professor to make my presentation, and I was really confused on how I was going to make my presentation. I had chosen Novel, to present for my CA II. I was confused whether I had to tell the summary of the novel, or do something else. Also, I have this very bad habit of unnecessarily complicating things instead of presenting them short and sweet. But today, I would say that it was an eye-opening session, since I saw my classmates do their seminars and some of them inspired me to a great extent. Previously, I had this notion of presenting either complicated concepts, or presenting simple ideas in complicated ways to make them appear valid. But today, I realized that that is not required. A simple and clear presentation would ensure a fine output. My classmates' presentation not only inspired me on how
Read more