Khóa luận tốt nghiệp tiếng anh: MORAL LESSONS IN SOME OF OSCAR WLDE’S FAIRY TALES

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRANING TAY BAC UNIVERSITY =====o0o===== KHONG QUYNH HUONG GRADUATION PAPER MORAL LESSONS IN SOME OF OSCAR WLDE’S FAIRY TALES FIELD: ENGLISH LITERATURE S

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRANING

TAY BAC UNIVERSITY

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRANING

TAY BAC UNIVERSITY

=====o0o=====

KHONG QUYNH HUONG

GRADUATION PAPER

MORAL LESSONS

IN SOME OF OSCAR WLDE’S FAIRY TALES

FIELD: ENGLISH LITERATURE

SUPERVISOR: MRS BUI THI THU HIEN M.A

SON LA, 2015

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

For the fulfillment of my Graduation Paper, I would like to express my

gratefulness to all of the people who have stood by my side and helped me

enthusiastically

My special thanks would go, first and foremost, to MA Bui Thi Thu

Hien, my supervisor, for her valuable lecture and suggestions She gave me her

invaluable comments, instructions and whole - hearted assistance,

encouragement as well as supplied me with helpful advice Without the

supervisor‟s help, this thesis could not be completed

I am extremely grateful to my teachers and friends, who have directly or

indirectly helped me with encouragements and provision of documents related to

the theme of my thesis

I am especially indebted to my family for their indispensable support and

applaud during the process of writing this Graduation Paper

And last but not least, my sincere thanks would be reserved to Tay Bac

Library which supplied me with the version of the book and other books related

on which I did my thesis

Son La, 7 th May, 2015

The researcher

Khong Quynh Huong

Comment [1]: trang này cho lên đầu tiên nhé

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

3 Methods of the study 2

4 Scope of the study 3

5 Research question 3

6 Design of the study 3

CHAPTER II: THEORY OF LITERATURE 4

1 Definition of Literature 4

2 Main functions of a literary work 4

2.1 Reflective function 4

2.2 Educational Function 5

2.3 Aesthetic Function 5

3 Aspects of a fiction 5

3.1 Theme 6

3.2 Plot 6

3.3 Characters 6

3.4 Settings 7

4 British Literature in the second half of the XIX century 7

4.1 Social circumstances 7

4.2 Literature 9

CHAPTER III: OSCAR WILDE’S BIOGRAPHY 10

1 Life 10

2 Career 12

2.1 Noted works 12

2.2 Writing style 15

3 The Happy Prince and Other Tales 17

3.1 General introduction to the book 17

3.2 Summary of “The Happy Prince” 18

3.3 Summary of “The Selfish Giant” 19

3.4 Summary of “The nightingale and the rose” 20

CHAPTER IV: MORAL LESSONS IN OSCAR WILDE’S FAIRY TALES 22

1 Sacrifice 22

2 To share to get happiness 29

3 To be wise and clear – sighted 33

4 To appreciate the others‟ efforts 34

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION 37 REFERENCES

and realistic details A human nature is looming in his writings “The Happy

Prince and Other Tales” (1888) is one of the finest works of Oscar Wilde,

which provides valuable moral lessons for people By exploring three fairy tales

“The Happy Prince”, “The Nightingale and the Rose” and “The Giant Selfish”, researcher would like to find out how the author conveys his moral

lessons to the readers

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

In the history of English literature, the English decadent literature and the Aesthetic Movement in the XIX century are known together with the name of

Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde is a famous English writer who wrote the novel The

Picture of Dorian Gray and the play Salome at the end of nineteenth century He

was not merely well known as the leader of the “Aesthetic Movement” as well

as faithful apostle to the “Art for art‟s sake” but a well-known decadent writer in the second half of the 19th century English literature His aesthetic attitude of

"art for art's sake" was well received and reported by scholars and researchers, but some moralists and religious leaders said he was so immoral that they could not accept and evaluate his work Even if it was proper that they criticized him

in those days, that were the Victorian Age, researcher would never agree with such an attitude toward his work I am sure that one's work should not be evaluated on the basis of one's behavior or character, but should be evaluated on its worth

Readers are not only fascinated by his rich and delicate vocabulary, by his lucid and expressive style but his humanistic contents of his works as well Though Oscar Wilde used to state that he would remain faithful to the principles of aestheticism throughout his life, though the young intellectuals worshipped him as their cult and assured that each of his cells was full of aesthetic concepts, his works especially the genres laid down earlier objectively earned him recognitions as a writer of the works of realistic value The idea of having an animal as a main character is shown in many of Oscar Wilde‟s short stories He developed this theme as a reaction towards his age which lacked, in his view, moral as well as human values

In spite of being world famous, little is known about Wilde‟s life and works in Vietnam Oscar Wilde‟s works, his simplicity in plots, his wonderful choice of words fascinate a lot of people In this graduation paper, far from

perfect though it is, researcher works at the moral lessons that stand in his “The

Happy Prince”, “The Nightingale and the Rose” and “The Giant Selfish”

The title of the graduation paper is “Moral lessons in some of Oscar Wilde’s

fairy tales”.

2 Aims and objectives of the study

In the light of researching Oscar Wilde‟ biography and analyzing three of

five fairy tales in “The Happy Prince and Other Tales” by Oscar Wilde, The

study aims at:

- Finding related theories about Literature

- Drawing significant knowledge about Oscar Wilde included: his life, career and writing style

- Finding out some moral lessons through three fairy tales

- Analyzing and comparing the moral lessons based on founded information

3 Methods of the study

To carry out the study, some main research methods are applied:

- Reading document

The basis form of reading document is to search and read documents

relating to the study Documents would be English or its translation in order to understand deeply

4 Scope of the study

Project work is advisable to study in all works of Oscar Wilde, with all kinds However, due to the limit of time, the researcher would focus on the fairy tales Besides, it would be taken a long time to do the project to all fairy tales, so the researcher just devotes the research to the moral lessons in the three stories:

“The Happy Prince”, “The Nightingale and the Rose” and “The Giant Selfish” in “The Happy Prince and Other Tales” (1888)

5 Research question

How moral lessons are conveyed in the three short stories?

6 Design of the study

The thesis is divided into five chapters, which can be generally categorized into three main parts: Introduction (chapter I), Development (chapter II, III, IV) and Conclusion (chapter V), each of which will be respectively presented as below:

Chapter I deals with rationales, aims, research questions and scope of

study

Chapter II discusses the theories of Literature: the brief view of

literature, its functions, fiction elements, and British Literature in the second half

of the XIX century

Chapter III is about the author‟s life, career, writing style and the

summary of three fairy tales that researcher choose to do the thesis

Chapter IV presents the analysis

Chapter V covers the general conclusion of the whole thesis

CHAPTER II: THEORY OF LITERATURE

1 Definition of Literature

“Literature is life” That is what people always say about Literature It

all comes from the truth that Literature refers to anything happen in life, to human beings and animals or “just everything” that are used to convey the visions, the attitudes and the messages of writers With the materials provided

and the in – depth meaning under the surface of letters, Literature is news that

stays new It is always fresh and new every time the readers read and discover

In Literature world, the people live in a new life, their minds are broadened, and their souls are bred with meaningful and interesting ideas, mixed emotions and adventurous feelings

2 Main functions of a literary work

A literary works provides readers its author‟s vision of the world and of human life It brings about a sense of time and an understanding of the human psychological as well as physical world in different perspectives It is Literature that betters the life of its readers, helps them improve their social behaviors and thinking Therefore, a literary works has many functions: Reflective function, Educational Function, Aesthetic Function, Entertaining Function, Communicative Function and etc Among those functions, Reflective, Educational, Aesthetic Function are viewed as the most important functions of a literary works

2.1 Reflective function

Reflective function is regarded as the first and basic function of a literary work because literature is defined as a means to convey an author‟s visions of life, the object of literature is rooted from man and his real life Each writer has his/her own method of writing and considers life and society in different aspects For example, Hemingway used the images of a war and human fates to express his hatred to war, Jack London through his hero – Martin Eden – he wanted to

show his attitudes towards bourgeois society Moreover, “a writer should write

a truthful sentence” said Hemingway Although novels, stories are imaginary,

“a true good book can speak of imaginary people so vividly that they seem more alive than people we meet on the streets and can make us care more about its characters as if they were close friends” said Alice Standey At each period of

history, characters are described similarly to the prominent characteristics and personalities of people It is, therefore, believed that the real world is reflected through literature

2.2 Educational Function

Pantopxki – a Russian writer – once said: “literature shows us different

life – styles, helps us to understand the power of man’s soul, know what is right, what is wrong, what is happiness, beauty and love.” Literature plays a quite

important role in forming personalities, educating and improving one‟s ideology and feelings In addition, literature create in one‟s mind the live for the beauty of art, help them to understand law of human, of nature, of social and political awareness and therefore, to broaden their knowledge of life Characters in a literature work are always the samples for readers to imitate positively and negatively Literature can educate people to live more meaningfully and humanely

2.3 Aesthetic Function

Literature holds within itself Aesthetic Function, which means the function to satisfy the demand for beauty of human being Beauty often lies in the story‟s narration, in the noble senses and feelings of characters, in the discovery of new and interesting or meaningful life Sometimes, beauty even lies in tragedy and sorrow It is the desire for beauty in life that makes the readers think about themselves, think about their life and their love With its own Aesthetic Function, Literature enriches human life

3 Aspects of a fiction

When exploring a literary works, we should pay due attention to several important aspects of it, which are Plot, Character, Settings and Themes

3.1 Theme

Theme is the central unifying element of the story, which ties together, all

of the other elements of fiction used by the author to tell the story It indicates the pivotal ideas around which the author was writing In order to identify a theme of a story, one must know the whole story

3.2 Plot

The plot of a story is the series created by the author to tell the story “A

plot is a narrative of event” said E.M.Foster, and is generally understood as an

author‟s choice and arrangements of events on time or sequence but not compulsory for all kinds of fiction Plot may be discussed in term of rising action, climax, and falling action The term rising action refers to the events before a climax, while the falling action refers to the events which occur after the climax The climax may be defined as the highest point of interest in a story and it is the point at which one (or more) of the conflicts is resolved If there is more than one conflict in the story, there may be more than one climax In a plot, the time – sequence is preserved, but the sense of causality overshadows it Events and activities which are initial elements of a plot must be well – organized to attract readers‟ attentions and passion The plot of a fiction is often based on historical events or social situations and is developed based on author‟s intention

3.3 Characters

The performer of action in a fictional work called character play an important role in forming an interesting work Character is considered the soul

of a literature work and determines its vitality Character might be anyone, any

being in real life “A character is a fictional representation of a person – usually

(but not necessary) a psychologically realistic depiction” said Kirszner and

Mendell

In general, characters fall on two categories: flat and round characters A

flat character, according to E.M.Foster, “can be express in one sentence” Flat

character is a minor character in a story, therefore, it is easy to describe,

understand and identify that type of characters In contrast, round characters are the major ones In a fictional work they are well – developed, complex, closely involved in and responsive to the plot Hence, round characters are readers‟ main attentiveness in a literature work Appearing together in a fiction, both round and flat characters must be well – organized and combined, but cannot be copied exactly all the details of real people.

A house or a flat, for example, tells readers about people‟s tastes, economic status

4 British Literature in the second half of the XIX century

4.1 Social circumstances

Oscar Wilde lived and worked in such an age as the so – called “The end

of the century” or “Of no time” In the second half of XIX century, all the states

in every field of Great Britain such as economy, politics…,etc were threatened

According to L Corres in An anthology of English Literature XIX, a violent

economic crisis occurred, trading business saw no progress Economic activities

in the whole country were stagnant Meanwhile the working class movement led

by Trade Unions became stronger Strikes and the demonstration took place everywhere in Great Britain under the socialist ideas Poverty and unemployment swept over the country The English bourgeois did not pay attention to the miserable living condition of the common people They launched wars in order to look for ways of imperialist expansion in search of new markets and they increased the oppression of the working class to better than their own life They exposed all the more the deep and uncompromising contradictions

The bourgeois society principles were shaken to the root Life was full of injustice, evils, wick-less, etc.

Hypocrisy seemed to be the striking feature of the English society

especially of the English bourgeois V.I.Lenin remarked: “Hypocrisy can be

found everywhere but nowhere has such a terrible and subtle one as that in England”.

The crisis in British economic and political life led to the crisis in England culture Artists, poets, novelists, musicians and all the intellectuals deeply hated the bourgeois society which lacked of humanity and sundered the development

of human character and intelligence They had the cultural depression, the decadence in the spiritual life of bourgeois society, the alien ideology of bourgeois escape, when could create attempts be tended to? Oscar Wilde wrote:

“We are born in war time Where should we go in these unhappy, hopeless minutes? Nowhere but the existence of everlasting beauty are we in? That’s the only place that always brings us joy and oblivion as well” Oscar Wilde‟s

restlessness, no doubt was the hesitation of his contemporary artist, but his solution disclosed the way out of only a part of writers at that time

The last decade of the 19th century saw of new ideas which gave birth to a fresh set of force in economic - political and literary life and at the same time witnessed a reaction against many of the old Victorian ideals

- The first source of new ideas came from the growing class – consciousness of the working class aroused by the progressive – minded thinkers of the time The growing class – consciousness of the workers made the development of the working class movement possible

- In 1883, a group of independent socialist from the middle class formed the Fabian Society The Fabians held that a better future for the people could only be achieved on the basis of a scientific organization of society

- It was also in this period that Carl Marx (1818 – 1883) and Frederick Engels (1820 – 1895) were finalizing their system of ideas on political economy

Marx presented three vital economic theories on labor value, surplus value and capitalist accumulation process

- Meanwhile, British colonial expansion was going on abroad

4.2 Literature

In English literature, N Nikiforova considered that on the basis of such a

social background, various trends of literature developed at the end of the 19thcentury Broadly categorized, these trends fall into two divisions: progressive and regressive

- Belonging to the progressive trend were George Eliot, George Mercedith, Samuel Butler, Thomas Hardy… These writers continued the realistic traditions of their predecessor, the great writes of critical realism, and presented in their creative works a truthful picture of their contemporary life

- Writers belonging to the regressive trend with Oscar Wilde as their representative severely protested against the description of reality in their works They tried to lead the readers away from life, into the world of dreams and fantasy into the realm of everlasting beauty and became the “ivory – tower” writers They idealized the patriarchal way of life and criticized capitalism chiefly for its anti – aestheticism At the end of the century this reactionary theory found its expression in decadent literature and art They appreciated the outer – form and a creative work rather than value of its content They

meanwhile set up a new aesthetic conception in art, which was “Art for Art’s

sake”

CHAPTER III: OSCAR WILDE’S BIOGRAPHY

1 Life

Oscar Wilde, or better known as Oscar Wilde O‟Flahertic Fingal Wills Wilde, was born in Dublin in October 16th, 1854 in a well – to – do family He had brilliant parents, both of whom adored wit and society and had solid accomplishment to their credit His father, Sir William was a surgeon (a famous physician specialist) in the treatment of the eye He also had a famous reputation

in such fields as ethnology, archaeology, and literature On the other hand, his private life created a sensation with love affairs His mother, Mrs Jane Francisca Elgee, who was the daughter of a lawyer, excelled in many languages, including contemporary French, German, and old Celtic She was well known in Dublin as

a graceful write of verse and prose Oscar Wilde‟s childhood was spent under the great influence of his mother, an excellent woman It was her who fervently followed Irish nationalism and composed poetry and spent so much time collecting folk tales It was due to her active youth she published her burning poems under the name “Speranza” in hope that it might hasten her people to attack Dublin castle She also wrote prose and imitative verse for the “Young Ireland” party In her there remained the contempt for the English arrogance and insolence and she was inclined to make the narrow – minded ethical and the trivial arrogance of the English bourgeoisie change for the better since then it is sure that the disregard of bourgeois morality and the scornful attitude towards cowardice which is inherited later in Wilde‟s character has begun And he also luckily inherited her beautiful style, his parents' literary talent, and their educational interest His mother, Jane, was eager to have a girl for her second child when Oscar was born She was so deeply disappointed to know that the child was a boy that she began to bring him up as a girl

Researcher is sure that such an experience in his infancy must have had a great influence on his personality Robert Sherard, one of the most reliable Oscar Wilde biographers, insisted: "This fact must be regarded as pivotal by a

pathologist or a psychoanalyst (The Life of Oscar Wilde)." Sherard indicated that

Oscar had become homosexual because of experiences in his infancy We know today that there are other factors involved

Coming from intellectual origin Wilde easily came to the fullest schooling and that is why it is explained about Wilde‟s work that it is all became of his inborn luck He has gradually obtained a wonderfully humane education He was first educated at Port Royal School, Enniskillen from 1864 to 1871 which was famous as the "Eaton School of Ireland." He excelled in the humanities and he studied in the same class as his older brother, William

When he was seventeen, he entered Trinity College in Dublin, and met a famous professor called Mahaffy, who was an authority on Hellenism, or Greek spirit He learned of the marvelousness of Hellenism from Professor Mahaffy, and was greatly absorbed in it After that, he became attached to Hellenism and was eager to become intimate with a beautiful boy like Adonis who was loved

by Aphrodite (Venus) or a handsome youth like Apollo, both Greek mythological figures After entering Maudarin College, Oxford University, at the age of twenty, his inclination toward Hellenism became stronger and stronger Two professors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin, had a great effect on Wilde during his Oxford days

Later, when he was in jail, Oscar said, "There were two turning points for me: one was that my father had sent me to Oxford University, and the other was that a severe society had sent me to jail." Oxford University was a glory for him, and it was simultaneously a passage to destruction The biographer, Ellmann, indicated that Oxford University, in those days, was one of the most prestigious universities in the world, but it was also a very vulgar place where almost all the students indulged in dissipation He added that the Greek and Latin classics promoted vices such as homosexuality or bisexuality

There is one other thing that is significant in Oscar Wilde's character When Oscar left Oxford University in 1878, he called himself "a professor of

aesthetic" and he thought that aestheticism was the creed that would be attributed to him.

2 Career

2.1 Noted works

In 1884, he married Constance Uoyd, two sons were born of the marriage

He had already published in 1881 a selection of his poems which however, only attracted admiration in limited circle 1888 appeared “The Happy Prince and Other Tales” and this charming volume of fairy tales were followed up by a 2nd

selection of fairy stories “The House of Pomegranates” (1892), acknowledged

by the author to be “intended neither for the British child nor the British public” His fairy tales were imbued with great love for humanity, immense compassion for the poor and profound sympathy with their sufferings His only novel and meanwhile his masterpiece “The picture of Dorian Gray” was published in 1891

In the novel he touched upon many problems he seemed to be professed of And the most important one was the reciprocal relationship between art, beauty and morality Not only in “The picture of Dorian Gray” did he express his Aesthetic view but also in his essay “The Decay of Lying”, “The Critic as an Artist” and

“Pen, Pencil and poison” which were taken together into “Intention” In the same year tragedy in blank verse “The Duchess of Padcia” was produced in New York His poems are elegant, charming but do not disclose any original personality, in their impertinence or their pathos, they strike us as unequally successful experiments in verse His first articles and essays bear too obvious marks of his inordinate desire for paradox Wilde could not help seeing the evil

of contemporary life He understood that social order was bad had to be replaced

by another system He even spoke about socialism and wrote an essay “The Soul

of Man under Socialism” (1891) but the work shows the inconsistency of the author‟s conception Wilde had a very vague ideas on the subject Socialism remained a beautiful dream to him In his earlier work “Vera on the Nihilist” (1882) Wilde wrote about Russian revolutionaries The melodrama is primitive and native, but is shows the people‟ belonging for freedom and happiness With

intention, however, the serious bearing of what might have seemed a mere affection grows manifest In all directions, the criticism and the analysis here are singularly far reaching Nothing can be more intelligent.

But Wilde‟s first rate success with the larger public as dramatist was with lady Windermere‟s Fan (1882) followed by “A Woman of No Importance” (1893), “An Ideal Husband” (1895) and “The Importance of Being Earnest” (1895) In his play, Wilde directs his satire against various aspect of contemporary life: marriage relations, morality and class privileges He reveals the corruption of the upper classes He shows the very way people can come to power in English bourgeois The wit and brilliance of these helped them to keep the stage and they occasionally revived Wilde‟s plays are remarkably successful and stand out through their exceptional merit against the most unrelieved mediocrity of theatrical production for a whole country In 1893 appeared his Salome, in which the cruelty of sensual passion is studied in a realistic manner, has more unity, through his art might be more delicately shaded Though his books made him famous not only in England he was not very satisfied He wanted to create a work of art which comes from his own life, from himself His elegant look an appearance His intelligent, acute, playful speech, his active advocacy for hedonism that led to the explanation of selfishness, his almost sinful admittance to morality: all these things have brought him reputation and at the same time this was considered humiliating and doubtful His successes as dramatist hand by this time gone away to disabuse hostile critics of the suspicions as regards his personal character which had been excited by the apparent looseness of morals which since his Oxford days has always pleased to affect, but to the consternation of his friends who ceased to credit the existence

of any real moral obliquity At last, all these things fall into oblivion of humane laws and morality and he then appeared in the place of defendant In 1895 came fatal revelations as the result of his bringing a libel action against the marquis of Aucensberry But is came from his ill – fated relationship with lord Alfred Douglas, which culminated his arrest, 2 years imprisonment of homosexual

immorality in Reaching Gaol, not far from London with hard labor for offenses under the Criminal law Amendment Act He went bankrupt soon after It was a melancholy end a singularly brilliant career After his release in 1897, he left London for Paris to avoid all his ill – fame and commercial bankruptcy He lived mainly the rest of his life in Italy and France under the name Circadian Menmot

In 1897 “Epistolary in Carrere et Vinculis” (letter from prison) was published by his friends under the Title “De Profeendis” A year later he wrote “Ballad of reading Gaol” His most sincere piece of writing was his swan song It is the traditional of the old English ballads and the Ancient Mariner but with a deep – felt emotion that could arise only from the poet‟s bitter experience While in prison he wrote an apology for his life which was placed in the hands of his executor published in 1905 – along bitter letter of recrimination to lord Alfred Douglas He died on November 11th, 1900 He left behind a precious legacy of fairy tales, poems dramas and a marvelous novel He too left lavish praises and severe criticism It is obvious that his literary road is not very smooth His fame

is world – wide but rather bitter His paradoxes hurt the citizen likings of the middle class, broke the religious concepts and principles which had been built for some ten years

It is known to everybody that Oscar Wilde‟s name ever shines on any papers of English literature as well as the history of English literature as the leader of “English Aesthetic Movement” in the XIX century and a faithful apostle of “Art for Art‟s sake” school Many bourgeois literary critics affirmed that “Oscar – Wilde was a decadent writer to the core” They welcomed Wilde‟s works with open hostile attitude In the 90s of last century when his talent was in blossom many of his works became objects of ridicule, poems imitated absurdly and Oscar Wilde himself was a topic for cruel caricature

It is necessary for everybody to mention Oscar Wilde‟s paradoxes Wilde‟s paradoxes, no exaggeration, brought perfection to his works It differentiates him from other writers And up till now, there has been almost no writer who outshines him in this field It is no doubt that Oscar Wilde is a man

of paradoxes Paradox can find its full expression both in his works and his life

As the leader of the “Aesthetic Movement” in England and the apostle of “Art for Art‟s sake” Oscar Wilde maintains that art stands above all

The deeper we go into the analysis of Oscar Wilde the better we realize his talent It is true to think of him as a versatile writer and a monster of omniscience Through his works, he is regarded a realistic writer than decadent one and he is an apostle of “Art for heart‟s sake” rather than that of “Art for art‟s sake”

2.2 Writing style

Oscar Wilde had often spoken of his belief that, in artistic matters, style outweighed sincerity or substance As such, in his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, his attention was therefore paid to form and the nuances of wording in his novel If the novel was an “essay on decorative art”, it was also a piece of decorative art composed of carefully selected phrases In fact, Wilde was so determined to have perfection in his works, when he was asked to write a story

of a hundred thousand beautiful words, he complained that “there are not one hundred thousand beautiful words in the English language.”

Oscar Wilde had a phenomenal ability to incorporate aspects of both fantasy and realism into his works Through thoughtful imagery and realistic dialect, he successfully merged two contradicting genres into a fascinatingly morbid tale Wilde also excelled in his use of imagery He vividly described people and situations with many types of literary devices though his favorite and therefore most frequented is morbid imagery He commanded an astonishing mastery of the art of morbidity, describing in unusual detail images of corpses and blood and a murder that would rival anything in modern cinema “He [Dorian] rushed at him [Basil], and dug the knife into the great vein that is behind the ear, crushing the man‟s head down on the table, and stabbing again and again There was a stifled groan, and the horrible sound on someone choking with blood Three times the outstretched arms shot up convulsively, waving grotesque stiff-fingered hands in the air He stabbed him twice more,

but the man did not move Something began to trickle on the floor He waited for a moment, still pressing the head down He could hear nothing, but the drip, drip on the threadbare carpet” (Wilde p.126) This passage describes in haunting detail a gruesome murder and paints a terrifying picture in even the most unimaginative mind

However, most readers are divided in their response to a style and atmosphere which early reviewers found deeply distasteful Richard Elman wrote of „a certain gaminess‟ about Wilde‟s favorite poem „Charm ides‟ (Elman, p.135), and the phrase could also pertain to The Picture of Dorian Gray

Another style that is prevalent in Oscar Wilde‟s novel is the presence of dialogue rather than action He prefers his characters to engage in casual conversation in a sitting room much more often than actual action Through his writing, Wilde seems to be striving to stimulate the visual and musical arts through language primarily

Whether descriptive or dialogic, Wilde‟s writing in the novel is characterized by the use of paradox (a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth) It is his favorite stylistic device Contemporary reviewers were quick to identify the technique and belittle it, or argue that it only played on „the convertibility of terms.‟ However his style was soon accepted by the vast majority of British

reviewers Writing in the Free Review (June 1, 1895), literary critic, Ernest

Newman hailed Wilde‟s style saying, “To hear one of Mr Wilde‟s paradoxes by itself is to be startled; to read them in their proper context is to recognize the great fact on which I have already insisted, that a paradox is a truth seen round a corner There is not one of his paradoxes that does not argue our straightly and squarely, and we rise from the perusal of them with a self-conscious wisdom that we had not before.”

Another style familiar to Oscar Wilde is his incredible talent for morbidity and evil He had an astonishing grasp on the reality of human nature and the darkness that resides in every one's soul Unlike most writers of his time, Wilde

was particularly in tune with the darker side of things He recognized the lust for immortality that is built into every human being and exemplified it in his novel Dorian‟s greed for eternal youth results in the deterioration of his soul as seen in his portrait He had an insight into evil that few authors of his time period could claim and he mastered this insight and put it into writing with incredible ease

Few authors have successfully written with a skill to rival that of Oscar Wilde‟s Though Stephen King mastered morbidity, he fails to grasp the eloquence and rhetoric of Wilde‟s style Likewise, the eloquence of text can be closely matched by an author such as Charles Dickens, but Dickens cannot be closely compared to Wilde in his sense of imagery Wilde had the whole package and no writer, even to this day, has been able to mimic his distinct, and slightly disturbing, writing style

3 The Happy Prince and Other Tales

3.1 General introduction to the book

The Happy Prince and Other Tales (sometimes called The Happy Prince

and Other Stories) is a collection of stories for children by Oscar Wilde first

published in May 1888 It deals primarily with love and selfishness These stories are generally sad, with a moralistic message It is most famous for its title story, “The Happy Prince”, the short tale of a metal statue who befriends a migratory bird Together, they bring happiness to others, in life as well as in death This book contains five stories, "The Happy Prince", "The Nightingale

and the Rose", "The Selfish Giant", "The Devoted Friend", and "The Remarkable Rocket"

Wilde himself said little of the book, but a passing remark of his about

one of the tales could be applied to all of them as well: “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.” The “form” Wilde chooses is fantasy, which

he clearly prefers to realism or the “purely imitative character of modern art”: