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Analysis of Oscar Wilde's "The Nightingale and The Rose"

OSCAR WILDE

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an

Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet. After writing in different forms throughout

the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. He

is remembered for his epigrams, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, his plays, as well

as the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death. At the height of his fame and

success, while his masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), was still on

stage in London, Wilde had the Marquess of Queensberry prosecuted for libel. The

Marquess was the father of Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. The charge carried a

penalty of up to two years in prison. The trial unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to

drop his charges and led to his own arrest and trial for gross indecency with men. After

two more trials he was convicted and imprisoned for two years' hard labour. In 1897, in

prison, he wrote De Profundis, which was published in 1905, a long letter which

discusses his spiritual journey through his trials, forming a dark counterpoint to his

earlier philosophy of pleasure. Upon his release he left immediately for France, never

to return to Ireland or Britain. There he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol

(1898), a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life. He died destitute

in Paris at the age of 46.

SUMMARY

Love hurts, especially when we find an undesirable truth about someone we love. Often

we are so blind and foolish that we go to extremes, such us giving up our own lives, or

giving up things that are precious to us. The idea of love is so strong that we choose to

ignore reality and believe instead what we feel. In the story "The Nightingale and The

Rose", Oscar Wilde suggests that sometimes our own interpretation of true love

deceives us. He does this beautifully with the use of irony and metaphors.

Wilde uses irony to show that the Nightingale's interpretation of true love leads

to her pointless and tragic death. The Nightingale thinks that the student’s love towards

the girl is real. The only thing that can appease the sorrow of the young student is to

find a red rose, which the girl asks him to do. The poor Nightingale, who is passionate

about the idea of true love, is willing to sacrifice her own life to help the student by

producing a red rose. According to her, "Love is better than life, and what is the heart

of a bird compared to the heart of the man?" . However, it transpires that the bird’s love

is more powerful than the student’s, because death did not scare her until her last breath

of life. Indeed, she is the true lover because she knows what true loves means. This is

unlike the student, who only cries. Furthermore, the sacrificial death of the Nightingale

is wasted when the student finds out that the girl chooses the jewel of the Chamberlain's

nephew over his red rose. The student immediately throws the rose into the street, which

is run over by a passing cartwheel. This is in parallel to what happened to the

sacrifice that the bird went through to produce a red rose in exchange for her life.

Oscar Wilde also uses a simile to point out that the student’s idea of love is

unauthentic. In the beginning of the story, we see that the student is crying because he

is desperate to find a red rose for his girl. He thinks that he really loves the girl. Then

as soon as he finds out that the girl rejected his rose, he quickly forgets her and goes

back to reading his books. He says, "It is not half as logic, for it does not prove

anything..." (46). It implies that a student only knows love through his books that he

reads. Instead of mourning, he quickly moves on and continues his life rather than sink

into desperation over the lost love.

Both the Nightingale and the student interpret love in different ways that

entirely affects their life differently. Using irony in the story, Oscar Wilde clearly

shows us that the Nightingale turns out to be the true lover and not the student. He is

also uses similes to emphasise that not everyone has the same idea of what love is, and

thus he effectively conveys that not all we expect from our ideal love comes true.

ANALYSIS OF “The Nightingale and the Rose”

“She said that she would dance with me if I bought her a red rose”
These are the opening lines of the story. The thoughts of a young student are revealed
in this line, who is remembering the desire of his beloved. He wanted to take her for the
prince’s ball but she had put a condition that she would go with him only if he gets a
red rose for her. It was difficult to find a red rose anywhere in the garden as it was very
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cold and none of the rose bushes bore the flower he wanted. He felt very sad and
helpless. A little song bird Nightingale heard the thoughts of the young lover and
understood his condition. She could feel his unhappiness of not being able to find a
red rose for his beloved. He was in pain and depressed at his helplessness as he was
unable to take his beloved for the dance without red rose. The Nightingale who sang
songs of love felt the impact of his agony and laments his sadness. She had a deep
insight into the feelings associated with love and relates them to the young student who
was deeply in love. She recognizes the true lover in him and says
“Here at last is the true lover”
1.She approached a rose tree that stood in the centre of the grass and made her demand.
But the tree was sorry because it bore only white roses.
2 .When she went to the tree which produced red roses, it said that intense cold and
winter had frozen its veins and the storm has broken its branches, thus it could not give
her the red rose. When the Nightingale pleaded for the red rose it said that the only
condition on which it could produce the red rose was if she stained its branches with
her life blood and let it flow in its veins. She should set her breast against a thorn, let
her life blood flow into the plant and sing all night in moonlight. This would eventually
kill her. She weighted the sadness of the young boy with its life and thinks
“Death is a great price to pay for a red rose”.
First the Nightingale thought that death was a great price for a red rose and life was
dear, but later she concluded loves to be better than life. She flew to the student and
found him weeping. She was prepared to die for a red rose but in return he must remain
constant as a true lover. The student is a man of philosophy and metaphysics. He fails
to understand why the Nightingale was hovering around him for he only knew the things
that are written down in books. About the Nightingale he has no good opinion. He thinks
that she has form but not feelings. There is irony here for she really sacrifices her life
for him.
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When the moon shone that night in the sky, the Nightingale flew to the rose tree and set
her breast against the thorn. She sang all night and her life blood flowed away from her
body into the veins of the tree. She sang of the birth of love in the souls of a man and a
maid. She sang of love that gains perfection by death. As she died the making of red
rose was in completion. The Nightingale symbolizes the spirit of sacrifice. She does not
care for its life though it knows that life is dear and precious to everybody. Just to make
the student happy, she goes to the extent of sacrificing her own life.
She felt that the happiness of the dejected student was a serious matter while her own
life was a very small price for the glorification of love.
At noon, the student found a unique red rose, when he opened his window. He was
greatly excited and thanked his stars. He rushed to the girl, gave the rose and reminded
her of her promise that she would dance with him. He requested her to wear it near to
her heart at the ball. But she had no use for it. She had already been given some real
jewels by the Chamberlain’s nephew. She preferred them to the red rose. She valued
the expensive jewels more than the rose. She refuses him, scoffs at the gift of rose and
scorns him in a naughty manner. The rose is the wrong colour for her dress.
She tells him and it is only a rose. She rejects him as being “only a student”, and one
who lacks silver buckets, appearances and wealth. She turns away (reject) someone
who loved her. The student in disgust and anger threw the flower into street where it
was crushed under the cart wheels. The precious red rose obtained at the cost of a life
is at last thrown on the street. It is hard to imagine what would have happened to the
soul of the Nightingale, who had met a painful death just for the sake of true love. The
sacrifice of the bird was a noble act but it resulted in a fruitless effort. The student was
almost broken and the promise made to the Nightingale was also falsified. He cursed
the girl as well as love. He says
“What a silly thing love is!”
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The student and the professor’s daughter fail miserably in the test of love. They take
love as a light plaything. In the end the truth dawned on the student that love would give
him nothing and so he decided to get back to his studies. He realises that studies would
only help him succeed in future.
CONCLUSION:
One can draw several lessons from the story. However, few of them are:
• Looks can be deceiving. People are not always what they seem to be.
• Infatuation is a very elusive and ephemeral thing without substance. Love, however,
is always true and stands the test of time.
• Before making sacrifices, count the price. Don’t throw away your life for people or
things that aren’t worth it.
Oscar Wilde shows that love is a temporary madness which erupts and then subsides
and when it subsides you have to make a decision.
THEME
 Love cannot be measured in materialistic objects .
 Self sacrifice
 Elfless love

Literary device
Personification – The tree in which the nightingale lives tell of hoe he will miss
her singing
Simile – His hair is a dark as hyacinth blossom and his lips are red as the rose of
his desire
Symbolism – the rose represent the nightingale life
Irony – the nightingale die in vain