The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde is most known for his fantastic plays and his only full length novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Some of Wilde’s greatest and most fantastic work lies in his collection of fairy tales. The Happy Prince and Other Stories is an amazing collection of short stories for children that reveal true life messages in fantastic and often times sad stories.
The Happy Prince is the title tale of Oscar Wilde’s collection of fairy tales. The tale follows the journey of a beautifully gold gilded statue, which bears sapphire eyes and an astonishing ruby on its sword hilt, and a common swallow on his way to Egypt after his love, a reed, has proven unworthy of his love. The simple people of the city look up in awe at the statue remembering their long lost prince. The prince reveals the story of his life to the swallow. The young prince was a sheltered child. His whole life was spent in the Palace of Sans-Souci where, “sorrow is not allowed to enter.” Cut off from the rest of the world by a great wall, the prince spent his life playing in gardens with many companions and leading great dances. All who knew of the prince knew him as the Happy Prince. The statue reveals that his life was happy, “if pleasure be happiness.” The young prince never shed a tear and never asked what was beyond his marvelous kingdom.
The young swallow is not unlike the others. He falls in love with a young reed that has no property and nothing to talk about. Although all the other birds tell him to move on he pursues her until one day she tells the migratory swallow she will never leave her home. Looking for a new beginning and to forget his love the swallow follows the rest of the birds on their migration to Egypt. The bird is late and decides to stop in the small city in which the Happy Prince’s statue dwells. Looking for a good place to hide he find the statue and perches at its legs. Surprised by a drop of water on his head the swallow finds the statue’s tear are the source of his “rain”. The Prince speaks to the bird kindly and reveals to him that he can only cry at seeing the poverty in his small city. The prince convinces the bird to delay his migration from the approaching winter. The swallow learns to love the prince and is heartbroken when he has to tear out the prince’s eyes and all his gilding to give to the poor. When ever the swallow is about to leave the prince convinces him to stay and be his messenger, giving up his decorations to help the needy. In the end the winter has reached the prince’s city and the prince is nothing but an ugly lead statue with a dying bird on its shoulder. The winters chill has killed the bird and the princes lead heart breaks in two when the bird is dead at his feet.
The day after the death of the swallow the mayor of the simple city sees, “how shabby the Happy Prince looks!” The people of the city take down the ugly prince and after melting him down they egotistically fight over who the new statue should be made after. The only part of the shabby prince that would not melt was his broken lead heart. Both the heart and the dead bird are thrown into the same trashcan. When one of God’s angels is asked to bring the two most precious things the city has, the bird and the happy prince’s heart are taken to paradise. God speaks to the angel and says, “You have rightly chosen for in my garden of Paradise this little bird shall sing for evermore, and in my city of gold the Happy Prince shall praise me.” The Prince was rewarded for his great generosity in giving all he had. The swallow was also rewarded for his generosity, not in giving all he had but in giving all his life.
Oscar Wilde’s story exemplifies the meaning of sacrifice. He shows how man can love so much that he gives not what he has left over but all he has to begin with. Oscar Wilde shows how superficial man can be. The swallow and the prince learn to love each other and learn to love the needy of the town. Oscar Wilde also brings to life the injustices of society’s treatment of the rich and the poor. Oscar Wilde’s simple yet fantastic children stories carry great meaning.