Blog assignment 3

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 contains five stories, "The Happy Prince", "The Nightingale and the Rose", "The Selfish Giant", "The Devoted Friend", and "The Remarkable Rocket". It is most famous for its title story, "The Happy Prince".

However, I love the story “The Nightingale and the Rose”. In this story, a student fell in love with a professor’s daughter who wouldn’t want to dance with him in the prince’s ball, unless he can find a red rose for her to wear. In his garden, there were white roses and yellow roses but he did not find any red rose. A little Green Lizard, a Butterfly and a Daisy asked why he was weeping, and the Nightingale said that he was weeping for a red rose. The first three characters said that weeping for a red rose was ridiculous. The Nightingale, who understood the Student, started to fly until she saw a Rose-tree. She flew around the garden trying to find a red rose. She flew to “the centre of the grass-plot”, and “round the old sun-dial”, and finally “beneath the Student window”, where she eventually found a red rose tree. But the tree was damaged, and would not bear a red rose, the only way the Nightingale could obtain a red rose from this tree, would be to “build it out of music by moonlight”, and stain it with her “own heart’s-blood”; and that is what she did. When the nightingale heard of his sorrow, he was moved by the girl’s passion and “true love”. The bird decided to sacrifice himself just for exchanging a red rose. Tragically, the red rose ended up under the wheel of a cart, because the professor’s daughter really wanted was ascendancy and wealth.

In my opinion, the most romantic and loving character is of course this sweet little bird who helps a poor student to get his chance with the girl of his dreams. This beautiful creature lacks humanity, but sure has a lot she can teach this young student. Not only does she sacrifice her own life for the one thing she thinks is important, but she also truly understands what love actually is. It is not just an emotion it is almost a way of life, an obsession. It can make you feel wonderful, but can also destroy you quite easily. The nightingale is the true lover, if there is one. She, at least, is Romance, and the Student and the girl are, like most of us, unworthy of Romance.