Lesson Four The Nightingale and the Rose Part I

Content 1. Features of Fairy Tale 2. Author 3. Text Analysis 1. Theme 2. Structure 3. Further Discussion 4. Writing Devices

I. Features of Fairy Tale 1) The frequent use of personification This is self-evident because it is the very definition of fairy tales. In this story, the rose-trees, the lizard, the daisy, the butterfly, the oak, the moon, and of course the Nightingale are all personified.

2) The symbolic meaning given to words The rose is the symbol of love, but many things mentioned in the text also stand for sth. including the lizard, daisy, and butterfly, which the author used on more than one occasions to stand for certain character types. 3) The vivid, simple narration, which is typical of the oral tradition of fairy tales.

4) The repetitive pattern used A typical fairy tale would often have a sequence of three episodes or three steps or three people. It might go sth. like this: once upon a time, there were three sisters. The first was ugly, and the second was stupid, but the third was both pretty and clever. They would them marry three men. The first two were rich whereas the third was always poor. Then they were for some reason sent to look for some treasure. The first two failed and the third succeeded, but he only succeeded in his third attempt after overcoming many difficulties…

II. Author Oscar Wilde, the son of the late Sir William Wilde, an eminent Irish surgeon. His mother was a graceful writer, both in prose and verse. He had a brilliant career at Oxford, where he won the Newdigate Prize for English verse for a poem on Ravenna. Even before he left the University in 1878 Wilde had become known as one of the most affected of the professors of the aesthetic craze, and for several years it was as the typical aesthete that he kept himself before the notice of the public.

A novel of his, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, attracted much attention, and his sayings passed from mouth to mouth as those of one of the professed wits of the age. When he became a dramatist his plays had all the characteristics of his conversations. His first piece, Lady Windermere's Fan, was produced in 1892. A Woman of No Importance followed in 1893. An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest were both running at the time of his disappearance from English life. The revelations of the criminal trial in 1895 naturally made them impossible for some years. Recently, however, one of them was revived, though not at a West End theater

After his release in 1897, Wilde published “The Ballad of Reading Gaol”, a poem of considerable but unequal power. He also appeared in print as a critic of our prison system, against the results of which he entered a passionate protest. For the last three years he has lived abroad. It is stated on the authority of the Dublin Evening Mail that he was recently received into the Roman Catholic Church.

In the summer of 1891, Oscar met Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas, the third son of the Marquis of Queensberry. Bosie was well acquainted with Oscar's novel, Dorian Gray and was an undergraduate at Oxford. They soon became lovers and were inseparable until Wilde's arrest three years later. In April 1895, Oscar sued Bosie's father for libel on the charge of homosexuality. Oscar withdrew his case but was himself arrested and convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to two years of hard labor.

Quotes from Oscar Wilde’s Works: Quotes on Men Men become old, but they never become good.  Lady Windermere's Fan. Rich bachelors should be heavily taxed.  It is not fair that some men should be happier than others.  In Conversation. Men are horribly tedious when they are good husbands, and abominably conceited when they are not.  A Woman of No Importance.

Quotes on Woman One should never trust a woman who tells one her real age.  A woman who would tell one that, would tell one anything.  Women know life too late.  That is the difference between men and women. Women are meant to be loved, not to be understood. 

Quotes on Love One should always be in love. That is the reason one should never marry.  To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance. A man can be happy with any woman as long as he does not love her.  Young men want to be faithful and are not; old men want to be faithless and cannot.

Art for Art’s Sake associated with the aesthetic doctrine that art is self-sufficient and need serve no moral or political purpose The only purpose of the artist is art, not religion, or science, or interest. He who paints or writes only for financial return or to propagandize political and economic interests can only arouse feeling of disgust.

Text Analysis Theme 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. Nightingale sacrifices its own life for pure love’s sake. A true love needs wholehearted devotion and passion.

Structure Part 1 (Paras. 1-12): Part 2 (Paras.13-34): Nightingale struck by “the mystery of love” Nightingale looking for a red rose to facilitate the love Nightingale sacrificing her life for a red rose Student discarding the red rose

Further Discussion What genre can this story be categorized into? Optimism Pessimism Fairy tales conclude with the cliché typical of most fairy tales, ‘They all lived happily ever after,’ implying better living circumstances for all Wilde’s fairy tales have no happy endings. His tales end mostly in unresolved tensions, provoking readers to consider necessary improvements which need to be made within the social order. Even in his most popular tales, the protagonists die.

What are the symbolic meanings of “Red rose”, “Lizard”, “Butterfly” and “Nightingale”? red rose—true love, which needs constant nourishment of passions of the lovers. It can be divided into three stages: love in the heart of a boy and a girl; love in the soul of a man and a maid; and love that is perfected by Death, that does not die in the tomb. Lizard—cynic, a person who sees little or no good in anything and who has no belief in human progress; person who shows this by sneering and being contemptuous

Syntactical Structures Writing Devices Syntactical Structures Inversion … and louder and louder grew her song… Rhetorical Question What is a heart of a bird compared to the heart of a man? Repetition And a delicate flush of pink came into leaves of the rose, like the flush in the face of the bridegroom where he kisses the lips of the bride.

Repetition She swept over the garden like a shadow, and like a shadow she sailed through the grove. Bitter, bitter was the pain, and wilder and wilder grew her song. And the marvelous rose became crimson. Crimson was the girdle of pedals, and crimson as ruby was the heart. But the Nightingale’s voice grew fainter… Fainter and fainter grew her song…

This is the end of Part One