My favorite short story…
I would prefer to read short stories because they are direct to the point and are well, what can I say—short. Some had actually moved me and one of them is my favorite, Oscar Wilde’s The Nightingale and the Rose. It is as part of a collection for the children’s book The Happy Prince and Other Stories published in 1888. Yeah, yeah, children’s stories but mind that it greatly appeals adult audiences too because of its implicit comments on the nature of art and love. Let me tell the short story short.
There is this Nightingale who lives in an oak tree in the garden of the Student. She dedicates her life to singing sweetly for the benefit of others. One day she overhears the Student, who is going hysterical because the girl he loves will only dance with him at the ball if he presents her a red rose, and there is none to be found. The Nightingale is very moved by this, for she feels she recognizes true love in the Student’s heart. She thinks of helping him out in his quest for a perfect red rose.
She travels through the garden, searching and asking questions. Other dwellers of the garden notice the distress of the Student, but do not share the Nightingale’s sympathy for his suffering.
Eventually she comes to the rose bush which will supply her with a single red rose, but her part of the bargain is quite brutal. She must sing to the bush all night long, and allow one of its thorns to pierce her heart. The Nightingale agrees, believing that she is sacrificing herself for love, which is greater than life, and for the heart of a man, which is greater than that of a bird.
Her plan comes to realization; the next morning Nightingale’s lifeless body is found at the foot of a bush bearing a single, perfect rose. The student rushes off ecstatically to his love to bring the rose, only to be scornfully rejected in favor of a wealthier suitor. The rose is thrown carelessly into the street that maybe crushed by carriages passing by. And the student decides to take up Philosophy.
This is such a heartbreaking story. The sacrifice of the Nightingale is heightened in intensity by the obvious lack of worth on the part of the Student & his stupid “love”. The bird’s actions are wasted because they were not appreciated by those to whom they were directly meant to help. In spite of this, the Nightingale’s selfless action stands alone as something perfect & pure, like the rose she created.
The Nightingale maybe the opposite to the Student, who is not really as much in love as he thinks he is! He is merely a hopeless romantic while the bird represents the nature of true romance. Both he & his love pay no attention to true love, she prefers having riches and he returns to his studies, but this Nightingale sacrifices herself for the one thing she believes in above all others.
It’s not just a mere fairy-tale but I quote in Rowbotham’s book Nineteenth Century Short Stories that in his time, “Wilde is making a comment on his perception of the role of the artist in society: to sacrifice oneself for one’s art in order that others may have pleasure. We see this in the Nightingale’s willingness to sacrifice herself for the Student although he does not appreciate or understand her at all.” True. It takes time to build a work of art but still there are others who just do not understand or do not know the work that was applied on it. Frustrating but it is the reality.
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