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The Happy Prince
The story shows how love and sacrifice can commend us to God. The prince depicted in the story is not a living prince but just a statue which is decorated with gold leaves and precious stones. He is known as a happy Prince because there is a smile on his lips; however, the smile fades slowly giving way to tears of the miseries he sees amongst the poor people (Wilde 5-11). The Prince acts responsibly and emphatically by giving out his gold leaves and expensive stones. There is also an introduction of the little swallow who was prince’s messenger. They both died helping the poor but their death did not mark the end of their mission of helping the poor. They served the poor even after they were made immortal and the angel chose them as the noblest things on earth. The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde explains the significance of charity, unselfish love and devotion by showing the Prince giving away his valuables to aid the poor.
The Happy Prince teaches a lesson concerning the importance of love and sacrifice in an individual’s life. Wilde makes the Prince’s heart look really amazing as he sacrifices his property, eyes and even beauty just to help the poor (Wilde 7-10). Interestingly, he achieves internal beauty even after being sent to the furnace simply because he is no longer outwardly beauty and therefore appears ugly to the onlookers who look at his physical body instead of his inner heart. Wilde portrays love and sacrifice as saving forces in this carnal world that is full of corruption, poverty and hypocrisy.
Also, there is a huge cavity created between the haves and the have-nots but the kings and rulers are never aware of poor people’s sufferings. The most precious issue mentioned in the fairy tale by Oscar is the misery people (the poor and the children) since they create an opportunity of offering help to them by sharing riches and happiness with others. The poor and the children seem to touch people’s hearts and bring people together. For instance, the Swallow is so much touched by the Prince’s sacrifice and passion towards the poor people. The Swallow decides to remain and stand strong behind the Prince despite the sufferings he undergoes such as lose of eyes and the fact that the prince remains ugly (Wilde 5-11).
Poverty and children has been depicted in a very beautiful manner. For instance, the son of a tailor who suffers from fever and is thirsty and asks for oranges, however, the tailor is too poor to buy oranges. This makes her poverty very touching and serious because it reaches an extent that her son cannot get even the cheap fruits that most people can afford. There is also another incident of a poor writer who is both cold and hungry. There are also children siting in dark lanes wearing starving faces.
This story helps in showing the need for showing compassion and sympathy to the poor and the children. Any action towards eradicating poverty and children happens to earn people respect and admiration to God. By assisting the poor, someone gets appreciation and love from God. The poor and the children act as real God’s children and therefore He would always appreciate and bless the empathizers of both the children and the poor (Wilde 5-7). From the Christian’s point of view, poor people and children stand a better chance of enjoying life in heaven compared with the rich. The Prince receives beauty and happiness as well as sufficiency in life just by helping the poor. The poor and the children are also good because they help us express our inner feelings and character. Helping the poor and young children is a show of charity and is a chance that everyone seeks (Wilde 8-10).
Wilde seems to depict the rich people as bad people who do not care about others. After the Swallow was sent by the Prince to report on the happenings in the city, he reported very surprising events. The condition of the rich people was quite terrible compared with the poor. The rich makes merry in their magnificent houses yet the poor are begging long the street (Wilde 5-9). Starving children especially the two boys who were both homeless and hungry was another sad scene that the Swallow reported to the Prince. Wilde claims that the rich enjoy their lives without caring for the ugliness and the misery of the city’s poor population and the children. Rulers and the people on the throne do not care about others unlike the poor who seem to care about each other especially the two boys who were lying in one another’s arm to keep them warm in the cold nights.
The Happy Prince is indeed a unique fairy tale that not only interests children but also important in instilling some values amongst the adults. Caring and loving are very important virtues in the society regardless of someone’s ethnicity, religion or race. The themes that Oscar Wilde has brought out have successfully portrayed lives of two different people whose dissimilarity is driven by social status. The poor and the children are always the subject of any challenge affecting the society while the rich normally act as the oppressors. This fairy tale teaches some the greatest values expected of everyone in the society to prevent sufferings of mankind.
Works Cited
Wilde, Oscar. The Happy Prince. Mankato, MN: Creative Education, 2007. Print.
