The Happy Prince

THE AUTHOR
Oscar Wilde was born as the second child of wealthy Irish Wilde family in Dublin in 1854. It has
been discussed about Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) that he was son of a reputed doctor. He got his early
education at Portora Royale School, where he was known as a dynamic classical scholar with intellect and
deep observation towards life and human psyche. He was rewarded by Berkeley Gold medal for Greek in
1874.

Oscar Wilde was a great Irish born playwright, novelist, fictionist, and poet. It is stated that Wilde
was a provocative critic and is widely recognized due to his comedies as “A Woman of No Importance”,
“An Ideal Husband”, and “The Importance of Being Earnest”. Wilde writes on the themes of
religious and spiritual experience. He published his short fiction book The Happy Prince in
1888.

“The Happy Prince” has been written in fairy tale mode of expression. It shows a world which is
ideal and non-imitative, Wilde has also declared it as an imaginary work which was created to
amuse his little son but he transformed it into a great satiric piece. He is known because of his
fable short Stories. This short story is not an ordinary story of a prince who is trying to remove
the miseries of his people with the help of a little swallow but it also shows a pathetic picture of
Victorian age in which poor were living a hand to month life and rich people were exploiting all
the privileges. It is a static document on the realities of Victorian age; he unveiled the hypocrisy
of ruling class, poverty and exploitation. Wilde himself says that these stories are like a mirror
which mirror the modern life in a form of remote from reality.

Oscar Wilde observed the society he lived in and saw child labour, the unjust distribution of
wealth and problem of unemployment, which all were direct results of an economic system
which justifies wealthy middle class’ exploitation of working class as “progress”. Wilde
criticizes not only social injustice in his later essay Soul of Man Under Socialism, but also with a
blend of fairy tale elements in “The Happy Prince”. He argues that charity activities of Happy
Prince –representing humanitarian Victorian activists– are in vain, because charity does not
make any structural difference in Capitalist society, rather proposes only a limited and brief
solution.

A Fairy Tale

“The Happy Prince” is a story about the spiritual beauty of prince and the sacrifice of a little swallow
which alters its life for the love of the prince. In each case, love and sacrifice are the saving and ruling
forces.

Cuddon says in the penguin Dictionary of Literary terms that Fairy tale is known as a kind of
traditional literature and also of verbal tradition. In written form, the fairy tale is a narrative and
in prose it is about the dooms and destinies of a heroin or hero in which he has to go through
unbelievable circumstances and supernatural adventures, but in the end, enjoys a life of festivity
forever. Enchanted places, disguise situations and supernatural machinery are the pivotal in
elements of fairy tale and there is a nice study of human psychology. The character is
imaginative and unreal. Wilde in spite of being a famous dramatist he could not generate a true
sense of satiric tone.

He has used couplets such as: “So I lived, so I died, these are couplets and rhyme as well and
these expressions sound pleasing to the ear.
There are similes and metaphors which are not conventional but unique and different as he
described happy prince as he is as beautiful as a weather cock.

The story is an allegory; it is about the usefulness of doing well. Love and sacrifice lead us
towards God. The prince is not enjoying life but the statue of a dead prince is coated with
diamond, rubies and sapphires. The prince is considered happy because of smile on face. But he
has lost his smile and cannot stop his tears. Swallow comes as a Mersin gel and he gives his all
wealth to poor people through swallow. When swallow dies with cold the heart of prince breaks,
their love and sacrifice makes them immortal.

SHORT STORY
“The Happy Prince” is also an allegory as far as the definition of allegory is concerned, Cuddon
has defined it in the dictionary of literacy theory as:
“The term derives from Greek allegories; besides it is a story in poetry or prose with a twofold
meaning a primary or surface meaning. It is story that can be read, interpreted and understood at
two levels, in some cases, it is dealt at three or four levels.

An allegory has double meaning and he has dealt with it skill fully. The surface meaning is
explicit and under surface meaning there is deep and allegorical meaning. The allegorical
significance and universal theme make it a masterpiece; it has social religious and political
allegory at many levels.

Summary of the Happy Prince

The story of “The Happy Prince” has three major themes, firstly it shows that apparent beauty is
nothing and the real beauty is to bestow love and sacrifice. Secondly, it discusses that love and
sacrifice are two saving forces. Thirdly, it shows that there is a large gap between rich and poor
people the rulers and the masses. When the happy prince is alive he lives a happy life without
sorrows, he is living a care free life but after his death he sees through a tall Colum that life has
another view except happiness and that is helplessness poverty, hypocrisy and corruption of elite
and ruling class. When a bird swallow comes and stays under the feet of prince, he begs for his
helps for match girl, poor writer. He is apparently happy but is weeping bitterly after seeing all
the down trodden people. At the end, the swallow dies frost once; the mayor passes through that
way and sees prince in ugly plight. They are perplexed to see that the prince has not all the
precious stuff on his body now they pulled it down and decide to mark another statue. The statue
does not soften in the furnace and workers threw it on the dust heap, the dead body of swallow
was also there. An angle comes towards God and takes both precious things which are now of no
use for the worldly people but has great importance in eternal life in paradise.

MAJOR CHARACTERS
5.1 The Happy Prince
Golden statue that can see what is going on around him but cannot move he was happy prince,
but he weeps for all the hardship that are faced by the people of this city. He asks the swallow to
take pieces of him (the gold leaf of the statue the sapphires that are his eyes, and the ruby that is
the hilt of his sword) and give to them to the poor of the city. In the end, he is melted and the
statue is not beautiful without its decorations.
5.2 The Swallow

A bird stayed behind when the rest of his block migrated to Egypt in order to court river plant
that he had fallen in love with. His friends disapproved and thought that this was a foolish
decision. The reed eventually decides that she will not accompany him. The swallow is infuriated
and he decides to migrate to Egypt by himself at all. However, before he leaves, he tries to sleep
one night under the statue of the happy prince the statue begins crying because he is saddened by
everything that he sees going on in the city, the swallow is the agent of the happy prince’s
generosity, bringing the germs and gold to the poor as instructed, and the two become fast
friends. Eventually, the swallow dies because he chooses to remain with blind prince rather than
abandon fly to Egypt, and the winter gets too cold. He dies at the feet of statue.
6. MINOR CHARACTER

The Reed she decides not to accompany the swallow, who has been courting her, breaking his
heart. She is too close to her home and cannot bear the thought of leaving thus the swallows
courtship was in vain.
6.1 The Town Councilors

They are greedy and obsessed with their public images they cannot understand the humanity of
dead prince and of a little bird but they are too busy in their daily pursuits to increase their
money, rank and power.
6.2 The Poor Woman
Her son is ill. She struggles as a seamstress to make enough money to take care of him. She
receives that ruby from the hit of the prince sword.
6.3 The Young Playwright

He is starving and struggling to complete a play but he is unable to concentrate because he is so

hungry. He receives the frost sapphire eye.
6.4 Little Match Girl

She drops the matches that she is supposed to sell, and is crying because she knows that she will
be beaten by her father when she will return to home without the matches or any money. She
receives sapphire eye.
He orders that the statue must be turned down. He wants the metal to be made into the statue of
himself.
The story ends with God asking his angels to take the two most valuable things from the city,
and carry the leaden heart of prince which was thrown out when the statue was melted down and
the body of dead swallow was also there.
“You have rightly chosen, said God 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”.

LITERARY DEVICES
Personification

It is as a kind of metaphor in which the non-human qualities are attributed to a person,

the writer personified the statue of happy prince and swallow, as living human beings, major and
councilor symbolize the hypocrisy of Victorian age.
They talk with each other like human because they feel the misery of living Creature which
human being is ignoring.

Use of Simile:
In simile, one object is likened to the other to enrich an image, the comparison is explicit as:
 „His hands are like withered leaves‟.
 „Lips are red as pomegranate‟.
 „As blue as the great sea‟.
 Who is as black as abony‟.
 They have eyes like green beryl‟
Symbolic Character
In this story, the writer used symbolic tones and all the character of this story has symbolic
significance. Statue of happy prince is a charity figure like Christ crucified himself for humanity
like that happy prince Sacrifices his beauty for the humanity swallow also sacrifices his life for
the humanity. Woman, match girl, writer and poor boys symbolize the poverty of Victorian age.

Language Description
Oscar wild has used very simple language in this story and reader can easily interpret the hidden
meaning of the story. The writer has never used long description in his short stories. He used
very précised and short description that is Symbolic Title.
This story also has symbolic title; the title of the story is “The Happy Prince” but inwardly he is
not happy. He feels sorrow, pity for the common people so, he is not happy as title is symbolic.
Every reader can understand the real meaning of the story.

INFERENCE
The author exhibits the importance of charity, humanity, love, good will and sacrifice. The main
characters have been endowed with all these marvelous characteristics and have been presented
as mark, symbol and upholder of these angelic qualities. In the end, good deeds are rewarded by
the GOD.

SOME STYLISTIC FEATURES

Irony
Oscar Wilde has used their term irony in this story. He has shown the contrast between rich and
poor people.
“Swallow flew over the city, and saw the rich taking merry in their beautiful houses while the
beggars were sitting at the gates”.
These lines show that rich people do not care about the poor people. They were enjoying their
site. They were living in their palace and do not know about the conditions of poor people “what
is the use of a states if it cannot keep the rain off?”

Satire
Oscar Wilde used the literary term satire in this story. Satire on educational system and satire on
social injustices is seen in “The Happy Prince”. Wilde mentions a professor who was surprised
by seeing a swallow in the writer and he wrote a long letter about it to the local newspaper.
Everyone quoted it that it was full of so many words that they could not understand”. Though
this fairy tale was written on the demand of his son yet it is full of satiric characters, situations
and issues.

Social Injustice
Oscar Wilde shows the double standard of society; the rich people of society are in the
enjoyment of all luxuries but people are devoid of basic necessities. This social injustice is best
satirized in the happy prince, the first victim of this injustice is poor seamstress who is in poor
conditions and is not able to do something for her child. She is helpless waiting for the time to
take its turn. With her hands, she can stitch the gown of queen yet with these hands she cannot
cure her child. The writer’s state of depression makes our hearts rebel against this unfair
distinction and the pleasures of the rich are more valuable than the life of individuals. The
second victim we see is the young man in the garret, who had large and dreamy eyes‟.
But the cruel society had snatched the dreams from eyes and stuffed them with gloominess of
poverty. He had to complete the play but his empty belly had molded his creativity towards ideas
of poverty. As it is said that “The empty stomach is the grave, of great ideas”.

CONCLUSION
To sum up all the above discussion, we can say that “The Happy Prince” is a masterpiece which
shows so many aspects of life. Oscar Wilde has shown the fancy and imagination of one side
while on the other side, he has unveiled the hypocrisy, poverty, greed and temptation of people.
This is a satiric document on the Victorian society; love and innocence are the living forces.
Oscar Wilde has manifested so many stylistic devices and they have transformed it into a great
literary work, he has been deviant among all the writers as how he foregrounded fairy tale to
convey his message under the subtle layers of fancy and imagination.
Questions Dealing with The Story

What is Theme of the Story “The Happy Prince”?

What is moral lesson of the story?

Answer: “The Happy Prince” by Oscar Wilde is a beautiful story emphasizing the need of
service of humanity. It is purely imaginary story, which may be called a Fantasy or fairy tale.
The Happy Prince is like the present-day ruler living distantly from the people. The sufferings,
pains and problems of common, needy people remain hidden from the view of prince and kings
like our own living in ivory towers. The nice and wonderful experience mentioned here could not
be possible in our real life. The writer also wants to show how the rulers or so-called elite of
human society lead a life of comfort and luxuries, far removed from the actual world of problem,
miseries and sorrows faced by the common man.

The story also teaches us moral lesson that we should minimize the suffering and misery of
human life. It also teaches real purpose of man’s life that is to serve humanity. It is service of
humanity, which brings inward beauty to the status though his outward beauty if body and form
are torn to pieces.
The real happiness is not found in living a selfish life of luxuries and pleasures, but in sharing
the anguish and problems of common person. Those who suffer for the sake of others and
sacrifice their own interests for welfare of others endear themselves to God. The Prince gave
away his precious stones and gold of his body to poor, needy people and himself became ugly
and horrible. The Swallow too rendered a great service to humanity. He decided to live with the
Prince; it is service to humanity, which won the pleasure of God to both the Prince and the
Swallow.
Discuss the short story "The Happy Prince" by Oscar Wilde as a moral and a social
allegory?

The Happy Prince, by Oscar Wilde, is a wonderful allegory, typical of 19th century English
fiction. Social injustice, the redemptive power of love, and the loss of innocence are themes
addressed by both Dickens and Wilde.

Here, we have a statue who, at one time, was a real prince. He was happy when alive, because
he was kept ignorant of any sadness or suffering outside his palace walls. His life was one of joy
and fulfilled desires. And then he died. Upon his death, a statue was made depicting him which
was covered in gold, had beautiful sapphires for eyes, and a ruby attached to his sword-gilt.
Because of the value society places on gold and jewels, he was thought to be quite beautiful.
"Useless," remarks a Town Councilman, "but beautiful." He is adored by all who see him.
Unfortunately for the statue, his placement atop a high hill allows him to witness, for the first
time, the pain and misery experienced by the poor of the city, of whom he had remained
ignorant.

The statue, once happy, now weeps with sadness to learn the plight of so many who have so
little. A self-serving swallow arrives to take shelter beneath this statue and eventually becomes
touched by the statue's kindness and desire to help others. He becomes the statue's messenger
and agrees to remove the jewels and the gold from the Happy Prince in order to bring
contentment, badly needed financial security, and compassion to the masses. In an allegory, the
characters stand for ideas or for people in history. In this story, the swallow can be seen
as Socialism -delivering necessities to all so that all are on equal footing.

As the statue's gold and jewels are taken and redistributed among the poor, he is no longer able
to see the impoverished around him. He knows it is there, and he is not blind to the sufferings
of others as he once was. Even without eyes to see, he knows that it exists.

Eventually, the little swallow lies at the feet of the statue and dies from exposure and
exhaustion. He never made it to Egypt because he exchanged his dream of warm climates and
comfort with a bigger dream -to bring help to those who are in need. The sculpture cracks
with sadness at the loss of his friend, and his heart is exposed. The most beautiful part of the
statue -the kind and giving heart- could not be seen on the outside.

Upon seeing the statue in such disrepair, the powerful people of the city -the Town Councilors
and Mayor decide that he is no longer useful, because he is no longer beautiful. Much like the
poor, who were exploited and tossed away by the rich, the statue is taken down. Arguments are
begun to determine whose likeness will replace the superficial shell that they called The Happy
Prince.

The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde

The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde
Summary
The story “The Happy Prince” has at least three themes. The first theme of the story is that
outward beauty is nothing. It is just a show. The real beauties are love and sacrifices. The second
theme is that love and sacrifice are two saving forces. The third theme is that there is great gap
between the rich and the poor, the rulers and the masses.
When the happy prince is alive, he lives in a palace where sorrow is not allowed to enter. He
lives a life of happiness. However, when he dies his courtiers set up his statute on a tall column.
The statue of the happy prince sees all the misery of the city. He weeps when he sees people in
trouble. He wants to help them.
A swallow stays at the feet of the statue of the happy prince for the night. On happy prince’s
request, he prolongs his stay and helps the poor with the ruby and the sapphires. When the happy
prince cannot see any more, the swallow decides to stay with the happy prince forever. The he
helps the people with the gold covering of the happy prince. At the end, he dies frost. The heart
of the happy prince also breaks.
Once, the mayor and the town councilors pass by the stature of the happy prince. They are
shocked to see it without ruby, sapphires, and gold covering. It looks ugly without them. They
pull it down and decide to make another statue. The heart of the happy prince not melt in the
furnace and the workers throw it on the dust heap where the dead swallow is already lying. An
angel comes and takes both the heart and the dead Swallow to God as two precious things. (296)
1. “The Happy Prince” is a fairy tale. Discuss.
No doubt, the story “The Happy Prince” is a fairy tale. In a fairy tale, we find unreal characters
like fairies, giants, witches and talking animals. It is a story, which is hard to believe. The events
of a fairy tale do not happen in real life. The most important quality of a fairy tale is that it
always has a happy conclusion.
When we read the story, we find that it is a perfect fairy tale. It fulfils all the requirements of a
fairy tale. Firstly, we find two imaginary characters – a talking Swallow and a talking statue. In
our daily life, we do not find such characters. Secondly, we see the statue of the Happy Prince
shedding tears on the sufferings of the poor. He has sapphire eyes and a lead heart. However, he
can see through these sapphire eyes and has love and sympathies for the poor in his lead heart.
This is highly unbelievable and it does not happen in real life. A statue has no eyes and no heart.
Thirdly, we see that the Swallow first picks off ruby, sapphires, and then gold covering without
any tools. This is also unbelievable. Fourthly, the end of the story is also fairy tale like. No
doubt, the Swallow and the statue of the Happy Prince are dead and on the dust heap. However,
this is not the real ending. The real ending is that the Swallow will always sing in the garden of
Paradise and the Happy Prince will always praise God in the city of gold. This is quite a happy
ending and fulfils the most important requirement of a fairy tale. Therefore, we can conclude that
the story “The Happy Prince” is a perfect fairy tale. (291)
2. How has the writer brought out poverty in the story “The Happy Prince”?
The writer has brought out poverty in a very beautiful manner. The son of the tailor is suffering
from fever. He is thirsty and asking for oranges. However, she is a poor tailor. She cannot buy
oranges for her son. She is embroidering passionflowers for the Queen’s maids-of-honour. Her
poverty is very touching. The poverty of the writers of the Victorian age has also been reflected
very beautifully. The young writer is cold and hungry. Hunger has made him faint.
The little weeping match girl also depicts the poverty of the Victorian age. She has no shoes or
stockings, and her little head is bare. The beggars are sitting at the gates of the houses of the rich
people. In dark lanes, there are children who have white starving faces. They are looking out
listlessly at the black streets. People do not have their own houses go two little boys are lying
under the archway of a bridge. It is cold so they are lying in one another’s arm to keep
themselves warm. They are very hungry.
Therefore, all these suggest the poverty of the Victorian age. (187)
3. How has the writer brought out exploitation in the story “The Happy Prince”?
The writer has brought out exploitation very beautifully. The people at court, the Jews, and the
rich are exploiting the poor. The Mayor and the Town Councilors represent the exploitation of
the power. The son of the seamstress is suffering from fever, but she cannot attend to him. She is
embroidering passionflowers for the Queen’s made-of-honour to wear at the next court-ball. The
poor are working hard, but they cannot buy even oranges. This is the worst kind of exploitation.
On one side, some people are so poor that they are starving and on the other hand the rich are
making merry and the Jews are weighing out money on copper scales. The writers of that time
are also being exploited. They are cold and cold with hunger. The Mayor and the Town
Councilors are exploiting their powers. Each one of them himself wants to have built statue. The
Mayor even issues a proclamation that birds are not to be allowed to die there. This is purely an
exploitation of power. (171)
4. How has the writer brought out hypocrisy in the story “The Happy Prince”?
The writer has brought out hypocrisy in the story “The Happy Prince” in a very beautiful
manner. One of the town councilors does not have artistic taste, but he wants to show that he has
that artistic taste. He praises the beauty of the Happy Prince in the most inartistic way. He says
that the statue is as beautiful as a weathercock. His simile shows how ignorant he is. He is so
hypocrite that he adds that he is not quite useful for the fear of the people. Because in those days,
people believed that art must have had some usefulness, otherwise it was bad art.
The town councilors are the worst example of hypocrisy. They always agree with the Mayor just
to get his favour. They are so hypocrites that they even repeat the words spoken by the Mayor.
When the professor sees the Swallow, he writes a long letter to the local newspaper. It is full of
so many words that people cannot understand it. However, they still quote it to each other just to
show off.
Therefore, this is how the writer shows the hypocrisy of the people. (191)
5. What is the theme of the story “The Happy Prince”?
The story “The Happy Prince” has at least three themes. The first theme of the story is that
outward beauty is nothing it is just a show. The real beauty is the love and sacrifice. The end of
the story gives this idea.
The Happy Prince has a lead heart, but this heart is full of sympathies for the poor and the needy.
He sacrifices his eyes and beauty just to help them. He gives away his gold covering bit by bit to
the poor. Now without his eyes and gold covering, he looks so ugly that he is sent to furnace to
melt. He has lost outward beauty, but with sacrifice and love, he has achieved spiritual beauty.
God is pleased with him. After his death, he is taken to the city of gold where he will praise God
forever.
The same happens with the Swallow. He sacrifices his life for the love of the Happy Prince.
Nevertheless, he also achieves spiritual beauty. He will sing for evermore in God’s garden of
Paradise.
The second theme is that love and sacrifice are two saving forces. This world is full of poverty,
hypocrisy, and exploitation. If there were no love and sacrifice, the world could not go on its
axis. It is because of love and sacrifice that this life is going on. Therefore, it is true that love and
sacrifice are two saving forces.
The third theme of the story is that there is great gap between the rich and the poor, the rulers
and the masses. The Happy Prince did not know about the poor and their problems when he was
alive. Therefore, it means that the rulers at that time did not know about the problems and the
difficulties of the masses. (295)
6. Why does the Happy Prince weep?
The Happy Prince weeps because he cannot bear the sufferings and the miseries of the poor and
the needy. He weeps because he has a very soft heart, although it is made of lead. This heart had
nothing but the sympathies for the poor and the needy. The writer values this lead heard so much
that he tells the reader that this heart does not melt in the furnace.
The Happy Prince used to live in the Palace of Sans-Souci. Sorrow was not allowed to enter the
Palace. At that time, the Happy Prince did not know what tears were. In the daytime, he used to
play with his companions in the garden. In the evening, he led the dance in the Great Hall. There
was a very lofty wall around the garden. The Happy Prince did not know that what was beyond
that wall. Inside this wall, everything was beautiful and he was very happy. His courtiers called
him Happy Prince. After his death, his courtiers made his statue and set it up on a very tall
column. Now from that height he can see all the ugliness and all the misery of the city.
Therefore, he weeps because he has very soft heart and he cannot stand the miseries of the
people. It is because of this soft heart that he sacrifices his beauty and sapphire eyes. (229)

7. What did the Swallow tell the Happy Prince about the city and the people?
 What did the Swallow report to the Happy Prince about human misery or
suffering?
When the Happy Prince gave away his sapphire eyes, he could not see any more. Therefore, he
asked the Swallow to fly over his city and told him what he saw there. The Swallow flew over
the great city and reported to the Happy Prince what he saw.
He told the Happy Prince about the condition of the rich and the poor. The rich were making
merry in their beautiful houses, while the beggars were sitting at the gates. In the dark lanes, he
saw the white faces of starving children. These children were so hungry that they were looking
out listlessly at the black streets.
He told the Happy Prince a very miserable thing. He told him about the two boys who were
hungry and homeless. These boys were lying under the archway of a bridge. They were cold so
they were lying in one another’s arms to keep themselves warm, but the watchman did not let
those boys lie under the bridge either. He drove them out into the rain.
Therefore, the Swallow told the Happy Prince about the condition of the rich and the poor. The
rich were hungry and homeless.
When the Happy Prince listened to this, he asked the Swallow to give his gold covering to the
poor and the needy. (216)
8. Discuss the end of the story “The Happy Prince”.
The story “The Happy Prince” is a fairy tale and the end of a fairy tale is always happy. In a fairy
tale, characters face difficulties and they endanger their lives to get their desired goals. They face
so many hardships that it appears that they cannot succeed. However, at the end they always
succeed and live happily ever after.
In the story, “The Happy Prince” the end appears tragic. The Swallow and the Happy Prince both
die and are thrown on a dust heap. However, this is not the real end of the story. The Swallow
and the Happy Prince has sacrificed their lives to help the poor and the needy. God is happy with
their sacrifices. Therefore, God rewards them and orders that the Swallow will sing in the garden
of paradise and the Happy Prince will praise him.
Therefore, we see that this is quite a happy ending. It fulfills the most important requirement of a
fairy tale. This end cannot be called a tragic end. (169)

Aisha Koukab

Lecturer in English

DHL, UAF