“The Giant” and ”The Happy Prince”

The Fairy Stories of Oscar Wilde

The fairy stories of Oscar Wilde are among the most well-known for children to enjoy. Fairytales by Oscar Wilde continue to draw a large audience of all kinds. Its fairytales are the great literary works that impart teachings on selfishness, greed, and cruelty. The happy prince and the selfish giant are two fairy tales that show a wonderful moral principle for people and kids to identify. We are able to visualize what the true essence of beauty in both life and art is thanks to both fairy stories. The aesthetic philosophies of Wilde are combined with the Christian Allegory of Redemption in his fairy stories.

The Selfish Giant

“The Selfish Giant” is a fairytale generally about a giant who is selfish and does not want to share his beautiful large garden with the neighborhood children. Therefore, he suffered in a cold winter in solitude all year long, while other parts of his town enjoy the four seasons. One day, the children snuck in and began to play in the garden, the giant heard that the birds started to sing again and the flowers began to blossom again. That was the moment the giant realize his selfish act was wrong all along. A large part of the fairytale surrounded itself in the garden. Wilde stated that “over the grass stood beautiful flowers like stars, and there were peach-trees, which in the springtime broke out into delicate blossoms of the pink and pearls…” (297). The entire period of the story was talking directly about a comfortable, lovely garden. However, it became a question of what the garden symbolizes and what every other person, place or thing resembles in the fairytale.

Christian Allegory and Symbolism

Wilde portrays the picture of the garden as it resembles to heaven or in other words, death. It is like the resemblance of the Christian afterlife. The Christian symbolism is powerful in the text as Wilde describes the nature of the scenery. It appears the spirit of nature punished The Giant by giving golden fruits to every garden except his. “He is too selfish,” she said. “The giant realizes his selfish act when the Snow, the Frost, the North Wind, and the Hail covered the garden in all four seasons. He saw his greediness by building a wall dividing the children from going into his beautiful garden.

The Redemption of the Giant

When the kids broke into the garden to play, The Giant heard the birds singing and saw the trees blossoming; he jumped into joy. The children drove the beautiful scene back to the garden. The children here represent innocence. The Giant noticed the children are blessed when they came back to play and brought back the seasons, even though some of the children ran away when The Giant approached them. Except one boy stayed behind, for tears in his eyes that made it unclear to see ahead. This refers to the innocence and the generous Christian gesture in the cruel and violent surroundings.

The boy disappeared and never came back for a long time. The Giant waited for him, but none of the children knew the boy. One winter day he saw a tree blossom and saw the boy had come back. Nails wounded the boy’s hands and feet. The Giant immediately demands to destroy whoever done this. The boy says no and ”, but these are wounds of love“ (300). The end demonstrated that the boy is the Christ child especially when the boy said: ”…today you shall come with me to my garden, which is Paradise“ (300). Wilde introduces the paradise in this fairytale as the Christian afterlife. The Giant died lying in the garden covered in blossoms showing he was redeemed by Christ, despite his selfishness.

The Happy Prince

In ”The Happy Prince“ a golden statue of the prince is placed above the city. In the tale, this statue is watching over everyone. Every day he could see each household struggle to survive. The rich people spending money lavishly in the tale and did not care about the poor because they are selfish and greedy. The Golden statue of the prince has emotions in this fairy tale. Therefore, he was able to build an emotional connection with a swallow and together they both selflessly helped the impoverished people around the city, by giving away all the things that make the prince look beautiful to those in need. Eventually, the swallow dies and the Prince’s heart breaks. The mayor then demands to melt the statue down because it no longer looks beautiful. God, in the end, brought back the swallow and the Prince because of their good deeds.

Contradiction of Estheticism and Christian Values

Wilde’s philosophy is majorly in estheticism that refers to the appreciation and admiration of beauty, but this particular fairy tale contradicts his philosophical idea. It can also consider as an explanation of the fact that beauty is what we perceive about a sure thing. This tale also has Christian value embedded inside. The Prince is placed over the city, and the Bible says ”You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.“ The term of ”A city upon a hill“ also refers that the town is set at such a height that all of his flaws in addition to its beauty are visible.

The Importance of Kindness and Love

It does not mean that flaws are substantially restricted, and it is must be perfect. It means that flaws and fails can be overcome by helping each other improve and serving the ones who are less fortunate. In which, The Prince shared everything he could to the poor in the city. It spreads an idea that people should be more forgiving to one another rather than calling someone ”lazy.“(287). People must consider that it is much better to help the one incapable of improving their situation than criticizing or mocking them.

”When I was alive I had a human heart,“ answered the statue, I did not know what tears were, for I live in the palace in Sans-Souci, where sorrow is not allowed to enter. In the day time, I played with my companions in the garden, and in the evening, I led the dance in the great hall. Round the garden ran a very high wall but I never cared to ask what lay beyond it, everything about me was so beautiful. My courtiers called me the Happy Prince, and happy indeed I was if pleasures are happiness. So, I lived, and so I died. And now that I am dead they have set me up here so high that I can see all the ugliness and all the misery of my city, and though my heart made of lead yet I cannot choose but weep”(286).

Are the prince’s tears falling only because of witnessing the brutal and sad stories of the city? Or could it also be a feeling of guilt? Especially, when he said he never cared beyond the wall. In this story, the wall represents two meanings. First, it works to conceal the prince’s world from the rest of the city, and second, it also represents greed of wealth as it is built to protect and hoard the prince’s money. Therefore, this appears to be a reasonable way to repay his fellow people back after he died. Therefore, in the end, the prince was entered in heaven as it was a way to redeem him for being ignorant about everything except his happiness. When he was alive, his happiness was built on top of others’ sorrows. He cared less for anyone else other than his class. Now from a different perspective, the prince saw his wrongdoings.

The Power of Love and Redemption

Even though the prince cannot move, he befriended a swallow sharing an emotional connection with each other. Together they help the people get back on their feet. They loved each other dearly even when others did not understand their special bond. The true form of Christian love is deep and selfless. When recognizing the swallow’s past love and the prince’s luxurious lifestyle, it can be understood that sometimes beauty does not necessarily mean to have a beautiful appearance. The extreme beauty can be full of glistening diamonds, but in the end, what is important is the glow from the inside. A person’s kind heart is worth more than anything. On the contrary, there are some people like the foolish materialistic mayor who judge a book by its cover, and for the same reason, he tore down the shabby-looking prince.

The swallow’s death broke the prince’s heart. The mayor melted the statue, but the broken lead heart would not melt. This faithful companion of the prince and the swallow would rather sacrifice them for others. Love can be so complicated, yet it can be so simple like the prince and swallow. Nobody needs to be judged on who they love, as long as it is true and promised to stay together through good or bad days.

Love has the power to transform ordinary things into the most beautiful and precious things in the world. It is shown in the story as God said to one of his angels, “Bring me the two most precious things in the city” and the angel brought him the leaden heart and the dead bird. “You have rightly chosen,” said God, “for in my garden of Paradise this little bird shall sing forever more, and in my city of gold the Happy Prince shall praise me.” (291).

God, in the end, still placed them back together, because they belonged together. A few times in the stories, Wilde has mentioned the garden and paradise repeatedly as it shows the Christian’s afterlife. After death, in heaven would be a beautiful place with lovely birds singing to mention death is not anything scary but possibly something beautiful and a new better beginning.

Conclusion

In these two fairy tales, Wilde’s philosophical estheticism follows Christian values as he has appreciated the significance of beauty in a Biblical way. Both stories emphasize the fact that God’s mercy and blessings cover all no matter who you are, a giant, a child, rich or poor. What is beautiful is a kind heart and caring for others without expecting anything in return. The beauty of life is an art. That is why nature united two different things together that should not have been divided in the first place. There are many ways to perceive beauty. Some can be physical, and some can be mental, imaginative. In both tales persistently linked Wilde’s idea about esthetics and Christian values by redeeming themselves by doing good and spreading the love. Wilde’s fairy tales consist of aesthetic philosophies along with the collaboration with the Christian Allegory of redemption.