The theme of sacrifice is explored through Nightingale’s self sacrifice in the name of true love and for the sake of helping others. Themes in The Nightingale and the Rose Theme of Sacrifice:

He goes back to his home and starts reading a book. The boy throws the rose in the gutter and a cart runs over it.Īt the end he decides that logic is better than love and love is unrealistic. The girl rejects the rose by saying that it will not match her blue dress and someone else has brought her jewels that are worth more than a rose. When the student wakes up, he sees the red rose under his window, plucks it joyously and brings it to his love. She performs a suicidal act while singing with his heart on the thorn, giving her heart’s blood to a white rose which turns it in to a beautiful red rose. Finally she comes to know about a way of getting a red rose by a tree. The bird flies and goes to the various bushes but cannot find a red rose. She feels the pain of that boy and wants to help him.

The nightingale comes to know that the young man is weeping for a red rose. The Nightingale, living in the oak-tree of his garden, hears the young man crying over his helplessness and lamenting the fact that all his learning is useless since it cannot win him a girl’s love. The story begins with a young student who is lamenting in his garden because the love of his life will dance with him in the ball only if he brings her a red rose but there is no red rose in his garden. Moreover, in this story Oscar Wilde raises the most common issues of materialism and idealism present in the conventional society he lived in. It is full of indirect comments on life, personifications, similes and symbolism. It is also enriched with the wealth of deep meaning. It was published in 1888 in a collection of children’s story named as The Happy Prince and the Other Tales.Īlthough, it is a children’s story but it deals with philosophical and emotional issues that are beyond the understanding of children.

The story “The Nightingale and the Rose” is written by Oscar Wilde. The Nightingale and the Rose Literary Analysis.The Nightingale and the Rose Characters Analysis.

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