OSCAR WILDE’S THE HAPPY PRINCE

1. At the beginning at the story, the statue of the happy prince is introduced to
readers by the remarks of five minor characters. Who are they and what notion do
they associate the Happy Prince with?
2. In a sentence or two, described an idea or concept of feeling that you associate wit
these symbols:
 The statue of Happy Prince:
 Swallow:
3. “When I was alive and had a human heart… I did not know what tears were, for I
lived in the Palace… My courtiers called me the Happy Prince, and happy indeed
I was, if pleasure is happiness. So I lived, and so I died. And now that I am dead
they had set me up here so high that I can see all the ugliness and all the misery
of my city, and though my heart is made of lead yet but I cannot choose but
weep.” These words may contain a message about happiness. Do you accept that
message about happiness as a logical one or you have another definition of
happiness?
4. Does the Happy Prince consider himself as a happy man living in luxury and
leading a life full of pleasure? Why is the idea “the statue is useful” repeated in
the story? What does the writer suggest through this statement?
5. The Councilors and the Mayor are not carefully described, but you may have a
mental picture of them. Can you describe it in your own words?
6. What qualities would Oscar Wilde put into the character “Swallow”?
7. What is the moral of this tale story? What is it attraction? What is it limitation?
8. Why does Oscar Wilde let the little Swallow fall down dead and the statue melt in
a furnace? Express your feeling about their sacrifice.
9. How do you think of the happy end of the story? If you could end the story
yourself, what would you do with the broken lead heart and the dead bird? ( What
do you comment on the end of the tale? Is it a common way to end a tale like
that, a happy end for the reader?
10. Theme or topic of the story?
In our life, people get happiness in different ways. For some people, happiness comes
from having stable jobs with high salary, or ideal sweetheart, and others achieve
happiness when they overcome challenges in their life, and so on. It is happiness that
impacts every facet in their life, so happy people are generally more productive and more
successful. In my point of view, the real meaning of happiness is enjoying simple bliss of
life every day, bringing happiness to everyone around, and making an effort to pursue
goals.

Firstly, enjoying simple bliss of life everyday helps us understand the worth of life. For
example, after a hard working day, we come back our home, and then all members of our
family gather together to have dinner, to watch TV together, or to talk together, so we
attain happiness. Otherwise, when we can enjoy meals our mother cooks, or when our
mother hugs and kisses us, we feel happy. Furthermore, we gain happiness because we
are lucky to live in a warm and nice house, to go to school, to have a lot of good friends,
and to own lots of very nice things. Hence, happiness exists with many simple and
normal things that happen in our life every day.

Secondly, bringing happiness to everyone around makes our life more meaningful. In
reality, there are a lot of ways to bring happiness to people such as we should give
beggars a little money when meeting them on the streets. Another example, when getting
in a bus, we should give our seats to old people, children and cripples. Besides, when our
friends have difficulties, we are ready to help them such as giving them advice,
encouraging them to go ahead or simply sitting beside them to listen to what they want to
say, etc. Therefore, when we find ways to bring happiness to people, our happiness will
be double. After we finish good things for everyone, we will feel happy again, and we
ourselves also create new happiness. Thanks for making people happy, our life becomes
more meaningful.

Lastly, making an effort to pursue goals is not less important than two things above to
help us succeed in our life, we should define goals we need to reach, and in order to
achieve them, we have to make an action plan. After making an action plan, we should
try to pursue goals by all our effort. For instance, last summer, my classmates and I
attended a training pedagogy course in HCM University of Education because we are
future teachers so this course was very useful for us. To attain our goals, we had to get up
very early at 4:30 am everyday to take a bus to go to school, and it took one hour 45
minutes to get there. Everyday, we learned two periods (45 min. each), so we decided to
rest at school. Therefore, we took a nap at our desks. However, sometimes, we were not
allowed to rest in the classroom, so we did not have a place to rest, and it was terrible, we
had to seek other places to have lunch and seat. We had to move to other places to learn.
Occasionally, we felt very exhausted and upset. However, to get certificates, we
maintained our will to learn well and decided not to be absent any period. After ending
the course, most of us got good certificates. In brief, we will succeed if we always keep
our decision to pursue our goals till the end.

In conclusion, the real meaning of happiness is enjoying simple bliss of life everyday,
bringing happiness to everyone around, and making an effort to pursue goals. Happiness
is in our hand if we really know how to make our life bright, and beautiful. In addition,
happiness always exists around us, and it is significant whether we can recognize its
presence or not. In life, we always hope happiness for our life.
Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince and Other Stories is a marvellous collection of short
stories for children by one of the world's greatest writers. Wilde learned storytelling from
his parents, who were distinguished folklorists and writers. Although best known for his
plays, he loved writing for children.

Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince and Other Stories is a marvellous collection of short
stories for children by one of the world's greatest writers. Wilde learned storytelling from
his parents, who were distinguished folklorists and writers. Although best known for his
plays, he loved writing for children.

His stories for young readers, he said, were meant partly for children and partly for those
who have kept the childlike faculties of wonder and joy. Some were written for his own
two sons and some were first told to students at Cambridge.

Like Lewis Carroll, Wilde avoids patronising his young readers and often parodies the
moral tales traditionally imposed on them. His stories are full of contradictions. They
have been compared with Andersen's fairy tales and The Arabian Nights, in that they free
the imagination and are full of rich detail, challenging readers to explore new pleasures.
But they are also pervaded by sadness and convey Wilde's passionate sympathy for the
poor.

Wilde is master of the unpredictable. He subverts expectations with misleading titles as in

the title story of this collection - the Happy Prince isn't happy.

In the story, a Swallow admires the Happy Prince statue, resplendent in gold-leaf and
precious jewels. But he doesn't recognise what the poor children see: that the Prince is an
angel.

The statue persuades the Swallow to delay his trip to Egypt where his friends await him.
The bird has been in love with a Reed, but he is tired of her: she has no money, no
conversation and too many relatives. Now he is attracted to the Prince's beauty but
eventually he learns to love him for his soul.

Showing the Swallow the misery of the city, the Prince prevails upon him to remove the
ruby from his sword-hilt and take it to an ill child. Next, the Prince's sapphire eyes are
sacrificed to help a young man writing a play.

As winter closes in, Swallow pines for the dazzling colour and indolent ways of Egypt.
The Pince reminds him that more marvellous than anything is the suffering of men and of
women. And he sacrifices the only thing he has left, his skin of gold-leaf.

The town councillors melt down the shabby statue, not realising what a great event has
taken place. Ultimately, both the Prince and the Swallow sacrifice themselves and, in the
process, both are rewarded.