Class-9

English
Book-Moments
The Happy Prince-Notes

Introduction
“The Happy Prince” is the story about a beautifully decorated statue of a prince who lived a
very happy life. He learnt about sorrow after his death, when his statue was placed at a high
point from where the misery of the entire city could be seen. Moved by the plight of the poor,
the Happy Prince gave away all his possessions to the needy with the help of a kind swallow.
This compassionate bird sacrificed his life for the noble cause of the Prince.
TITLE
The title of the story, “The Happy Prince”, presents its elements in a symbolic manner. The
story is about a prince who used to be happy when he was alive. However, he is very sad
after he is placed atop a column as a statue. The prince appeared to be happy only because he
knew nothing of life outside of his palace. Only after he died and became a statue did he learn
of the people’s suffering and the disparity between the rich and the poor. He now sought
happiness by sacrificing himself for the happiness of others. The title thus aptly suggests that
the outward happiness of the prince is symbolic of the superficial joys in life. Real happiness
lies in having a compassionate heart.
THEME
 The story is an allegory and is based on the theme that love and sacrifice are
important values in human life. Happiness comes to those who make others happy.
Those who have compassion and concern get as much joy as those who receive their
kindness and charity. Hence, one must try to live a life guided by the virtues of love,
sacrifice, benevolence, and joy.
 The spiritual beauty or inner beauty is more important than outward beauty. The real
beauty is love, compassionate heart and sacrifice. The prince and the swallow lost
their outward beauty to attain inner beauty by helping the poor and needy.
 There is a huge gap between the rich and the poor. We should help the poor and needy
people in society so that they are able to lead a happy life.
MESSAGE
 The first message is that we must spread happiness around us if we wish to be happy.
It is useless to mount statues with gold and jewels when the people are hungry. The
Prince could be happy only as long as sorrow was not allowed to enter his palace.
Once he saw pain, suffering and injustice, even his lead heart cried.
 The next message is that disparity and sorrow in society can be overcome by
compassion, generosity and sharing. The generous prince and the gentle swallow
sacrificed themselves to bring happiness to the poor and the needy. However, their
deaths did not end their lives. The redemptive power of love made them live forever
as the precious and chosen ones of God.
  The most powerful message or moral lesson given by this story is that it is very
essential to help the poor and the downtrodden in society. The second message is, we
must be sensitive to the people who are suffering, especially the poor, and help them
out. This will reduce their suffering and help them to stand up.
Justification of the Title
The statue of the Happy Prince is adorned with gold and precious stones. The Happy Prince
gets happiness by distributing the jewellery to the poor of the city. The swallow helps him to
carry out his task. The Prince who was crying when the swallow met him, now feels happy
that he has been able to make a number of poor people happy around the city. So, the title
“Happy Prince” is apt. It is about the inner or real happiness of the prince at the cost of this
out happiness.
Symbol
The Lead Heart
The Happy Prince has a heart made of lead, which breaks when his beloved Swallow dies of
the cold. At first, this lead heart appears to emphasize the superficiality of the Prince’s
beauty, though it later comes to symbolize the steadfast nature of love. In the beginning of the
story, the lead heart reveals that the gold decorating the Prince’s outside does not carry
through his insides. This advises one to avoid judging by appearances, as they can be
deceitful. Although town officials try to melt the heart down and repurpose it with the rest of
the statue, it refuses to melt. And when at the end of the story God asks for the two most
precious things in the city to be brought to him, the lead heart, although broken, ends up
being one of them. The lead heart thus ultimately represents both the steadfastness of true
love and the value of compassion. By refusing to melt, the heart also indicates that some
things persist beyond one’s own life—that is, that there exist values greater than the sum of a
life.
Vocabulary
gilded: to covered with something, coating of something
hilt: the handle of a weapon or tool, especially a sword, dagger, or knife
Alighted: descended
curious: strange
drenched: soaked with water
coarse: rough
seamstress: a woman who makes a living by sewing
sword hilt: the handle of the sword
pedestal: raised platform
mast: sail of the ship
sank: drown but here it means the boy in going to sleep
prospect: thought of something
garret: small dark room at the top of the house
withered: worn out
violet: kind of flower
faint: weak
grate: fireplace
darted: pushed himself inside
appreciate: to praise someone
harbor: sea port
swooped: fly very low
shabby (untidy)
proclamation: order, rule/
furnace: is a fire place where metal are melted
overseer: supervisor
foundry: workshop for casting metals
Synopsis
 Once in a town there lived a prince. He was called the Happy Prince because he had
been happy all his life.
 After his death, his statue covered with gold, two precious sapphire stones embedded
in the eyes and a ruby stone fitted into the handle of his sword was erected on a tall
pedestal in the middle of the town.
 From there, he could see all around the place and realized that the people lived in a lot
of poverty and misery. This sight saddened the prince and being helpless, he would
weep to see the plight of his people.
 One day a swallow bird was flying through the city, on its way to Egypt to meet its
friends. On the way, it took shelter for the night at the feet of the statue of the happy
prince.
 The bird realized that the statue was weeping and upon inquiry, realized the plight of
the prince.
 The helpless prince requested the bird to help it by becoming its messenger.
 After initial refusal, the bird agreed and took the ruby stone out of the sword hilt and
delivered it to a poor seamstress.
 The next morning, as he went to bid goodbye, the statue convinced him to stay back
for one more day. That day, the bird was asked to remove the sapphire stone from one
of the statue’s eyes and deliver it to a young playwright.
 Also, on the third day the bird had to pull out the second sapphire stone for a poor
match girl.
 By this time, the weather had become cold and the bird had developed an attachment
with the statue. The bird did not want to leave the statue which had now become
blind.
 The happy prince asked the bird to go around the city and inform him the condition of
the people living there.
 The bird told him that the rich were making merry while the poor lived in misery.
 As the happy prince did not have any more precious stones, he ordered the bird to
remove the gold foils from his body and distribute among the living who needed
money for survival.
 Gradually, the statue of the prince lost its covering of gold and became dull and grey.
On the other hand, the poor became joyous as they got bread to eat.
  The swallow bird was now unable to withstand the cold weather and realized that
death was approaching. It informed the statue that it had to leave and the statue, who
loved the bird asked it to kiss him.
 As the bird died and fell at the statue’s feet, a strange sound came out of the statue -
the sound of the breaking of its heart.
 Although the statue’s heart was made of lead, it broke as it was overwhelmed with
affection towards the bird.
 When the statue was melted in the furnace, the heart did not melt and was thrown in
the garbage.
 It landed near the swallow’s body. God’s angels took both the dead swallow and the
broken heart to him as they were the most precious things on land.

Watch the movie here- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP7ESTU4Pxs

Mind Map- https://www.slideshare.net/WardaChaudhry1/happy-prince