English coursework (Oscar Wilde) Essay

In an strain of 3-4 pages discuss how Oscar Wilde uses stereotypes and concepts from traditional andt-tales and in invert them in his short stories.In the majority of Oscar Wildes fairytales there are numerous stereotypical comp starnt component parts and concepts. In an exemplary fairytale there is the philanthropic character, who is very central to the change of fairytale, for instance a Prince or big businessman, This individual usually, forms an advantageous partnership with a bi-character such as Princess, Queen, Frog, or a Wizard, this may work in r incessantlyse in some fairy tales where e.g. the Princess is the leading character and the King is the sub-role. The enemy of the protagonist is called as a baddie whose only human beingsly concern in a fairytale is to try and prevent the leading character and his/hers acquaintances from saving the day or more importantly the valet de chambre.The evil being is primarily associated with negative images for example bad ma nners, ruthless personality, or the authentication evil express of amusement. In contrast the valiant fighter/heroine is conjugate with a clean depiction. Witches, Dragons, and Wolves are more often than not portrayed as Villains. Fairy-tale writers use techniques in which they lead the reader to believe that the hero/heroine result prevail in the battle against evil, because the trading floor gives the impression that the villain is superior to the central character.Almost ever fairy-tale begins with the opening phrase erst Upon a Time and force out with and they live happily ever after. using up of these phrases result in the reader instantaneously recognises that it is a fairy-tale. Castles are liberal buildings in fairytales because most of fairy-tales were write in medieval-times where castles were the biggest buildings you would see, and they are in addition cerebrate to Kings and Queens.Wilde makes extensive use of traditional fairy-tale characters, which do not exist in real spirit, in his stories such as ogres, terass and talking birds. I gauge Wilde choose to do this because he knew bizarre creatures put the communicate of his survival of the fittest across much easier to the readers, children in particular.I notice this from The skilful Prince and The self- good-natured Giant where the winter season is precondition human characteristics and actually devoted a voice to speak He is too selfish.What separates Oscar Wilde from former(a) writers in Victorian times is that he uses traditional fairy-tale characters to address coeval issues to express his opinion.In The blessed Prince Wilde embarks upon the difficulty of poverty and privilege, which were disregarded subjects in that era.When the Prince was alive he lived in the palace of San-Souci, here he wasnt allowed to see the outside world, that didnt b other(a) the Prince because there he had everything he wanted and needed. He was very happy this led to people appellative h im the intellectual Prince My courtiers called me The Happy Prince, and happy I was indeed, if pleasure be happiness. In the Palace no grief would enter, his courtiers fearing the happy prince would see true ill fortune and sadness. The Prince lived a very luxurious and well-situated life and was easily mirthful with his wealth. When he died they made a statue of him and placed high above the city. From this condition he had a respectable view of everything.This meant that he was able to life outside the Palace Beggars starving, children being abused, poverty all this made the Happy Prince grieve because he was powerless to stop any of this as he was a statue. Here Wilde makes a direct comparison between the rich and the poor. Wilde does this to make the reader sympathise with the poor people When the Swallow travel over the city he sees rich people sitting in the hotness of their expensive residences and beggars sitting outside of their gates. The Swallow also floater to ch ildren hungry and cold lying in each others arms for warmth under a bridge to seek shelter from the heavy rain, scarce they are told to leave by the watchman, and they walk back out into the rain. Incidents homogeneous this make the Happy Prince cry every single day as he sits and watches the wretchedness of the city.Wilde sends the message that human fickleness is a failing in The Happy Prince. As a statue the Happy Prince was very scenic and expensive. His body was covered in leaves of fine gold, he has two dexterous sapphires as eyes and a large red ruby gruff in his sword-hilt. The Happy Prince was admired by more people in the city as a consequence of this awe-inspiring demeanor. A contract says to her child Why cant you be like the Happy Prince She uses the Happy Prince as a role model for her son, infinitesimal does know of the Happy Prince but him being a very expensive statue. This argue how people judge based on small assumptions of physical appearance only.Even tually the Happy Prince loses all his fine possessions, as he has given them away to those whose needs are greater, and two townsfolk spot the statue. They settle to take it down they compare its value to that of beggarsAs he is no longer beautiful he is no longer useful. The liberal arts Professor believes that without beauty the statue is useless. This indicates that they didnt place the statue above the city as a symbol representing something with a deep philosophical intent, but alone as an appealing decoration for the city.Wilde also shows some fickleness and its consequences in The Nightingale and the Rose where the nightingale observes a young school-age child who is in love with his teachers daughter. He wants to give her a move which symbolises his love for her, but cannot afford one. The nightingale sympathises for the young student, he decides to go through agony and in the end sacrifice his life to impart that rose for him. The student receives the rose, and goes to the professors daughter to ask her if she exit accept his rose, but she frowns and says that she has been given far better gifts from another man. The student walks away in disgust and throws the rose into the gutter where gets flattened by a cart-wheel. The nightingales sacrifice was in vein. The student decides to exclude himself from ever loving again and he dedicates the rest of his life to studying philosophy. This tale has had an important esprit de corps stressed by Oscar Wilde. He uses a dramatic end to emphasise his point. He undoubtedly shows the destructiveness of a fickle nature.The fairytale The self-centred Giant explores selfishness and ignorance by portraying the stereotypical character of a whale as a ruthless monster in some part of the story. Wilde uses little children to contrast the enormous freaks dominance. When the giant arrives at his castle he finds children playing innocent games in his garden. The giant furiously chases them away and builds a high w all around his garden. As a result of this no seasons but winter enters his doomed garden. As summer, nightfall and spring comes and goes one constant climate remains in the giants garden and his only. Wilde uses the endless winter a metaphor for the on-going sentence of the giants misery, that winter has sentenced him for being selfish and venomous to the children.The giant soon realises his that all that time he was away, the little children had been preserving his garden and now that they were away it was winter forever. He figures this out when he sees one of his trees blossoming because a group of children climbed upon it. The giant apologises to the children and breaks down the stone make do and my garden shall be the childrens playground for ever and ever. The giants change of heart causes his garden to blossom and allow the other seasons to enter accordingly. When the giant dies, he goes to paradise. Wilde does this to stress the storys morale and message by showing that if you stop being selfish you will be rewarded.Wilde does use many traditional fairytale conventions but up to now his stories are different from the tradition in a variety of ways. traditionally the good triumph when they have made a noble sacrifice. Wilde doesnt necessarily do this. In fact he tends to not do it at all. This is evident in The Nightingale and the Rose where a nightingale unselfishly sacrifices his life for something as minor as getting a red rose to a student who is in love. In the end the student is rejected by the girls he loves, and the nightingales sacrifice was in vein. This story shows that Oscar Wilde will write sorrowful endings if he has to emphasise his point.A comely amount of Wildes tales do not introduce the story with the phrase Once upon a time and conclude it with And they all lived happily ever after. Wilde is very attentive in the ways in which he opens a fairy tale, but when it comes to ending one he usually goes with a harsh approach, and doe s not include psychological twists. In a world of magic and wonder Wilde does not exclude the use of religious imagery, this is exactly ever through with(p) in fairy tale. For example when the Happy Prince and his little assistant the swallow both die doing their heroic deeds. God orders an ideal to bring Him the two best things in the city the angel chooses the Happy Prince and the Swallow, because they were recognised for doing good deeds and therefore rewarded with an entry to Gods paradise.In the Selfish Giant we also see Wildes inviolable belief in God, when the giant dies and allowed entry in Paradise by God, because the giant has become a better individual. I think Wilde does this because he himself believes that good things come to those who deserve it, and he wants to encourage the readers to believe in that too. This is especially aimed at younger readers.Though Wildes stories are fairy tales they bare a resemblance to modern day life. In the antecedent of storytellin g fairy tales were used as a form of entertainment and written for that purpose as well. Where Wildes tales differ is when the tales carry a message hidden behind a great storyline, this not only done to give the reader a good read but also to teach and educate things that they perhaps didnt know or had a different perspective of. Nowadays stories always have these messages in them, but Oscar Wilde was one of the first to introduce this style of story-formatting, as readers crave for more than just a good story. The drama and intensity was also rather unusual elements Wilde added in his tales. These days drama is an essential ingredient to near every genre of literature, Wilde was one of the first to discover this, which is one of many reasons why his tales are still loved and admired across the world to this day.