Essay on Oscar Wilde and His Fairy Tales - 5131 Words

Oscar Wilde and His Fairy Tales I. Introduction Wilde, Oscar (Fingal O’Flahertie Wills) (b. Oct. 16, 1854, Dublin, Ire ?d. Nov. 30, 1900, Paris, Fr.) Irish wit, poet and dramatist whose reputation rests on his comic masterpieces Lady Windermere’s Fan (1893) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1899). He was a spokesman for Aestheticism, the late19th-century movement in England that advocated art for art’s sake. However, Oscar Wilde’s takeoff of his enterprise and, his shaping of his characteristic style of works could be both considered originating from his fairy tales. It was not until his first collection of fairy tales had come out that he was regarded as an influential author. The British magazine Elegance, in which his The†¦show more content†¦They sent his far across the sea to a distant land called Great Britain where he learned to write and eventually succeeded in becoming very famous. He studied and wrote many stories, tales, and plays that made the British people very happy. He was re warded for his good work with a beautiful maiden and two sons as well as the acceptance of society. Oscar was very happy with his life and his ability to please the people, but he soon became very confused. Many of his opinion and ideas were not what the people wanted to hear and some of his work was not accepted as other pieces had been. Yet Oscar felt he must be true to himself and continued to express his beliefs. Sadly, while h was still a young man, he angered some of the people so much that they made sure he would be imprisoned in a terrible dungeon for many years. The people in Britain who once enjoyed his work became frightened because they did not understand what was happening to Oscar nor did they agree with many of his ideas and assumed he must be awfully bad for such a strict punishment. They soon stopped being interested in his work and shunned him from the life he worked so hard to achieve. Even after escaping from the dreadful dungeon, Oscar could never again find the happiness he had lost. Instead, he felt this world in sadness just a few years later, leaving only his workShow MoreRelatedOscar Wilde and His Fairy Tales5266 Words   |  22 PagesOscar Wilde And His Fairy Tales I. Introduction Wilde, Oscar (Fingal OFlahertie Wills) (b. Oct. 16, 1854, Dublin, Ire ?d. Nov. 30, 1900, Paris, Fr.) Irish wit, poet and dramatist whose reputation rests on his comic masterpieces Lady Windermeres Fan (1893) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1899). He was a spokesman for Aestheticism, the late19th-century movement in England that advocated art for arts sake. However, Oscar Wildes takeoff of his enterprise and, his shaping of his characteristicRead MoreOscar Wildes The Selfish Giant: A Felicitous Ending?748 Words   |  3 PagesFelicitous Ending? No one will dispute the fact that Oscar Wildes short story, The Selfish Giant, is a piece that is undoubtedly for children (Luthra 2009). The tale is rife with imagery and diction that appeals to a childs sensibilities, and is complete with a hero (or anti-hero) and other children, facets of which are endemic of childrens literature. However, the primary problem with this interpretation of this short story is that virtually all childrens stories end happily. Wildes narrativeRead MoreThe Picture of Dorian Gray: Corruption Through Aestheticism1464 Words   |  6 PagesThe Picture of Dorian Gray: Corruption Through Aestheticism The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is the story of moral corruption by the means of aestheticism. In the novel, the well meaning artist Basil Hallward presets young Dorian Gray with a portrait of himself. After conversing with cynical Lord Henry Wotton, Dorian makes a wish which dreadfully affects his life forever. If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that I would give everythingRead MoreOscar Wilde Fairy Tales4397 Words   |  18 PagesTHE TRAGIC MODE IN OSCAR WILDE’S FAIRY TALES DÉBORAH SCHEIDT, Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa ABSTRACT: In this paper we examine the articulation of the tragic mode in Oscar Wilde‟s collection of fairy tales The Happy Prince and Other Stories, especially in â€Å"The Young King†, â€Å"The Selfish Giant† and â€Å"The Birthday of the Infanta.† By â€Å"tragic mode† we mean, in this context, the vestiges left by Greek tragedy and its development, the Elizabethan tragedy, in a piece of nineteenth century fictionRead MoreEssay about The Flaws in Human Nature919 Words   |  4 PagesThe Flaws in Human Nature The story is known. A boy buys magic beans from a seller, plants the bean, and a giant bean stalk sprouts. The boy climbs it and meets a giant. This giant however is not like the giant in â€Å"The Selfish Giant†, by Oscar Wilde. While reading this short story a theme at first glance did not surface. But while dissecting it, readers will see that this is a follow-up of Adam and Eve with many lessons that the reader can learn. Reading this short story will accentuate the flawsRead MoreEssay on Oscar Wildes Success at a Gothic Novel1489 Words   |  6 PagesIn this essay I will be looking at how successful Oscar Wilde was at creating a gothic novel. I will be using Edgar Alan Poe’s short story The Fall of the House of Usher and the film Bram Stokers, Dracula and the The Picture of Dorian Gray. In this essay I will be looking at how successful Oscar Wilde was at creating a gothic novel. I will be using Edgar Alan Poe’s short story ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ and the film ‘Bram Stokers, Dracula’ and the earlier version ‘Nosferatu’ asRead MoreThe Picture Of Dorian Gray Analysis1623 Words   |  7 Pages Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray shows us the triumph of a corrupting influence over a virtuous one. In the novel, Lord Henry’s influence over Dorian overpowers Basil’s and leads to Dorian’s eventual demise. In analyzing Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, the theme of good versus evil reflects off of Lord Henry’s and Basil’s interactions with Dorian and Dorian’s internal struggles, thus exemplifying that a person with weak virtues will falter in the face of hedonistic temptationRead MoreBritish Literature Essay1614 Words   |  7 Pageshero Beowulf John Wycliffe – is a professor of Oxford University. With his students he translated the whole Bible into English - he influenced Master Jan Hus and our Hussite movement very much 2. the renaissance and humanism Geoffrey Chaucer – Canterbury Tales – brilliant portrait of 30 pilgrims who travel to Canterbury and they were saying stories each other, each one said four stories, but in tact there are only 23 tales. William Shakespeare – is the biggest author of this period ChristopherRead More History of Fairy Tales within Victorian Society Essay1204 Words   |  5 PagesPuritans viewed fairy tales as inappropriate literature because they believed fairy tales to be a form of witchcraft. The attitude toward fairy tales soon changed when the Brothers Grimm published their two-volume collection called Kinderund Hausmarchen or German Popular Stories. Overnight, fairy tales became an acceptable form of literature. This sudden popularity raises some related questions: What are the reasons behind the increased popularity of fairy tales? What function did fairy tales play in VictorianRead More Homosexuality in the Works of Oscar Wilde Essay3123 Words   |  13 PagesHomosexuality in Oscar Wildes Work      Ã‚  Ã‚   I turned half way around and saw Dorian Gray for the first time. I knew that I had come face to face with someone whose mere personality was so fascinating that, if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself (7). During the Victorian era, this was a dangerous quote. The Victorian era was about progress. It was an attempt aimed at cleaning up the society and setting a moral standard. The Victorian era