MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRANING TAY BAC UNIVERSITY =====o0o===== KHONG QUYNH HUONG GRADUATION PAPER MORAL LESSONS IN SOME OF OSCAR WLDE’S FAIRY TALES SON LA, 2015 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRANING TAY BAC UNIVERSITY =====o0o===== KHONG QUYNH HUONG GRADUATION PAPER MORAL LESSONS IN SOME OF OSCAR WLDE’S FAIRY TALES FIELD: ENGLISH LITERATURE SUPERVISOR: MRS BUI THI THU HIEN M.A SON LA, 2015 Comment [1]: trang cho lên ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For the fulfillment of my Graduation Paper, I would like to express my gratefulness to all of the people who have stood by my side and helped me enthusiastically My special thanks would go, first and foremost, to MA Bui Thi Thu Hien, my supervisor, for her valuable lecture and suggestions She gave me her invaluable comments, instructions and whole - hearted assistance, encouragement as well as supplied me with helpful advice Without the supervisor‟s help, this thesis could not be completed I am extremely grateful to my teachers and friends, who have directly or indirectly helped me with encouragements and provision of documents related to the theme of my thesis I am especially indebted to my family for their indispensable support and applaud during the process of writing this Graduation Paper And last but not least, my sincere thanks would be reserved to Tay Bac Library which supplied me with the version of the book and other books related on which I did my thesis Son La, 7th May, 2015 The researcher Khong Quynh Huong TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aims and objectives of the study Methods of the study Scope of the study Research question Design of the study CHAPTER II: THEORY OF LITERATURE Definition of Literature Main functions of a literary work 2.1 Reflective function 2.2 Educational Function 2.3 Aesthetic Function Aspects of a fiction 3.1 Theme 3.2 Plot 3.3 Characters 3.4 Settings British Literature in the second half of the XIX century 4.1 Social circumstances 4.2 Literature CHAPTER III: OSCAR WILDE’S BIOGRAPHY 10 Life 10 Career 12 2.1 Noted works 12 2.2 Writing style 15 The Happy Prince and Other Tales 17 3.1 General introduction to the book 17 3.2 Summary of “The Happy Prince” 18 3.3 Summary of “The Selfish Giant” 19 3.4 Summary of “The nightingale and the rose” 20 CHAPTER IV: MORAL LESSONS IN OSCAR WILDE’S FAIRY TALES 22 Sacrifice 22 To share to get happiness 29 To be wise and clear – sighted 33 To appreciate the others‟ efforts 34 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION 37 REFERENCES ABSTRACT The graduation paper concerns itself with a study of the moral lessons in Oscar Wilde‟s some fairy tales Oscar Wilde is an Anglo – Irish playwright, novelist, poet and critic He is regarded as one of the greatest playwright of the Victorian Era He writers great many novels and short stories that sketch the society and human plights in vivid and realistic details A human nature is looming in his writings “The Happy Prince and Other Tales” (1888) is one of the finest works of Oscar Wilde, which provides valuable moral lessons for people By exploring three fairy tales “The Happy Prince”, “The Nightingale and the Rose” and “The Giant Selfish”, researcher would like to find out how the author conveys his moral lessons to the readers CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study In the history of English literature, the English decadent literature and the Aesthetic Movement in the XIX century are known together with the name of Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde is a famous English writer who wrote the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray and the play Salome at the end of nineteenth century He was not merely well known as the leader of the “Aesthetic Movement” as well as faithful apostle to the “Art for art‟s sake” but a well-known decadent writer in the second half of the 19th century English literature His aesthetic attitude of "art for art's sake" was well received and reported by scholars and researchers, but some moralists and religious leaders said he was so immoral that they could not accept and evaluate his work Even if it was proper that they criticized him in those days, that were the Victorian Age, researcher would never agree with such an attitude toward his work I am sure that one's work should not be evaluated on the basis of one's behavior or character, but should be evaluated on its worth Readers are not only fascinated by his rich and delicate vocabulary, by his lucid and expressive style but his humanistic contents of his works as well Though Oscar Wilde used to state that he would remain faithful to the principles of aestheticism throughout his life, though the young intellectuals worshipped him as their cult and assured that each of his cells was full of aesthetic concepts, his works especially the genres laid down earlier objectively earned him recognitions as a writer of the works of realistic value The idea of having an animal as a main character is shown in many of Oscar Wilde‟s short stories He developed this theme as a reaction towards his age which lacked, in his view, moral as well as human values In spite of being world famous, little is known about Wilde‟s life and works in Vietnam Oscar Wilde‟s works, his simplicity in plots, his wonderful choice of words fascinate a lot of people In this graduation paper, far from perfect though it is, researcher works at the moral lessons that stand in his “The Happy Prince”, “The Nightingale and the Rose” and “The Giant Selfish” The title of the graduation paper is “Moral lessons in some of Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales” Aims and objectives of the study In the light of researching Oscar Wilde‟ biography and analyzing three of five fairy tales in “The Happy Prince and Other Tales” by Oscar Wilde, The study aims at: - Finding related theories about Literature - Drawing significant knowledge about Oscar Wilde included: his life, career and writing style - Finding out some moral lessons through three fairy tales - Analyzing and comparing the moral lessons based on founded information Methods of the study To carry out the study, some main research methods are applied: - Reading document The basis form of reading document is to search and read documents relating to the study Documents would be English or its translation in order to understand deeply - Data collection To find out the evidences in each story and synthesize them, then divide them into suitable groups - Descriptive method Descriptive method is concerned with the description of main areas of moral lessons - Data analysis With founded data, researcher reorders and analyzes them It is concerned with the analysis of the texts Scope of the study Project work is advisable to study in all works of Oscar Wilde, with all kinds However, due to the limit of time, the researcher would focus on the fairy tales Besides, it would be taken a long time to the project to all fairy tales, so the researcher just devotes the research to the moral lessons in the three stories: “The Happy Prince”, “The Nightingale and the Rose” and “The Giant Selfish” in “The Happy Prince and Other Tales” (1888) Research question How moral lessons are conveyed in the three short stories? Design of the study The thesis is divided into five chapters, which can be generally categorized into three main parts: Introduction (chapter I), Development (chapter II, III, IV) and Conclusion (chapter V), each of which will be respectively presented as below: Chapter I deals with rationales, aims, research questions and scope of study Chapter II discusses the theories of Literature: the brief view of literature, its functions, fiction elements, and British Literature in the second half of the XIX century Chapter III is about the author‟s life, career, writing style and the summary of three fairy tales that researcher choose to the thesis Chapter IV presents the analysis Chapter V covers the general conclusion of the whole thesis CHAPTER II: THEORY OF LITERATURE Definition of Literature “Literature is life” That is what people always say about Literature It all comes from the truth that Literature refers to anything happen in life, to human beings and animals or “just everything” that are used to convey the visions, the attitudes and the messages of writers With the materials provided and the in – depth meaning under the surface of letters, Literature is news that stays new It is always fresh and new every time the readers read and discover In Literature world, the people live in a new life, their minds are broadened, and their souls are bred with meaningful and interesting ideas, mixed emotions and adventurous feelings Main functions of a literary work A literary works provides readers its author‟s vision of the world and of human life It brings about a sense of time and an understanding of the human psychological as well as physical world in different perspectives It is Literature that betters the life of its readers, helps them improve their social behaviors and thinking Therefore, a literary works has many functions: Reflective function, Educational Function, Aesthetic Function, Entertaining Function, Communicative Function and etc Among those functions, Reflective, Educational, Aesthetic Function are viewed as the most important functions of a literary works 2.1 Reflective function Reflective function is regarded as the first and basic function of a literary work because literature is defined as a means to convey an author‟s visions of life, the object of literature is rooted from man and his real life Each writer has his/her own method of writing and considers life and society in different aspects For example, Hemingway used the images of a war and human fates to express his hatred to war, Jack London through his hero – Martin Eden – he wanted to show his attitudes towards bourgeois society Moreover, “a writer should write valued this person as a gifted character Therefore, the bird helped him to continue his art This man was neglected by everyone and this kind of neglect hurt him and curbed his inspiration and made him feel that he is dead in life The Swallow helped him restore his lost hope which was so important for him as a writer Moreover, the other incident that showed the bird‟s sacrificial deed is when it helped the little match girl The bird gave her one of the eyes of his friend “He swooped past the match girl, and slipped the jewel into the palm of her hand (p.18) This innocent girl deserved to be educated and treated in a good way rather than being thrown in the streets and abused No one took care of her, even her father did not, except the bird This is another incident through which Wilde showed the discrepancy between the world of the human beings and the world of animals The human characters neglected and insulted this poor girl while the bird sacrificed its happiness in order to help her and make her happy At the end of the third mission, the Swallow began to feel sick and tired, but this weakness did not stop him from helping the boys who were under the bridge “lying in one an other's arms to try to keep themselves warm.” (p.20) The bird overcame his feebleness and tossed for them one of the golden parts of his friend “Leaf after leaf of the fine gold he brought to the poor, and the children‟s faces grew rosier, and they laughed and played games in the street.” (p.20) Those orphans deserved to live and grow in a clean, respectable, and warm place, but no one was aware of their poverty and the deplorable circumstances of their lives except the bird which found happiness in sacrificing itself for their sake The bird was very happy in achieving his promise to his friend, and showed sympathy to the living humans as well as dead ones; at the same time it displays full awareness of the suffering of the statue of the prince, which appears as a mere monument for other people The bird sacrificed its journey and health for the sake of the Prince and the poor The odyssey of the Swallow was near to its end and he had to go The Prince thought that the bird would go to Egypt to 26 join his friends but, in fact, it would join the angels in heaven and would sing forever The death of the bird influenced the Prince and made his heart break into two pieces, because he felt himself alone now with no friend, in fact, with nothing Although these two characters were completely different from one other in their origins and personal histories, they felt an attraction as they became aware of the importance of human nature and love This development, which was full of sorrow in the story, obtained the desired results in? Expressing the process of how both the Prince and the Swallow were able to gain humanness for themselves Readers can see a sacrifice from a bird once again in another Oscar Wilde‟s fairy tale named “The Nightingale and the Rose” The bird wanted to help the student by bringing a red rose to his girl and in exchange she would dance with him in the hall held by the prince From this event onward the bird decided to help the student fulfill his dream The bird believed in true love and was ready to die for it, as Robert Welch states: “The Nightingale sacrifices her life to create the rose that will give love to the student… Our Nightingale is able to die in exchange for eternal love.” This definition of true love set the discrepancy of the bird‟s world of love, emotion and sacrifice, and man‟s world of materialism, opportunism and aversion Moreover, the bird was presented as the true lover of the story The Nightingale felt sympathy for the student who became sick of love “but passion has made his face like pale ivory, and sorrow has set her seal upon his brow.”(p.28) Therefore, the bird decided to help the student whatever this might cost it This sympathy on the part of the bird was so determine and resolute to help the student It must be noticed here that the bird‟s quest, which was in parallel to man‟s lost quest, was to make the student enjoy his true love Ironically, man was no longer capable of achieving anything in life and it was through these tiny and meek birds that he could so The bird was convinced with its mission and determined to bring the red rose to the student 27 Consequently, the bird set out searching for a red rose It asked three trees of roses, one that had yellow roses, the other had white roses, and the third had red roses To the bird‟s misfortune, the tree of red rose could not have roses in winter This fact upset the bird and turned it hopeless Yet the tree suggested a solution, though an awful one, as the tree explained: “If you want red rose,” said the tree, “You must build it out of music by moonlight, and stain it with your heart‟s-blood You must sing to me with your breast against a thorn All night long you must sing to me, and the thorn must pierce your heart, and your life blood must flow into my veins, and became mine.”(p 32-33) This pivotal point proved the nature of the bird‟s sacrifice The bird was ready to give her life away just to see love achieved This, in fact, showed Wilde‟s pessimistic and optimistic attitudes at the same time It displayed Wilde‟s loss of faith in man and the impossibility of redeeming love On the other hand, it showed his optimistic attitude because he declared that if love was lost in man‟s world, at least it could be found somewhere else As a result, the bird accepted its fate believing in the nobility of its aim and thinking that true love was worthy to die for, as Welch states, “She thinks that the most important thing in the world is love, and even she gives her life for love.” The bird understood what made the student sad because it knew about the nature of true love, “But the Nightingale understood the secret of the student‟s sorrow, and she sat silent in the oak-tree, and thought about the mystery of Love.”(p.30) Therefore, the bird gave its soul away while singing and enjoying the moment, believed that establishing true love in man‟s disintegrated world was a tremendous thing and it required a great sacrifice Therefore, the bird resumed its process of sacrifice and accomplishes its mission The bird died, a death that made it happy at the end because it was its demand The bird‟s strong belief in love made it resolute enough to give its life away It sacrificed its life for the sake of the student, to help him win his love 28 To share to get happiness Everyone wants to be happy but not all of them get it Therefore, it is necessary for people to share happiness each other As a Prince in that time, it was a must for him to know about his people During his life, he just knew about happiness because in that palace he always was happy, lived in luxurious place with so many luxurious things too, he almost never being sad He never know what happen behind the palace wall In fact, behind that wall there were many people who got misery because they were poor They did not have enough money to buy luxurious things like what Happy Prince had To find food or to buy it they must work had If they were sick, they would only take care in their own house without a good treatment How poor they were! The prince realized that condition when he was died and became a luxurious statue His place was in the middle of town so every day, every night, every time he could see the people‟s activities He saw how misery they were Happy Prince was described leader in the real world whether he is father, major, governor even president As a good leader they must look around them, they must know what happen with them in reality They must not be happy by him while his other populaces are misery As soon as he began to perform acts of charity, his showy materials changed into love for the people The more he "lost" in valuable appearance, the more he "gained" in his humanness The prince, in his selfless serviced to the people and cared for the same did not mind sacrificing all the materials that his body was made up of Now without his eyes and gold covering, he looked so ugly that he was sent to furnace to melt This heart had nothing but the sympathies for the poor and the needy God was pleased with him After his death, he was taken to the city of gold where he would praise God forever The writer values this lead heard so much that he tells the reader that this heart does not melt in the furnace Sacrifice comes out of love and care for others and it manifests in the service for people through the realization of absolute solitude and unity among humans The Happy Prince who was merely a statue understands this And the bird, he 29 sacrificed his strength, his youth and even his life so as to bring happiness for poor He was described someone who opened end his heart to help someone without hoping for other response and he felt happy for that In another fairy tale of Oscar Wilde, this moral lesson was presented more clearly It is “The Selfish Giant” The short story told about someone who was very selfish, so he forbidden the poor children played in his beautiful garden Being selfish person, he got a lesson that made him to be kind person The Selfish giant was Giant Giant was a man who was rich and had the large garden The title had already changed the reader‟s mind set to think that the major character of The Selfish Giant was selfish It seemed that the giant was someone who was very egoistic and never thinks others, but readers did not know how selfish the giant was if they had not read the story yet “My own garden is my own garden,” said the Giant; “anyone can understand that, and I will allow nobody to play in but myself” This was the first sentence said by the Giant which was represents his selfishness He said that his garden was his own garden, so he did not allow anyone to play in his garden “My own garden” is a phrase represented that the garden was his own and he did not allow anyone plays in his garden was an application of his selfishness Building a high wall all-round the garden in order to forbid the poor children play in his garden was the second proof of his selfishness He tried to fence in order to avoid the children playing in his garden It was exacerbated by a notice-board written “Trespassers Will Prosecuted” It was addressed to whom plays in his garden; they would be prosecuted by The Giant It was very scream, but it is made intentionally in order to frighten the children The author, Oscar Wilder stated this sentence in order to make sure the readers that the major character of this short story was really selfish “He is too selfish” This sentence was said by the Autumn when she gave golden fruit to every garden, but to the Giant she gave none The Autumn seemed want to give some lesson to the Giant because of his selfishness She did not give the Giant 30 golden fruit as others, so it was only winter there, and the North Wind, and the Hail, and the Frost, and the Snow danced about through the trees And the Giant‟s heart melted as he looked out, “How selfish I have been”, he said This one was said when the Giant looked at little boy who could not reach the branches of the tree and cried bitterly This situation made him realize that he was very selfish person Here, researcher concludes that this event also made his heart to be kind, to have the contrast personality with his personality before “Now, I will know why the spring would not come here I will put that poor boy on the top of the tree, and then I will knock down the wall and my garden shall be the children‟s playground forever and ever” The proof of his personality changing was found in this conversation He realized that he was a selfish person, so he would put the poor boy on the tree‟s branch, and also made his garden as the playground of children forever Here, the researcher thinks that the Giant believe that by doing this kind of kindness, it will change his personality from selfish to be kind The author gave followers information that the Giant was very disappointed for what he had done He was very disappointed of chasing away the poor children from his garden, put up the notice board written “Trespassers Will Prosecuted”, and others His regret made readers to believe that the Giant will not repeat his mistakes for next time “It is your garden now, little children”, said the Giant The Giant said to the little children if his garden was also theirs He did not want the children run because of him His heart was melted, so he became to be kind person This sentence also had the point that the giant changes his mind In the beginning he saw the children, he said “My own garden is my own garden”, but after his heart melted, he said “It is your garden now, little children”, means that he wanted to share his garden with others, the little children Every afternoon, when school was over, the children came and played with the Giant But the little boy whom the Giant loved was never seen again The Giant was very kind to all children, yet he longed for his first little friend, 31 and often spoke of him This was an attitudes, researcher believes that the Giant had kind side in his heart “I have many beautiful flowers,” he said; “but the children are the most beautiful flowers of all” There was implicit meaning of “but the children are the most beautiful flowers of all” It means that the Giant loved the children very much He had preferred the children than flowers in his garden This condition was the opposite of first condition when the Giant saw the children were playing in his garden “Who hath dared to wound thee?” cried the Giant; “tell me I may take my big sword and slay him.” This sentence said when he met the little boy after years The little boy was the loveliest one for the Giant, so he would take his big sword and slays anyone who dared the little boy Re-searcher's opinion is that he said this sentence to little boy in order to make the little boy stays with him and never let him anymore And the child smiled on the Giant, and said to him, “You let me play once in your garden, today you shall come with me to my garden, which is paradise.” This one was sentence said by the little boy to the Giant; researcher thinks that paradise as the price of the Giant‟s kindness He did his best effort for the regret of his selfishness, so God appreciated him by giving him paradise and the children as the mediators Readers found out later that the child was Jesus, himself, and that the Giant met him again when he was about to enter paradise It was then when he sees that the child had wounds in his hands and feet The child represented the purity, innocence, and love always in our hearts That was the thematic connection between children, love and innocence as the saviors of one's heart The thematic points were clear; the only way to allow love into your heart was by opening up to it Another important point was that, although the Giant was unable to love, a miracle occurs in the form of a child (Jesus) showing him the way to find that love Most importantly, the fact that the Giant allows the love of God into his heart is what, ultimately, leads him to paradise-regardless what his life had been like before 32 Those are some Giant‟s conversations and attitudes founded in this short story that help researcher to analyze Giant‟s share through changing his personality From the conversations and attitudes above, researcher finds that the Giant was dominated by two contrast personalities, they were selfish and kind The author‟s purpose of making the Giant as the major character that could be guest was giving the figure to children and also making their mind set that being selfish person was not good choice When he made up his mind, not only the poor children got the happiness but also he felt happier than before, he could have a happy smile in the rest of his life Oscar Wilde taught his children this lesson through his fairy tales It is also true for everyone If someone wants to share, he/she will pleasant and be happy How colorful human life is if people share with people around They can share their happiness, their sadness, and so on If people just keep it by themselves it will not make a means in their life because they just spend their time alone Having a warm heart will make one happier To be wise and clear – sighted Sharing is good but it must be a lucid decision, people need to be wise and have a clear - sighted with what they share in order to make sure that everything they share is useful “The Nightingale and the Rose” is a touching short story that shows the differences between true love and a crush, and what a life is willing to to make another one happy, in this story, it is sacrifice The nightingale tried to tell the student everything it felt through its beautiful melodies, but he did not pay attention to them Clifton Snide commented on the situation of the bird saying that, “The Student cannot understand what the Nightingale says; for he only knew the things that are written down in books, he has too much “head” knowledge and almost no “heart” knowledge.” This indicates that people are indifferent towards other creatures and their behaviors Here lies the irony of the story All the efforts done by the bird were unheeded by the student who was 33 only aware of materialism and science which enveloped his life and made him blind of others‟ suffering Wilde showed clearly how the two worlds, the world of the bird and the world of the student cannot be bridged and compromised They were too different to meet The bird lived for love and sacrifice, while the student, the girl, and all the human characters in the story lived for materialism, science and utilitarian values The bird thus could be seen as a symbol of man‟s lost values Moreover, birds and other creatures were presented as being more passionate, sympathetic, and sensitive toward human sorrow and sadness than people themselves The bird died and the student observed the red rose the next morning and became very happy for this He took the rose to the girl, but she refused to take it, simply because the chamberlain‟s nephew had brought her jewelry, as she says: “everybody knows that jewels cost far more than flowers.”(p 40) Readers found out in the end that all was worthless The lady rejected the rose and the Oxford lad realizes that it were all caprice on his part The bird, however, was still dead However, the story showed readers that no sacrifice was too small when one does it with a true mission in mind However, the story was (as many works in Wilde's tradition) open-ended: Was it worth it, after all? Who actually wins in an ultimate demonstration of true faith? Does the nightingale die in vain? These are the ultimate questions that are subtlety laid to the readers, and each the readers will have the final say after all To appreciate the others’ efforts There are devotions which readers can see its interest obviously; no one can deny its benefit However, it is not true for all favors‟ because some of them are meaningless and they are not appreciated for their effort Researcher estimated that sacrifices of the Happy Prince and the Little Swallow were meaningful totally It was true in the heaven but in the real world, it was not Although the Prince and his friend, the Swallow, were nevertheless carried off to heaven as a reward for their efforts, the world took little note of 34 their favor, for it was indifferent if not hostile to selflessness; they died in the ungrateful of society Through those missions, the bird noticed the hypocrisy of the people, how “the rich were making merry in their beautiful houses, while the beggars were sitting at the gates.” (p 19) This hypocrisy hurt the bird as badly as it hurt the Prince The experience made bird realize the bitter fact of this world which it could not endure any more Therefore, the bird began to deteriorate from within as well as from without, as Wilde described it, “The poor little Swallow grew colder and colder, but he would not leave the Prince.” (p 21) This, in fact, led to the tragic end of the bird which died holding man‟s misery on its feeble body Ironically, the mayor ordered to melt down the statue of the Prince and threw away the bird saying: “birds are not to be allowed to die here” (p 23), but the heart of the Prince did not melt, because it was a human heart full of kindness In fact, the mayor was thinking of building a statue for himself instead: “It shall be the statue of myself” (p 23) The irony was that the bird sacrificed itself but was thrown on the grass! What about the Happy Prince? He was more beautiful than before because of being who he was but no one could realize this except Gods It could be seen in the concept of beauty which always seems to be associated with the possession of wealth and expensive materials that the statue was adorned with The villagers saw prince no more beautiful when all his materials are absent All the inner beauty of prince - of love, sacrifice and selflessness were far from being seen “The Nightingale and the Rose” closed more bitterly The nightingale decided to devote itself for the student, because she thought that death was a just a little price to pay for love, that it was nothing important It showed that a life would be willing to devote itself to make another one happy However, this devotion was really true? Unfortunately, what she had done was not appreciated by the human characters in the story The student was indifferent towards the bird‟s favor and could not understand it 35 In the beginning of the story, readers thought that the student felt true love for the professor‟s daughter, but by the end of the climax, readers discovered that he was never really in love with this girl but just had a crush on her People know that when they discover that when the girl denied the red rose from the student, he threw the rose that he was searching for so long into the street, where it fell into the gutter and a cart-wheel went over it The student did not even try to convince the girl to go with him to the ball, he just surrenders like that He also said that love was not half as useful as logic If he was really in love with the girl he would not surrender so easily like that The life of the nightingale was just wasted like that The nightingale killed itself out of love, true love, but that love was demolished, ruined, destroyed The professor‟s daughter also did not know what was the true meaning of love, because she was a materialist, she just liked people who bought her jewels, that was why she did not accepted the rose Both the girl and the boy were ungrateful towards the bird, they did not respect the bird‟s sacrifice, as Roden puts it, “the Nightingale who gives her heart‟s blood for a rose, only to have the love token tossed aside by both who demanded it and the conceited student who offered it.” Love was destroyed by materialism and civilization Wilde wanted to say that there was no place for love among such selfish people, who thought that gold or diamonds could compensate such noble feelings, those that the bird died for willingly and happily The bird offered its soul because it wanted the student to be a true lover, because love, according to the bird, was wiser than philosophy “The Happy Prince” and “The Nightingale and the Rose” depicted characters who gave their lives for others, in the former instance for the poor and in the latter for love However, the world took little note of these devotions, for it was indifferent if not hostile to selflessness 36 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION In fairy tales readers find unreal characters like fairies, giants, witches and humanize animals, for adult it is hard to believe but it is acceptable for children It is useful and effective to educate children in this way The swallow, Happy Prince, The giant, and the Nightingale help people to realize moral lessons, such as: Sacrifice, To share to get happiness, To be wise and clear - sighted, and To appreciate the others‟ efforts These three short stories showed Wilde‟s loss of faith in man Therefore, he resorted to a statue, a giant and animals because he believes that what is lost in man is restored by unreal human and animals Illustrations of Wilde‟s moral prerogative are indeed manifold, but researcher promised not to try to cover everything Still, researcher must observe that many critics have done Oscar Wilde a disservice by omitting the abundant evidence of his interest in compassion, generosity, and love He decried Victorian ethics and intransigent moral positions but not moral truths, truths of the human heart Wilde did not alter his opinion on the subject as he grew older, although he rarely stated it so openly Instead, he made the connection between art and “simple morals” through his own creative genius while he directly and indirectly formulated a new morality, or, if one will, a new attitude toward 19th century morality And he accomplished this end by telling a story with a moral In this way, Wilde‟s fairy tales also defied the hopeful promise attached to their protagonists‟ charitable and sacrificial acts by human today Comprehending and lamenting the need for such acts, Wilde insistently points to their futility and suggests that true happy endings for all must be found by other means What those means are, however, he leaves to his readers to determine even as he seeks to check and guide their optimism Readers can see beauty in acts of devotion, sharing among characters Simultaneously, they would enhance their sense of being master themselves All in all, although Wilde incorporate so much pain, suffering, sadness and death in his stories, his story still give prominence to human civilization through the moral lessons left It was all of them that have high value until today 37 REFERENCES A.Vietnamese Materials 1.Cù Đình Tứ, Tu từ tiếng Việt 2.Từ điển tác giả văn học sân khấu nước ngoài, (1982), Nxb Văn hóa 3.Từ điển tác giả văn học, (1982), Viện văn học B English Materials 4.Alexander Galt Ross, (1970), The Critical Heritage, New York 5.Canning, R (2008), Brief Lives: Oscar Wilde, London, Hesperus 6.Carpenter, Humphrey, and Mari Prichard, Editors, (1984), The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature, New York, Oxford University Press 7.Chandler, Albert, R (1934), The Nightingale in Greek and Latin Poetry The Classical Journal 8.Cullinan, Bernice E., and Diane G Person, editors, (2003), The Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature, New York, Continuum International Group 9.Crug, G A (1964), English Literature, Boston Ginn and Co 10.Duffy, John-Charles, (2010), Gay-Related Themes In The Fairy Tales Of Oscar Wilde, Scholars Portal Search 11.Duffy, John-Charles, (2001), Victorian Literature and Culture, Scholars Portal Search 12 Ellmman, R (1987), Oscar Wilde, London, A PENGUIN BOOK, Hamish Hamilton 13 Ellmann, R (1969), Oscar Wilde A Collection of Critical Essays, New Jersey, Spectrum 14 Foldy, Michael, S (1997), The Trials of Oscar Wilde: Deviance, Morality, and Late-Victorian Society, Yale UP 15.Garrod, H W (1924), The Nightingale in Poetry, Oxford, Clarendon 16.Hart - Davis, R (1963), The Letters of Oscar Wilde, London, Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd 17 Hart - Davis, R (1989), Selected Letters of Oscar Wilde, London, Oxford University Press 18 Hart - Davis, R (1989), More Letters of Oscar Wilde (London, Oxford University Press 19 Hesketh, P (1946), A Life of Oscar Wilde, London 20 Hyde, M (1990), Oscar Wilde - The affinities Biography, London, Mandarin Paperbacks, 1990 21 Keats, J Ode to a Nightingale, The Oxford Book of English Verse 22 Kohl, N (1989), Oscar Wilde - The works of a conformist rebel (Translated from German by David Henry Wilson), London, Cambridge University Press 23 Leonard, C, (1907), Oscar Wilde, London, T.WERNER LAURIE 24 Lutwack, L (1994), Birds in Literature, University of Florida 25 Martindale, C (1988), Literature and Art from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century, Cambridge UP 26 Mason, S (1914), Bibliography of Oscar Wilde, London 27 Monaghan, David, M (1974), The Literary Fairy-Tale: A Study of Oscar Wilde's “The Happy Prince” and “The Star-Child”, University of Alberta 28 Muir, P (1954), English Children's Books, New York, Frederick A Praeger 29 Pardede, P (2008), An introduction to the study of fiction, Christian University of Indonesia, Jakarta 30.Roden, S, Frederick (2008), “Wilde the Writer” in Pal-grave Advances in Oscar Wilde Studies, Macmillan 31 Seward, Barbra (1989), The Symbolic Rose, Dallas 32 Zipes, Jack, (2006), Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature, New York, Oxford University Press 33 Wilde, O (1979), Fairy Tales, Progress, Moscow 34.Wilde, O (1987), The Selfish Giant in The Works of Oscar Wilde, London, Galley Press 35.Wilde, O (1888) The Happy Prince and Other Tales, Boston Roberts Brothers 36 Wood, Naomi, (2002), Creating the Sensual Child: Paterian Aesthetics, Pederasty, and Oscar Wilde's Fairy Tales Marvels and Tales C Websites 37.http://www.literaturecollection.com/a/wilde/330.Retrieved 13/02/2015 38 http://www.litencyc.com Retrieved 13/02/2015 39 http://www.VQR.com Retrieved 10/3/2015 40 http://ryerson.ca/childrenslit/group20.html Retrieved 8/4/2015 41.http://www.vqronline.org/essay/moral-prerogative-oscar-wilde-lookfairy-tales Retrieved 27/4/2015 42.https://books.google.com.vn/books?id=QvChAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA82 &lpg=PA82&dq=moral+lessons+in+oscar+wilde%27s+tales&source=bl&ots=9 npaMiKl4v&sig=HZtRUD7tOeWZBXptDX0T_ZgKcXY&hl=vi&sa=X&ei=w VpUVZevEo6B8gXYvoDoCw&ved=0CEcQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=moral% 20lessons%20in%20oscar%20wilde's%20tales&f=false Retrieved 03/5/2015 43.https://books.google.com.vn/books?id=LPwnbbLJpLwC&pg=PA141 &lpg=PA141&dq=moral+lessons+in+oscar+wilde%27s+tales&source=bl&ots= EOTQEN84wZ&sig=R_yZjXtiik7ZZYWNr_CaBioCHg&hl=vi&sa=X&ei=wV pUVZevEo6B8gXYvoDoCw&ved=0CGUQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=moral%2 0lessons%20in%20oscar%20wilde's%20tales&f=false Retrieved 03/5/2015 [...]... looseness of morals which since his Oxford days has always pleased to affect, but to the consternation of his friends who ceased to credit the existence of any real moral obliquity At last, all these things fall into oblivion of humane laws and morality and he then appeared in the place of defendant In 1895 came fatal revelations as the result of his bringing a libel action against the marquis of Aucensberry... astonishing mastery of the art of morbidity, describing in unusual detail images of corpses and blood and a murder that would rival anything in modern cinema “He [Dorian] rushed at him [Basil], and dug the knife into the great vein that is behind the ear, crushing the man‟s head down on the table, and stabbing again and again There was a stifled groan, and the horrible sound on someone choking with... outshines him in this field It is no doubt that Oscar Wilde is a man 14 of paradoxes Paradox can find its full expression both in his works and his life As the leader of the “Aesthetic Movement” in England and the apostle of “Art for Art‟s sake” Oscar Wilde maintains that art stands above all The deeper we go into the analysis of Oscar Wilde the better we realize his talent It is true to think of him... a few of the tales, the main character recognizes his error, is repentant, and achieves something like a state of grace This process occurs in “The Selfish Giant,” “The Young King,” and “The Star-Child.” In other tales, characters like Big Hugh, the Infant, and the Remarkable Rocket remain blinded by their conceit and consequently unregenerate Two of the tales, “The Happy Prince” and “The Nightingale... to his study of logic and metaphysics, and decides not to believe in true love anymore 21 CHAPTER IV: MORAL LESSONS IN OSCAR WILDE’S FAIRY TALES Although Oscar Wilde followed “Art for Art‟s Sake” Movement, his works, especially fairy tales, have a high opinion of human civilization He would like to teach his children through getting the moral lessons from those Wilde‟s description is soft as well so... important role in forming an interesting plot It is the times and places in which the events of the story occur An author may base on the social or historical setting to create a plot with typical types of characters There are two types of settings: natural setting and artificial setting To write for children – fairy tales – for example natural setting does help so much And artificial setting always reflects... particularly in tune with the darker side of things He recognized the lust for immortality that is built into every human being and exemplified it in his novel Dorian‟s greed for eternal youth results in the deterioration of his soul as seen in his portrait He had an insight into evil that few authors of his time period could claim and he mastered this insight and put it into writing with incredible... that children can imagine vividly 1 Sacrifice According to the Oxford dictionary, a sacrifice is a loss or something you give up, usually for the sake of a better cause Though no longer used only in a religious context, sacrifice comes from the Latin sacra and facere, meaning "to perform sacred rites." To sacrifice is to give up something precious in order to gain or maintain something, such as a valuable... waving grotesque stiff-fingered hands in the air He stabbed him twice more, 15 but the man did not move Something began to trickle on the floor He waited for a moment, still pressing the head down He could hear nothing, but the drip, drip on the threadbare carpet” (Wilde p.126) This passage describes in haunting detail a gruesome murder and paints a terrifying picture in even the most unimaginative mind... relationship or some other worthy cause The term "sacrifice" is often used in religious contexts referring to the act of offering something precious to a deity, such as the sacrificial murder of a victim As Romantic Ideology has certain aspects in common with religious beliefs, the term "sacrifice" is frequently used in romantic contexts as well Intense love has no qualms about making considerable