English coursework (Oscar Wilde) Essay Example for Free

limit coursework (Oscar Wilde) EssayIn an essay of 3-4 pages discuss how Oscar Wilde employs stereotypes and concepts from traditional fairy-tales and in invert them in his short stories.In the majority of Oscar Wildes fairytales there ar numerous stereotypic characters and concepts. In an exemplary fairytale there is the good- amounted character, who is rattling important to the digitat of fairytale, for instance a Prince or King, This individual usually, forms an advantageous plane sectionnership with a bi-character such as Princess, Queen, Frog, or a Wizard, this may work in r incessantlyse in rough fairy tales where e. g. the Princess is the clueing character and the King is the sub-role. The enemy of the protagonist is cal conduct as a scoundrel whose notwithstanding existence in a fairytale is to try and prevent the leading character and his/hers acquaintances from saving the mean solar day or more importantly the terra firma.The evil existence is primarily associated with negative images for example bad manners, merciless personality, or the trademark evil express of amusement. In contrast the valiant hero/heroine is linked 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 lector to believe that the hero/heroine will prevail in the battle against evil, because the story gives the impression that the villain is superior to the central character.Almost ever fairy-tale begins with the opening phrase Once Upon a Time and shoemakers last with and they live blithely ever after. Use of these phrases dissolving agent in the selecter instantaneously recognises that it is a fairy-tale. Castles are prominent buildings in fairytales because most of fairy-tales were written in me dauntval-times where castles were the biggest buildings you would limit, and they are as well related to Kings and Queens.Wilde makes extensive use of tradit ional fairy-tale characters, which do not exist in real life, in his stories such as ogres, giants and talk of the town birds. I think Wilde choose to do this because he knew bizarre creatures put the marrow of his choice crossways much easier to the readers, preteensterren in particular.I know this from The joyous Prince and The Selfish Giant where the spend season is disposed human characteristics and actually given a voice to speak He is too selfish.What separates Oscar Wilde from other writers in Victorian times is that he uses traditional fairy-tale characters to address contemporary issues to express his opinion.In The Happy Prince Wilde embarks upon the bother 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 think the outside world, that didnt bother the Prince because there he had everything he wanted and needed. He was very happy this led to race naming hi m the Happy Prince My courtiers called me The Happy Prince, and happy I was indeed, if pleasure be happiness. In the castle no grief would enter, his courtiers fearing the happy prince would see true misery and sadness. The Prince lived a very luxurious and full-bodied life and was easily pleased with his wealth. When he died they made a statue of him and placed high above the city. From this position 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 community When the Swallow flies over the city he sees rich people sitting in the warmth of their expensive residences and beggars sitting outside of their gates. The Swallow also spots to children empty-bellied a nd cold lying in each others arms for warmth under a bridge to essay shelter from the heavy rain, yet they are told to leave by the watchman, and they walk back out into the rain. Incidents equal this make the Happy Prince cry every single day as he sits and watches the wretchedness of the city.Wilde sends the gist that human fickleness is a weakness in The Happy Prince. As a statue the Happy Prince was very beautiful and expensive. His body was covered in leaves of alright gold, he has two bright sapphires as look and a large red ruby encrusted in his sword-hilt. The Happy Prince was admired by some(prenominal) people in the city as a consequence of this awe-inspiring appearance. A mother says to her child Why cant you be like the Happy Prince She uses the Happy Prince as a role exemplification for her son, little does know of the Happy Prince but him being a very expensive statue. This show how people judge based on small assumptions of physical appearance only.Eventually 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 limit to take it down they compare its value to that of beggarsAs he is no longer beautiful he is no longer useful. The 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 merely 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 student who is in love with his teachers daughter. He wants to give her a move up 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 release his life to get that rose for him. The student receives the rose, and goes to the professors daughter to ask her if she will accept his rose, but she frowns and says that she has been given far better gifts from another(prenominal) 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 poring over philosophy. This tale has had an important morale stressed by Oscar Wilde. He uses a dramatic ending to underscore his point. He undoubtedly shows the destructiveness of a fickle nature.The fairytale The Selfish Giant explores selfishness and ignorance by portraying the stereotypical character of a giant as a ruthless monster in some part of the story. Wilde uses little children to contrast the enormous giants dominance. When the giant arrives at his castle he finds children playing innocent games in his tend. The giant furiously chases them away and builds a high wall around his garden. As a result of this no seasons but winter enters his doomed garden. As summer, autumn and spring comes and goes one constant modality remains in the giants garden and his only. Wilde uses the endless winter a metaphor for the ongoing sentence of the giants misery, that winter has sentenced him for being selfish and cruel 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 conclave of children climbed upon it. The giant apologises to the children and breaks down the stone fence 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 wil l be rewarded.Wilde does use many traditional fairytale conventions but still 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 occurrence 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 reasonable 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 does not include psychological t wists. In a world of magic and wonder Wilde does not exclude the use of religious imagery, this is hardly ever done in fairy tale. For example when the Happy Prince and his little assistant the swallow both die doing their heroic deeds. God orders an angel 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 strong belief in God, when the giant dies and allowed entry in Paradise by God, because the giant has bring forth 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 advocate 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 beginning of storytelling fairy tales were used as a form of entertai nment and written for that purpose as well. Where Wildes tales differ is when the tales carry a message hidden shadower 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 opinion of. Nowadays stories always have these messages in them, but Oscar Wilde was one of the commencement exercise to introduce this style of story-formatting, as readers crave for more than just a good story. The drama and intensity was also quite funny elements Wilde added in his tales. These days drama is an essential ingredient to almost 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.