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Short Story Analysis : The Nightingale and The Rose

The Nightingale and The Rose by Oscar Wilded

Summary

A student cries in his garden because the girl he loves, the daughter of Proferssor, said she will dance with him at the party if he brings her a red rose. There is not a single red rose  grows in his garden. From higher a nest in oak tree, a Nightingale hears his crying. The Nightingale is a believer in love and feels bad for the student. She flies to the garden and finds the first rose tree and said if the tree gives her red rose she will sing her sweetest song. Unfortunately, the tree only has white roses. The white rose tree tells her to find his brother. The Nightingale flies to other rose tree. She said the same thing as before. But, the tree does not have any red roses. He only has yellow roses. He tells her to find his brother which grows near the student’s window. She flies up to the rose tree near the student’s window. She said if the tree gives her a red rose she will sing her sweetest song. The tree said to her that his flower is red roses. But, the wind blows his feed. If the Nightingale wants a red rose she must sing with her heart against the thorn all night along. She feels so sympathy to the student, so she decides to do it. She sings her sweetest song with her heart against the thorn all night long. Unfortunately, she died. The student goes to his garden and finds a beautiful red rose. He comes to the girl and gives her the red rose. But, she rejected it because the Chamberlain’s nephew gave her beautiful jewelry. She said that red rose is not valuable as jewelry. The student is angry and throws away the red rose. He comes back to his house and thinks “what a silly thing love is”.    

Analysis

Love Requires Sacrifice

The main theme of this short story is about sacrifice. It is shown by the character of the Nightingale. The bird hears a student cries because he can not dance with the girl he loves. He needs a red rose for the girl. But, there is not any red roses in his garden. The Nightingale feels sympathy to him. She sacrifices herself to get a red rose by pressing her heart against the thorn while singing all night long.  

True Love

This true love theme is shown by the scene when the Nightiangle hears the crying student needs a red rose. she believes strongly in love, she thought she has found her true love. She sacrificed her life to get a red rose for him. In  the other hand, readers can see that the student’s love for the girl is not real. It can be seen when he got rejected by the girl ge thrown away the red rose. He also thought that “what a silly thing love is”.

Materialism


This short story has another theme that is materialism. The readers can see it through the character of the girl. Firstly, she said that she will dance with whoever brings her a red rose. But when the student brings ber the red rose , she rejects him. She has changed her mind because the Chamberlain’s nephew has given her jewelry. For her, jewelry is more valuable than a red rose.

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