‘The Nightingale and the Rose’ by Oscar Wilde focuses on love. The story seems simple- a nightingale overhears a young student wanting a red rose to woo a girl. The nightingale decides to help him and flies to various rose trees only to understand that a red rose can only blossom if the bird pierces her breast on a thorn while singing- the red is to come from the blood of the bird which will stain the flower. Through the character of the nightingale, the writer explores the theme of sacrifice- a theme often interlinked with love.
The nightingale has great compassion for the student and for the philosophy of love that she believes that death is “great price for love”. Although through the night, the student can hear the nightingale sing, he cannot understand it because he only knows and can understand words written in books. He is unable to understand her emotions, thus disregarding her an emotionless form- the writer employs the literary device of irony.
At last, when the rose is stained red, she has died- her last song being of love that gains perfection by death. And at noon, when the student finds the rose and presents it to the girl, she simply rejects him by saying that flowers are worthless and that she has been courted by someone else who has given her jewels. Angry, the student throws the flower into the gutter and exclaims “What a silly thing love is!”
If the nightingale is a symbol of sacrifice and red rose as a symbol of love (which is universally acknowledged), then the girl is a symbol of materialism- she values materials more than emotions.
Oscar Wilde highlights how love is a temporary craze which subsides as quickly as it erupts. The story has a fairy tale-esque feeling to it due to the personification of nature, bird and reptiles such as the trees, the nightingale and the lizard- this device helps to contrast the beautiful nature with the ungrateful, materialistic human world.
The story is beautiful- Wilde emphasises on every emotion and thoughts of the nightingale to evoke sympathy for the bird. His writing is simple and engrossing. ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’ is a must-read for everyone.
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