Literature - G.C. E. (O/L) Short Story -The Nightingale and the Rose


The Nightingale and the Rose
by
Oscar Wilde


A quick overview about the author

 Oscar Fingall O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born on 16th October 1854 at 21 Westland Row, Dublin, Ireland (now home of the Oscar Wilde Centre, Trinity College.) He had been publishing lyrics and poems in magazines since his entering Trinity College, especially in Kottabos and the Dublin University Magazine in mid1881. His novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), and the social comedies Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895), and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), established his reputation. Wilde published The Happy Prince and Other Tales in 1888, and had been regularly writing fairy stories for magazines. In 1891 he published two more books, one being Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories. He is known as a writer, a poet and a playwright. Wilde died in Paris, France on 30 November 1900 at the age of forty six. 

We are going to discuss another short story. 
 This story is about love and also about sacrifice. 
Before we start the discussion I would like you to think over the following.


1. Do you read love stories? About whom are they?
2. Have you read fairy tales where angels help lovers to get married?  
   What role do these fairies play?
3. What material things do lovers expect as tokens of love?
4. Do lovers make sacrifices for each other?
5. In the short stories you have read, what kind of sacrifices have
lovers made? Are they practical or can they be labelled as foolish    acts?
6. In the stories you have read, have you found lovers who betray each
    other for selfish reasons? What do you think about them?



Let’s start reading the story. First of all pay attention to the following vocabulary item which may help you to understand the story.

Wretched  -       cursed, utterly degraded
 Pale           -        look unhealthy, turned white due to lack of vitality
 Ball            -        formal dance organized to mark an occasion
 Passion     -        desire, craving, intense feeling
 Murmured -      whispered, spoke in low voice
Company   -        being in the association, being with others
 Lean                   -        tilt against, rest against
 Clasped     -        grasped tightly with your hands
Courtiers   -        sovereign’s companions or advisers
Ridiculous -        very silly or unreasonable
Cynic                   -       one who believes that people’s motives are always
                             selfish  
Mystery     -        something that remains unexplained
Soared       -        flew high in the sky
Grove         -        trees or bushes that grow together
Spray (of a tree)- a stem or a branch with flowers and leaves
Sun dial     -        a device showing the time by the pointer

Sun dial 

Scythe        -        an agricultural tool
Scythe

Chilled       -        became cold
Veins          -        vessels that circulate blood in the body
Thorn         -        sharply pointed projections on the stems of some
                             plants
Thorn
 Pierce        -        make a hole with something pointed
Chariot      -        carts drawn by horses

Chariot
Heather     -        a shrub with small purple flowers
Heather
 Frankincense-    a scented gum burnt as incense
Pallet-bed -        straw mattress or makeshift bed
Ebbed        -        gone down or decreased
Pang          -        sudden sharp pain
Girdle        -        a belt or corset, Circle
 Film (over eye) - blurring or visibility become weaker
Ecstasy      -        extreme happiness
Cavern       -        a large cave
Choking     -        difficulty in breathing
Gutter        -        drainage on the sides of the roads

Chamberlain      -        an officer who managed the household of a
                                      monarch or noble.

Note on the short story

 Oscar Wilde's work titled The Nightingale and the Rose has features of the fairy tale but it also has the elements of social satire in it. Wilde begins the story with a central character who is a young male student. As the narrative opens, the young man is looking out of the window. He dreams of a young woman whom he believes has captured his heart. He wants to escort her to a dance. But she demands a red rose to accede to his request.   The nightingale is the one who overhears the young man complaining about the young girl's refusal to dance with him. The young man is eager to give her a rose, but is unable to do so. Wilde structures the story, so that the nightingale tries to bring the two lovers together.    First, the nightingale visits the rose-trees in the garden. Of all the types of roses, it is the white rose that tells the nightingale of a way to produce a red rose. The white rose adds a condition; the nightingale must sing the sweetest song it knows, and sacrifice her life in the process.    The nightingale notices that the young man is in tears and proceeds to carry out the instruction, of impaling her heart on a thorn so that the blood can stain the rose. At the end the student takes the rose to the young woman, only to be rejected again because another man, the Chamberlain’s nephew has sent her some real jewels, and jewels cost far more than flowers. The young man no longer believes in love and throws away the rose. He returns to his study of Metaphysics. The story brings out the hypocrisy of people and the false values of society.   


Read the story from the beginning to, “For a red rose . . . laughed outright”    and answer the following questions

 1. How many characters are introduced first? Who are they?

2. Find the following details related to the story.

a. The place described at the beginning of the story and the time
     of the day. 

b. Time of the year (season) and the atmosphere/mood
       suggested by it.

c. What are the social backgrounds of the characters and are   
     they  the same? 

  
3. Do you find any problem faced by the first character? Where is he
     planning to go the following night?

 4.  How is the problem caused/created? How is the conflict resolved? 
5.  What are the three things the student wishes to do if he gets what     
       he wants?
6.   Who hears the problem and what is the response made?
7.  What is your impression about the young student and the young
       girl?
8. “but in all my garden there is no red rose”, says the student. What    
      do you think is the symbolic meaning of this?
9.  Do you think the young girl truly loves the boy? Why? Give
       reasons? What are your feelings about her? (like / dislike /    
       hatred / neutral / sympathetic)
10. How does the nightingale respond to the boy’s wail?
11. Who else happens to hear this problem and what is their
        response? What do those characters symbolize?
  
Next read the story up to, “At noon the student opened his window    and looked out.”, and answer the following questions.

1.      Describe the steps the nightingale takes to help the boy solve his problem.
2. Give the meaning of the phrase, “She passed through the ...garden.”
3. Who gives the nightingale a clue to the resolution and what is it?
4. Describe the nightingale’s opinions/views about love, manhood
     and life. Support your answer with quotations from the text.
5. Which contrasting features do you see in the bird’s way of    
      responding to the problem and   in the boy’s way of response?           
       Refer to the line, “She swept..., the young student was still lying
       on the grass.”
6. What request does the nightingale make to the boy when she tries
      to console him?  
7. ‘Love is a wonderful thing.’ How does the Nightingale suggest the        
      wonder of love by comparing it with Philosophy and Power?  
8. Why can’t the student understand what the nightingale says?
9. Who understood the nightingale’s message and why?
10. What do “the note book and the pencil in pocket’ suggest of the
        boy?
11. What does the student think of the nightingale and arts?  
12. Do you think he is right and why?
13. How does the nightingale attempt to produce a rose? Describe
        what he did.
14. How does the nightingale try to forget about her “fierce pang of
       pain”?  What message does it convey (of songs/music)?
15. What sort of interesting idea is blended in the nightingale’s song?
16. Finally how does nature respond to the last burst of music of the  17. What kind of rose does the nightingale manage to produce?
       nightingale?

Next, read up to the end of the story and answer the following.

1. Next day at noon what does the boy see? How does he respond to it?
2. What do you understand about the likes and the social position of the young girl through the following line?“The daughter of the professor...her little dog was lying at her feet.”
3. What response can one expect from the girl when the student takes the rose to her (when referring to her demand at the beginning)? What was her actual response?
4. What does she mean when she says,” Everybody knows jewels cost far more than flowers.”
5.  What is suggested by, “and he threw the rose ...a cart wheel went over it.”
6. Does the girl’s behavior could you say that she is ungrateful? What other characteristics do you find in her? 
7. What does she mean by “... who are you ... nephew has?”
8. What does the student realize and how does he try to resolve his problem?
9. What message is the writer suggesting through this resolution?  

8. Reading the text/Engagement with the text 

Reference:
G.C.O/L Literature Teacher Instructional Manual 

Internet

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