The Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde:

Introduction:

“The Nightingale and the Rose” is a short fiction written by OSCAR WILDE in 1888.

The story is about a student, a Nightingale, and a Professor’s daughter. “The Nightingale and the Rose” have no concern with reality, it completely falls on the place of aestheticism that is love for the sake of love. 

The Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde

“The Nightingale and The Rose” Analysis:

The plot of the Story:

The plot of the Nightingale and the Rose is;

  Exposition: 

The exposition of the story is that the Professor's daughter asks the student to bring her a red rose.

 Rising Action:

The rising action is that the Nightingale hears the Student crying for a red rose and flies in search of it. She gives up her life to make a red rose for him.

 Climax: 

 The climax of the story “The Nightingale and the Rose” undergoes the sacrifice of Nightingale’s life for the sake of love to create a red rose for the student.

Falling Action:

In the falling action, the student finds and takes the red rose to the Professor’s daughter.

Resolution: 

The professor's daughter rejects the student , the red rose and accepts the jewels. The student throws the rose away and begins to read a great dusty book.

“The Nightingale and The Rose” Conflict:

The main conflict of the story is “Human beings versus Nature”.
The humans have become materialistic as the professor's daughter prefers fortune over love. The student is also ambiguous and does not know the real meaning of love.


On the other hand, nature has always helped men. The nightingale sacrifices her life and wants the student to remain a true lover. Besides this nature such as trees also shed tears for nightingale’s real love.

“The Nightingale and the Rose” Setting:
 

Physical setting:

The story is set in the student’s garden. All the story happens in the garden Oak Trees and birds

The student's room is also there.

Time setting:

 The time is not specified properly but yet it's night and the Season of winter.

In Winter, there is no red rose in the whole garden.

The Nightingale and the Rose Theme:

The main themes of the story are love, sacrifice, goodness, materialism, and selfishness. The Nightingale knows the real meaning of love and sacrifices her life for the love of love. The Professor's daughter is a selfish girl who only desires better fortune.

 

 

The Nightingale and the Rose Summary:

 The story starts up with a Student who is grieving in his garden because the girl he loves has asked him for a red rose and there is not red rose in his garden.

The Professor's daughter is his beloved and she has promised the student to dance with him on the condition that he will bring her a red rose first.

 

A Nightingale, who is living in an Oak tree in the garden, hears his cry. The bird, who has spent all her life singing love songs without recognizing it, is now touched by Student's cry.

 

She decides to find a red rose for him so she flies around the garden to search for a red rose. The Nightingale asks the trees for a red rose but they are unable to produce it.   

 

Finally, she comes to know an idea to Pierce thorns of a tree in her heart to change a rose into the red. She says Love is better than life and the heart of a bird is nothing as compared to a man's heart.
 
At night, the Nightingale has begun to sing and pierce her heart against the tree's thorns. All night, she continues to sing as the thorns go deeper into her chest and her blood flows into the tree.  
 
At first, the rose is white then turns pink and in the morning the rose has changed into red. For Whereas, Nightingale has lost her life.  
 
At noon, when the student wakes up, he sees the red rose in the garden. He plucks it and runs directly to the Professor’s daughter and gives her the flower but the Professor’s daughter denies it.
 
She says that Chamberlain’s nephew has sent her real jewels and she is no more interested in rose. The student throws it in the street and a cartwheel goes over it.
 In the end, he declares love to be a silly and unrealistic thing and says, “It is not half as useful as logic”. He proclaims being practical is everything and starts reading a great dusty book.