The Nightingale and the Rose
‘The Nightingale and the Rose’ is a
fairy tale by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900). It is about a student who is in love
with a girl, a Professor’s daughter. She has told him she will dance with him
if he brings her a red rose, but the student’s garden does not contain any
roses. The Nightingale listens to the lovelorn student lamenting his hopeless
love, and feels sorry for him. She knows how rare true love is, and she knows
it when she sees it. The prince is giving a ball the following night, but
although the student and the girl he loves will both be there, she will not
dance with him without a red rose.
A Lizard, a Butterfly, and a Daisy
all tell the Nightingale that it’s ridiculous that the young student is weeping
over a red rose, but the Nightingale sympathises with him. She flies to a
nearby grass-plot and asks the Rose-tree to give her a red rose, and in
exchange she will sing for it. But, the Rose-tree says it produces only white
roses, so cannot give her what she wants. It suggests going to the Rose-tree by
the sun-dial. The Nightingale proposes the same deal with this tree, but it
replies that it only produces yellow roses, so cannot help. However, it directs
her to the Rose-tree right under the student’s window. However, although this
Rose-tree does produce red roses, the winter has frozen its branches and it
cannot produce any.
The Nightingale asks if there is any
way she can get one red rose for the student. The tree replies that the only
way of producing a red rose is for the Nightingale to sing by moonlight while
allowing a thorn to pierce her heart, so her blood seeps through to the tree
and produces a red rose. The Nightingale agrees to this, because she believes
Love to be more valuable than Life, and a human heart more precious than hers. She
goes and tells the forlorn student what she is going to do, but he doesn’t
understand her, because he only understands things written down in books. The
Oak-tree, in which the Nightingale has built her nest, does understand her
words, however, and requests one last song from the Nightingale. She sings, but
the Student, taking out his notebook, is rather unimpressed, because the bird’s
song has no practical use.
That night, the Nightingale sings
with her heart against the thorn, until it eventually pierces her heart while
she sings of love. Her heart’s blood seeps into the tree and produces a red
rose, but by the time the flower is formed the Nightingale has died. The next
morning, the Student opens his window and sees the red rose on the tree, and
believes that it is there thanks to mere good luck. Plucking the rose, he goes
to the house where his sweetheart lives, and presents her with the red rose.
But, another suitor, the Chamberlain’s nephew, has sent her jewels, which are
more valuable than flowers, so she says she will dance with him instead at the
ball that night.
The Student denounces the girl for
her fickleness, and she calls him rude. He throws the red rose into the gutter,
where a cart rolls over it. As he walks home, he decides to reject Love in
favour of Logic and Philosophy, which have a more practical use.
Source: https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-nightingale-the-rose-summary.html
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