A Short Summary of the Essay, "The Happy Prince" by Oscar Wilde
The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde
About the Author:
Oscar Wilde is an Irish writer. He was born in Dublin. He was a very successful academician. He graduated from Oxford University. He was influenced by the ideas of aestheticism. He was also influenced by the ideas of John Ruskin. He published The Happy Prince and Other Tales in 1888 which is a collection of fairy tales and poems.
Summary of the Essay:
The Happy Prince is a story of a statue and a bird by the name Swallow. The statue of the Happy Prince is erected on a very high place in the city. The statue is covered with leaves made of gold. There are two bright sapphires in his eyes and there is a large red ruby in his sword hilt. Everybody in the city admires the statue and considers it as very beautiful, attractive and happy. The young children, men and women in the city like the statue very much and they want to be like the statue.
One night there comes a bird in the city. The name of the bird is a Swallow. The Swallow is a migratory bird who is heading to Egypt as he cannot sustain the cold atmosphere. All his friends have already moved to Egypt but he has stayed behind as he was attracted to the Reed but very soon he is fed up with Reed and decides to leave her and join his friends in Egypt. As it is night time, he stays in the city and he is finding a safe place for shelter to sleep for the night. He sees the statue and decides to take shelter in between the legs of that statue. As the Swallow is about to sleep, drops of water fall on him. He is curious to know what is happening. This Swallow is surprised to see that the Happy Prince is weeping. The Swallow asks him the reason. The Happy Prince tells him that when he was alive, he had a human heart and he did not know the tears. He lived in a very beautiful palace where there was no sorrow. In the daytime he would play with his friends in the garden and in the evening he would enjoy dance in the palace. There was a very lofty wall around the garden and he was not allowed to see the world beyond the wall. He was called the Happy Prince and indeed he was happy if pleasure meant happiness but after his death his statue was erected at a very high place in the city. He can see all the ugliness and misery of his city. He informs the Swallow that though his heart is made up of lead he feels very sorry for his citizens.
The essay is about how the Happy Prince helps his citizens through the swallow by giving them the precious stones and the gold that he has. So there are three principle examples of how the Happy Prince helps his citizens and in the process of helping them he sacrifices his gold and the precious stones that he has.
The Happy Prince informs the Swallow that there lives a poor woman in the city. She is a seamstress. Her face is thin and she has coarse and red hands and her hands are pricked by the needle. She has a son who is lying in the corner of the room. He has fever and he is demanding oranges. His mother has nothing to give him but river water. So he is crying. The Prince asked the Swallow to give the red ruby out of his sword hilt to the poor woman. At first the Swallow is reluctant to do this as he is very eager to join his friends in Egypt but the Prince commands him to do so. The Swallow picks out red ruby from the Prince’s sword. He flies away over the city taking the red ruby in his beak. As he flies over the city he watches various scenes in the city. The Swallow puts the red ruby on the table in the poor woman's room. Though it is very cold place the Swallow feels very warm and the Prince informs him that as he has done a good deed he feels warm.
The Swallow is very happy at the prospect of joining his friends in Egypt and he informed Prince that he is leaving tomorrow. The Prince wants him to stay for tonight and be his messenger once again. This time the Prince wants the Swallow to help a young man in the city who lives in a small room. The young man is a writer and is writing a play but he is hungry and is feeling very cold. He does not have money to buy food and wood. The Prince asks the Swallow to take out one of the sapphires from his eyes and give it to the young man so that he can buy food and wood for himself and complete the play. The Swallow is unwilling to take out the sapphire from the eye of the Prince as he feels that he would become blind but the Prince commands him to do so. The Swallow takes out the sapphire and flies to the young man’s room and puts it in his hands. The young man is very happy at this and thinks that now he can finish his play.
The next day the swallow is about to leave the Prince and comes to say him goodbye but the Prince wishes him to stay for some time. This time the Prince sees a little match girl whose matches have fallen in the gutter and they are spoilt. She is weeping as her father will beat her if she does not bring any money home. She is very poor and does not have shoes and good clothes. The Prince asks the Swallow to take out another sapphire from his eye and give it to the girl. The Swallow feels very bad at this as the Prince will be completely blind but he does not have any option but to take out the sapphire from his eye. The Swallow takes out the sapphire and goes to the girl and puts the sapphire in her hands. The girl is very happy at this and goes home laughing. The Swallow informs the Prince that he will stay with him forever as he has become completely blind. The Prince wants him to leave and go to Egypt. The next day the Swallow sits on the Prince’s shoulder and tells him the stories of the strange lands that he has visited so far. The Prince informs the Swallow that he has heard of marvellous stories from the Swallow but he feels that more marvellous than anything else in the world is the suffering of men and women. There is no mystery as great as misery. The Prince commands the Swallow to fly over the city and inform him what he sees there. The Swallow flies over the city and sees that the rich people are very happily living in their beautiful houses while the beggars are sitting at the gates. He also flies into the dark lanes and sees the faces of starving children. He also sees that the two little boys are lying in one another's arms to try themselves warm under the bridge. They are hungry and the watchman does not allow them to live there. The Swallow informs everything to the Prince that he has seen in the city.
The Prince asks the Swallow to take out all the golden leaves from his body and give it to the poor and needy people. The Prince looks very dull and grey but the people who get the gold are very happy at this and think that they can eat something now.
It is snow time and after snow comes the frost. Everywhere there is snow and everything looks white. The Swallow feels very cold but he does not want to leave the Prince because he loves him very well. He keeps himself alive by eating the crumbs of bread outside the baker’s shop but at last he is going to die. He comes to the Prince and informs him that he wants to kiss his hand and he wants to leave this place. The Princess is very happy that the Swallow is going to Egypt and asks the Swallow to kiss his lips as he loves him. The Swallow informs that he is not going to Egypt but he is dying as he cannot keep himself alive in this bitter cold. The Swallow kisses the happy Prince on his lips and falls down dead at the feet of happy Prince. As the swallow dies there goes crack inside the statue as if something has broken. The fact is that the lead heart of the Prince has broken into two pieces.
The next morning the Mayor and the councillors come to the statue and find out that the statue looks very dirty and is no more beautiful. The ruby has fallen out of his sword hilt. His eyes are gone and he is golden no more. He looks like a beggar. The mayor and the councillors decide to pull down the statue and melt it in the furnace. The mayor conducts a meeting to decide what is to be done with the metal which they have got after melting the statue. The mayor and all the councillors are of the opinion that there should be another statue and everybody says that it should be their own statue.
As the lead heart is unable to melt in the furnace, it is thrown away on the garbage heap near the dead Swallow. The God asks one of his angels to bring the two most beautiful things from the city. The angel rightly chooses the lead heart of the Happy Prince and the dead bird. The God tells the angel that the little bird will sing forever in his garden of paradise and the Happy Prince shall praise him in his city of gold.
The essay gives a moral lesson that we should help the needy and poor people. In this way, through the example of the Happy Prince and the Swallow the writer tells us that both of them sacrifice their life, their happiness and their beauty for the cause of needy and poor people.
The Happy Prince is a story of a statue and a bird by the name Swallow. The statue of the Happy Prince is erected on a very high place in the city. The statue is covered with leaves made of gold. There are two bright sapphires in his eyes and there is a large red ruby in his sword hilt. Everybody in the city admires the statue and considers it as very beautiful, attractive and happy. The young children, men and women in the city like the statue very much and they want to be like the statue.
One night there comes a bird in the city. The name of the bird is a Swallow. The Swallow is a migratory bird who is heading to Egypt as he cannot sustain the cold atmosphere. All his friends have already moved to Egypt but he has stayed behind as he was attracted to the Reed but very soon he is fed up with Reed and decides to leave her and join his friends in Egypt. As it is night time, he stays in the city and he is finding a safe place for shelter to sleep for the night. He sees the statue and decides to take shelter in between the legs of that statue. As the Swallow is about to sleep, drops of water fall on him. He is curious to know what is happening. This Swallow is surprised to see that the Happy Prince is weeping. The Swallow asks him the reason. The Happy Prince tells him that when he was alive, he had a human heart and he did not know the tears. He lived in a very beautiful palace where there was no sorrow. In the daytime he would play with his friends in the garden and in the evening he would enjoy dance in the palace. There was a very lofty wall around the garden and he was not allowed to see the world beyond the wall. He was called the Happy Prince and indeed he was happy if pleasure meant happiness but after his death his statue was erected at a very high place in the city. He can see all the ugliness and misery of his city. He informs the Swallow that though his heart is made up of lead he feels very sorry for his citizens.
The essay is about how the Happy Prince helps his citizens through the swallow by giving them the precious stones and the gold that he has. So there are three principle examples of how the Happy Prince helps his citizens and in the process of helping them he sacrifices his gold and the precious stones that he has.
The Happy Prince informs the Swallow that there lives a poor woman in the city. She is a seamstress. Her face is thin and she has coarse and red hands and her hands are pricked by the needle. She has a son who is lying in the corner of the room. He has fever and he is demanding oranges. His mother has nothing to give him but river water. So he is crying. The Prince asked the Swallow to give the red ruby out of his sword hilt to the poor woman. At first the Swallow is reluctant to do this as he is very eager to join his friends in Egypt but the Prince commands him to do so. The Swallow picks out red ruby from the Prince’s sword. He flies away over the city taking the red ruby in his beak. As he flies over the city he watches various scenes in the city. The Swallow puts the red ruby on the table in the poor woman's room. Though it is very cold place the Swallow feels very warm and the Prince informs him that as he has done a good deed he feels warm.
The Swallow is very happy at the prospect of joining his friends in Egypt and he informed Prince that he is leaving tomorrow. The Prince wants him to stay for tonight and be his messenger once again. This time the Prince wants the Swallow to help a young man in the city who lives in a small room. The young man is a writer and is writing a play but he is hungry and is feeling very cold. He does not have money to buy food and wood. The Prince asks the Swallow to take out one of the sapphires from his eyes and give it to the young man so that he can buy food and wood for himself and complete the play. The Swallow is unwilling to take out the sapphire from the eye of the Prince as he feels that he would become blind but the Prince commands him to do so. The Swallow takes out the sapphire and flies to the young man’s room and puts it in his hands. The young man is very happy at this and thinks that now he can finish his play.
The next day the swallow is about to leave the Prince and comes to say him goodbye but the Prince wishes him to stay for some time. This time the Prince sees a little match girl whose matches have fallen in the gutter and they are spoilt. She is weeping as her father will beat her if she does not bring any money home. She is very poor and does not have shoes and good clothes. The Prince asks the Swallow to take out another sapphire from his eye and give it to the girl. The Swallow feels very bad at this as the Prince will be completely blind but he does not have any option but to take out the sapphire from his eye. The Swallow takes out the sapphire and goes to the girl and puts the sapphire in her hands. The girl is very happy at this and goes home laughing. The Swallow informs the Prince that he will stay with him forever as he has become completely blind. The Prince wants him to leave and go to Egypt. The next day the Swallow sits on the Prince’s shoulder and tells him the stories of the strange lands that he has visited so far. The Prince informs the Swallow that he has heard of marvellous stories from the Swallow but he feels that more marvellous than anything else in the world is the suffering of men and women. There is no mystery as great as misery. The Prince commands the Swallow to fly over the city and inform him what he sees there. The Swallow flies over the city and sees that the rich people are very happily living in their beautiful houses while the beggars are sitting at the gates. He also flies into the dark lanes and sees the faces of starving children. He also sees that the two little boys are lying in one another's arms to try themselves warm under the bridge. They are hungry and the watchman does not allow them to live there. The Swallow informs everything to the Prince that he has seen in the city.
The Prince asks the Swallow to take out all the golden leaves from his body and give it to the poor and needy people. The Prince looks very dull and grey but the people who get the gold are very happy at this and think that they can eat something now.
It is snow time and after snow comes the frost. Everywhere there is snow and everything looks white. The Swallow feels very cold but he does not want to leave the Prince because he loves him very well. He keeps himself alive by eating the crumbs of bread outside the baker’s shop but at last he is going to die. He comes to the Prince and informs him that he wants to kiss his hand and he wants to leave this place. The Princess is very happy that the Swallow is going to Egypt and asks the Swallow to kiss his lips as he loves him. The Swallow informs that he is not going to Egypt but he is dying as he cannot keep himself alive in this bitter cold. The Swallow kisses the happy Prince on his lips and falls down dead at the feet of happy Prince. As the swallow dies there goes crack inside the statue as if something has broken. The fact is that the lead heart of the Prince has broken into two pieces.
The next morning the Mayor and the councillors come to the statue and find out that the statue looks very dirty and is no more beautiful. The ruby has fallen out of his sword hilt. His eyes are gone and he is golden no more. He looks like a beggar. The mayor and the councillors decide to pull down the statue and melt it in the furnace. The mayor conducts a meeting to decide what is to be done with the metal which they have got after melting the statue. The mayor and all the councillors are of the opinion that there should be another statue and everybody says that it should be their own statue.
As the lead heart is unable to melt in the furnace, it is thrown away on the garbage heap near the dead Swallow. The God asks one of his angels to bring the two most beautiful things from the city. The angel rightly chooses the lead heart of the Happy Prince and the dead bird. The God tells the angel that the little bird will sing forever in his garden of paradise and the Happy Prince shall praise him in his city of gold.
The essay gives a moral lesson that we should help the needy and poor people. In this way, through the example of the Happy Prince and the Swallow the writer tells us that both of them sacrifice their life, their happiness and their beauty for the cause of needy and poor people.
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