Wednesday, April 16, 2014

How would you describe the young girl in Oscar Wilde's "The Nightingale and the Rose"?

In "The Nightingale and the Rose," the young girl is the daughter of the Professor and the object of the student's affections. Although Wilde does not describe the girl physically, the story teaches us much about her character. She does not appreciate the true meaning of love, as we see in the opening paragraph when she demands the student bring her a red rose. This shows she has a superficial understanding of love based on appearances and objects. This idea is also echoed at the end of the story when she rejects the student because the color of the rose he brings her clashes with her dress.

But the girl frowned. “I am afraid it will not go with my dress,” she answered.

This quote also demonstrates two more of the girl's character traits: her fickleness and materialism. Her decision to choose the Chamberlain's nephew because he sends her jewels shows how quickly she changes her affections. In her mind, the girl judges the monetary value of the jewels to be much higher than that of the rose and this proves the nephew loves her more than the student. When called "ungrateful" by the student, the girl proves just how materialistic she is when she ridicules his appearance. Tragically, the student is too naïve to realize she does not represent true love and he turns his back (presumably forever) on matters of the heart.

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