CHAPTER I

Introduction
1.1. Background of Choosing the Subject
The Happy Prince and Other Tales is a book of short stories written by Oscar Wilde and
first appeared in 1888. The collection book consists of five stories, The Happy Prince, The
Nightingale and the Rose, The Selfish Giant, The Devoted Friend and The Remarkable Rocket.
The book was very famous for its own title story, The Happy Prince. It is also the first work that
gains Wilde fame among the literary readers. Holland mentions that the story of The Happy
Prince is beautifully written as if poems in prose more than fairy tales for children; and yet the
remarkable thing is that they appeal equally to children and adults (V. Holland 2003: 9).
In 1891 Wilde published another collection of fairy tale stories, A House of
Pomegranate. The stories included in this book are The Young King, The Birthday of the Infanta,
The Fisherman and his Soul and The Star-Child. Willoughby in Art and Christhood: The
Aesthetics of Oscar Wilde (1993:34) states that the book (A House of Pomegranates) was
described as having sombre mood, detailed surfaces and more ambiguous moral
territory to the readers of his first collection, The Happy Prince and Other Tales; while it
was regarded as enigmatic fictions that offer a crucial insight into the aesthetic credo for
the readers of Wildes second collection of fairy tales (34). Furthermore, Willoughby adds
the elaborate and stylized mythologies of Pomegranates return and return again to
conflicting models of beauty, as the reader is led to consider, by stages, the import of
aesthetics for every sphere (34). Magoulick states that fairy tales are a sub-genre of folktales
involving magical, fantastic or wonderful episodes, characters, events, or symbols. In relation to
what Magoulick has stated, what Wilde proposed in his fairy tales was quite different and led
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many critics in bafflement since the stories were considered as difficult for children to
understand (V. Holland 9). This explanation is clearly making the distinction between the usual
fairy tales and Wildes fairy tales that put many elements of aesthetics or beauty to his works.
Nevertheless, in the discussion, this paper does not include the reasons nor describes elements of
the story that makes these short stories are fairy tales.
In this paper, the writer chooses two short stories taken from each collections of Oscar
Wilde. The short stories will be discussed in this paper are The Young King and The Happy
Prince. These short stories are taken from a compilation book consists of all Oscar Wildes
works entitled The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde which published in 2003. In addition, the title
of two short stories will be abbreviated into YK for The Young King and HP for The Happy
Prince to make the identification of the short stories is easier.
Wilde introduces the first story, The Young King with the young King as a round
character since he develops and changes through the course of events. From the very first
moment of his recognition that he becomes the king, he shows signs of passion for beauty which
has a very great influence over his life. Thus, all what he cares about is the beautiful objects that
give him pleasure and enjoyment. However, he later changes his mind and behavior after
experiencing three dreams that strike him with deep sadness and horror. He later turns into a
great King who cares more about other people and especially the poor ones.
The second story is The Happy Prince that tells about a statue of a prince which suffers of
sorrow since he found the reality of his surroundings. In the past, when he was alive, he never
knew that there are many people outside his palace living in a very suffering life while he lived
in a happy life. Finally, he finds out the reality that makes him very sad. He comes to know the
reality since he became a statue. It was built to remember him as a prince. Now as a statue, he

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can see and feel the sorrow of his people, he can observe everything that happens in the town and
communicate with the swallow that passes by, which later helps him, when the night comes
The present writer chooses short story to be discussed because though it has limitations in
term of space, this limitation does not reduce the depth of the storys meaning. Reading a short
story makes the present writer wants to explore more on what is behind the story. This limitation
also can be the strength of the short story since it will make the readers read the story up until the
end, as Stanton states Even the limitation of a form may contribute to its effect; artist have
always enjoyed turning limitation into virtues. Thus, the very confinement of the short story has
forced artists to find ways of transcending its limits, of saying more than one would think
possible in the space (Stanton, 1965: 37).
After reading some short stories, the stories above are chosen because the present writer
found interesting topic inside both stories: the realization of humanity behind the beauty. Both,
the Young King and the Happy Prince are exposed into the beauty and later, they witness the
unfair life that their people suffer through the beauty they have seen. The series of events that
they experienced change their point of view about beauty and life. This paper intends to see how
the humanity can be found behind the beauty; from visible beauty can reveal invisible beauty.
1.2. Objective of the Study
The objectives of the study are stated as follows:
a.

to find the meaning of the beauty and what lies behind the beauty that can be found in the

two short stories

b.

to discover Wildes criticism towards the leaders that surround the Happy Prince and the

young King in the two short stories.

1.3. Focus of Examination

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In line with the objective of this paper, the paper will focus only on the realization of
humanity behind the beauty from both characters, the Young King and the Happy Prince, after
they have experienced the beauty of the precious things previously. The realization of humanity
behind the beauty that the Young King and the Happy Prince do, will be explored through the
character, events, speeches, action, etc. that can be found in the stories.
1.4. Scope of the Study
The scope of the study is limited on the intrinsic element among the short stories. The
process of humanity is studied from plot, description and action of the character. Beside, some
symbols that are connected to the humanity will also be discussed to support the analysis.
1.5. Theoretical Approach
Since the objectives of the study precondition a concept that literature is related to the
work itself, the author and the society; the theoretical ground used for the analysis of this
graduation paper is the dynamic structuralism approach. Quoting Mukarovsky in Teeuws Sastra
dan Ilmu Sastra: Pengantar Teori Sastra, he states:
The work of art manifests itself as a sign in its inner structure, in its relation to
reality, and also in its relation to society, to its creator, and its recipient (Teeuw,
1984: 190).
Dynamic structuralism is an appropriate approach to analyze the short story because it
deals with the elements inside and outside literary work. This graduating paper will be limited to
discussing the relation between the works to its inner structure, its author, and its society or
reality. The present writer will not discuss the relationship between the works to last element
the recipientsince it is find that the previous three elements are considered as sufficient. The
uniqueness of dynamic structuralism which allows the using of both elements, intrinsic and

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extrinsic can help the writer of this graduating paper to know the social background and the
hidden message of the stories. In other words, the approach can support the process to get the
objective of the study. In dealing with the stories, the intrinsic elements that will be discussed in
this paper are theme or the subject matters, plot, setting, symbolism and the characters of the
stories as the representation of the actual situation at that time. Meanwhile, the extrinsic elements
that will be used in this paper are the biographical sketch of Oscar Wilde, the essays which were
written by Oscar Wilde and the condition of England in the Victorian age.
1.6. Methods of Research
The method used in this study is library research. The sources are taken from the written
materials in the library. The main objects of the research are the short stories entitled The Young
King and The Happy Prince written by Oscar Wilde. The second is figuring out of the
objective of the study and collecting information that is needed to provide a good understanding
in writing this graduating paper. After that, the researcher tries to analyze the work to answer the
objective.
The secondary data are taken from internet or other articles, essays or researches that
support and can give clear picture of the work. They are necessary to help the writer give reliable
theory from the expert about the theoretical background of the research.
The analysis of research is done by a descriptive analysis method. This method aims to
make description or picture systematically, factually, and accurately about facts, characteristics
and relations among the phenomenon, which are observed (Nazir, 63). By descriptive analysis
method, the researcher describes the facts that appear in the primary data and make analysis of
those facts.
1.7. Literature Review

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To the best of the writers knowledge, there is not any graduating paper or thesis studying
about The Realization of Humanity behind the Beauty Found in Wildes The Young King and
The Happy Prince in the library of Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada.
However

there

is

an

article

written

by

Hoang

Ngoc

Trang

as

mentioned

in

(http://phamho.webs.com/thehappyprince.html) entitled Pleasure is Happiness? This article is

about the meaning of happiness that exists in the story of The Happy Prince. The writing
concentrates on how the happiness of the statue of Happy Prince can be achieved by doing the
acts that are done by the Happy Prince and the opinion of the writer about how to obtain
happiness. This writing uses the acts that are done by the Happy Prince as the source for
achieving happiness. The previous paper has similarity on using the acts of sacrificing that is
used also in the present paper.
Despite the similarity, the present paper is different from the previous writing. The
present writer is viewing the beauty as the means of realization humanity that consists of the acts
sacrificing as one of its part. Also, the present paper is not only discussing only The Happy
Prince but also another short story from Wilde, The Young King.
In spite of the similarities and differences, the previous article has given more insights to
the present paper writings.
1.8. Presentation
This paper is divided into four chapters. Chapter one introduces the framework of the
whole paper. Chapter two describes about the biographical sketch of Oscar Wilde and the social
background of Victorian Britain society at the time, in this case nineteenth century era. Chapter
three concentrates on the analysis that is divide into three parts. The first part discusses the
general ideas of beauty which includes the two divisions, tangible and intangible beauty. The

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second part of analysis focuses on how the Aestheticism and Christianity influence the writing of
the story. Finally, chapter four is the conclusion which constitutes the result of the research.

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CHAPTER II
Wildes Biographical Sketch and Victorian Britain Society
2.1. Oscar Wildes Life
Oscar Fingal OFlahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin on October 16 th 1854 at No. 21
Westland Row. The house was also the place in which Oscars father carried his practice as a
doctor at the time (V. Holland, 1960:10). Oscar was the second of three children born to William
Wilde and Jane Francesca Elgee. His father was a renowned eye surgeon who had been
knighted for his medical service and earned his non-hereditary title (as qtd. from Oscar WildeBiography par. 2) from which he later was called, Sir William Wilde. His mother, Jane
Francesca Elgee, also known as Lady Wilde, was an Irish writer who wrote poems and articles
under a pen name, Speranza (8).
As a doctor, Sir William Wilde had a prominent position in medical world when he
became one of the most important aural surgeon and oculists of his day. Later, he was dubbed
as the father of modern otology because of his innovations as an otologist (aural surgeon)
at that time. Furthermore, his respectable position in the society was derived from being
selected as Surgeon-Oculist to Queen Victoria while still under forty which gave him
respectable position in the society (8). Although working as a doctor, William Wilde still
had an interest in society and his interest was expressed through writing. He had written
and published many books about Irish folklore, legend and tradition.
William Wilde married a famous Irishwoman, Jane Francesca Elgee, the daughter of a
Wexford lawyer. She was born in 1826 and was a staunch Irish writer who supported the cause of
the Irish against what-they-called their English oppressors with all the enthusiasm. By learning

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these facts, it was obvious that Wildes writing talent came from his parents who had
written many famous articles, books and works in the society at the time.
Oscar Wilde was the second son in his family and born a year after his brother. The
eldest, William Wills Wilde, was born in 1853 (V. Holland, 10). In 1857, his sister, the first
daughter was born. Her name was Isola Francesca, but unfortunately died from illness at the age
of ten. When Oscar Wilde was ten years old and his brother twelve, they were both sent to
Portora Royal School, at Enniskillen. They were put in the same class despite their different
ages. William or Willie was popular at school, Oscar was the reverse; he had little in common
with the other boys, as he disliked games and fighting and took more interest in flowers and
sunsets than possessing knives and other objects treasured by most small boys (15). His main
interests in school were poetry and the classics, particularly Greek, for which he had an
inordinate passion.
Wildes inordinate passion in Greek led him to a higher step of fondness when he
won an entrance scholarship to Trinity College, Dublin, in October 1871. There, he met
Reverend John Pentland Mahaffy, Junior Fellow, Junior Dean, and Professor of Ancient History
at the College. At the time, Professor Mahaffy was still in his thirties and, in the past, it was
extraordinary for anyone so young to hold such an exalted position. The Professor was fascinated
by Greek culture and held a very considerable influence on Oscars later life (15). At Trinity,
Oscars interest in Classics grew deeply since he met Mahaffy. The professor influenced Wilde
with his thoughts on Greek and the ideals of Greek beauty. Wilde in his later years said:
I got my love of the Greek ideal and my intimate knowledge of the language
from Mahaffy and Tyrell. They were Trinity to me; Mahaffy was especially

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valuable to me at that time. Though not so good as Tyrell, he had been in Greece,
had lived there and had saturated himself with Greek thought and Greek feeling.
Besides, he deliberately took the artistic standpoint towards everything, which
was coming more and more to be my standpoint. He was a delightful talker, too; a
really good talker in a certain wayan artist in eloquent words and vivid
pauses.(17)
Later, Oscar won the Berkeley Gold Medal for Greek, the highest classical award
obtainable at the College, with a thesis on The Fragments of the Greek Comic Poets, as Edited
by Meineke in 1874.
2.1.1. Aestheticism and Oscar Wilde
Aestheticism is a school
As already mentioned, Oscar Wilde had greatest influence on his life from Professor
Mahaffy and later, Wilde developed his aestheticism during his life at Oxford. At Magdalen
College, he met John Ruskin, a Professor of Art at Oxford University, who already gained a
European-wide reputation as an expert in art, architecture, and the history of the Renaissance in
Italy (V. Holland 20). Despite his early acquaintance with Ruskin at Magdalen, it was Walter
Pater whom Wilde followed afterwards.
The influence of Paters lecture impressed Wilde deeply and left him in fondness of what
the professor said in his class. It was Paters doctrine of Art for Arts sake that later taken into
Wildes basis philosophy (22). In his last term at Oxford he had appeared at a fancy dress ball as
Prince Rupert and he declared that reformation dress was far more important than reformation of
religion in 1878. He occasionally went out in the evening in a velvet coat edged with braid,
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knee-breeches, black stocking, a soft loose silk shirt with a wide turn-down collar and a large
flowing green tie. This, however, was only done for what would nowadays be called publicity. In
his daily life, he was always fashionably dressed and never appeared in public except in the
correct clothing (Holland, 29). Sherrard (via Holland) illustrates Oscar Wildes fashion which
was influenced by Honor de Balzac.
In the day time when he was at work, he dressed in a white dressing-gown
fashioned after the monkish cowl that Balzac used to wear at his writing
table.

At that time he was modeling himself on Balzac. Beside the dressing-

gown,

he has acquired an ivory cane with a head of turquoises, which was a

replica

of the famous walking stick which Honor de Balzac used to carry when

love

had transformed the recluse into a fop (V. Holland 40).

Through the quotation it can be seen that Oscar Wilde imitated Balzacs fashion in his

daily life. Honor de Balzac who is a playwright, editor, essayist, novelist and short story writer
and best known as a novelist was born on May 20 th, 1799 in France. He was one of the most
productive and creative writers of the nineteenth century from France and the pioneers of realism
in literature. His most famous work is Comdie Humaine (The Human Comedy) which is a huge
collection of short stories and novels. Balzacs deep observation of human life and behavior is
reflected in his complex characters and situations which came together from various
backgrounds in a single story (Famousauthors.org). In 1830, Balzac also wrote the first true
philosophical expression of dandyism book, Treatise on Elegant Living. He started the dandies
phenomenon in France and influenced many people including Oscar Wilde. After the dandies
phenomenon in France ended, the phenomenon returned to Britain through Oscar Wilde. (He is
preceded by the infamous British dandy and life performance artist, Beau Brummell, but after
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Balzacs dandies the phenomenon returns to British Isles through Wilde and his silk.)
(Lanternproject.com). This statement proves that Oscar Wilde was the founder of dandies
phenomenon in Britain after Balzacs.
2.2. Christianity Influence to Wilde
Wildes interest to Christianity began before his imprisonment. He had
2.3. Victorian British Society
Victorian Era was a period of the reigning Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland. A period in British history which great progress and fast changes in every realm of life
occurred. Victorian Era extended from 1837 to 1901, along with the reign of Queen Victoria.
Landow (2009, pars. 1-5), states that the Victorian Age was described as having rapid changes
and developments in nearly every spherefrom advances in medical, scientific and
technological knowledge to changes in population growth and location. This idea about the rapid
changes and progress happening during Victorian Era is also supported by Gaunt that the
Victorian Britain saw great expansion of wealth, power, and culture. She made revolution in
mechanical industry.

Gaunt said Never before had so many inventions been turned into

practical advantage and made to produce riches. Never before had the life of a people made to
depend on machines (1945, 18). During this period, Englands economy changed from an
agrarian-based, handicraft economy to one dominated by urban, machine-driven manufacturing
(Ralph 258).
In Industrial Revolution: Life Before The Industrial Revolution, the condition of
Britain changes the country from an agricultural into an industrialist country and leads into
rapid economic and population growth. This revolution, in fact, also brings a drastic change in
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the society. The increasing population in each region of Britain makes everyone should struggle
for their life; it brings the rise of the middle class and the existence of child workers at that time.
Moreover, the existence of poverty is one of the problems appeared at the time of Victorian era.
The development of machinery, in particular, transformed the textile industry in Victorian
Britain era. Previously, the work of manufacturing the garments or clothes was made mainly in
homes and this led into the rise of a system in manufacturing textiles which called as Sweating
System or Sweated Workers. The term of sweated workers is related to those engaged, usually at
home, in the manufacture of slop clothing, inferior shoes and slippers, cheap chairs and cabinets,
and crude nails, files, and cutlery (Ausubel 1955:31). In The Late Victorians: A Short History,
Ausubel mentions that the workers of this sweating system were lacking of the protection of
factory acts and trade unions, they worked unbelievably long hours for very low pay and under
shockingly unwholesome circumstances (31). This condition is unavoidable since many people
need to work to make living so that those workers accept the low payment for their skills or
work, but at the same time it smothers the workers slowly.

CHAPTER III
The Beauty Reflected in the Two Short Stories
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3.1. General Ideas of Beauty

Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with nature of art, beauty and taste,
with the creation and appreciation of beauty (Merriam-Webster.com, Aesthetics). In his
book entitled A History of Aesthetics, Bosanquet says, the term aesthetics is adopted with the
meaning now recognized, in order to designate the philosophy of the beautiful as a distinct
province of theoretical inquiry for reflection upon beauty and upon fine arts begins among
Hellenic thinkers at least as early as the time of Socrates, if not, in a certain sense, with still
earlier philosophers (Bosanquet, 1966: 1). It means that aesthetics term has been known for
centuries through different ages and human civilizations even when people have not used the
term before. And the desire to understand the beauty and fine arts has made the great thinkers
from ancient civilizations learn and discuss it to find the meaning that lies behind thembeauty
and fine arts.
According to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, beauty is the quality of being
pleasing to the senses or to the mind (2005:121). Therefore, beauty can be defined as the
quality of person, animal, place or things which can give pleasure or satisfaction to our
senses. However, no one can give a definite meaning of beauty. The topic of beauty has been
discussed since long time ago, from the ancient times up until now. Beauty is studied as part of
several fields of study such as aesthetics, sociology, social psychology, and culture. Beauty
can be related to many things in this world; for example, nature and art. As part of
aesthetics, beauty deals with the interpretation of some entity as being in balance
and harmony with nature, which may lead to feelings of attraction and emotional well-being.
Since this can be a subjective experience, it is often said that "beauty is in the eye of the

Magdalena 14

beholder." It means everyone has their own opinion about beauty and what things they are
considered as beautiful.
In Ancient Greek, the word for beautiful is kalos and beauty is to kalon; they have moral
as well as aesthetic force. They refer to nobility as well as what we would think of as direct
visual beauty. As for kalos, it has some meanings such as powerful, excellent, and strong,
but has the sense of healthy, serviceable, beautiful, attractive, lovely and good. The
senses that have been described may be brought together the idea of what is ordered or sound
and those basic senses making kalos as one of key term in Greek thought. Plato relates the kalos
very closely to the agathonoutstanding or worthy. This can be understood as beauty has the
hidden power that can give great impact to anyone who perceives it. It is an aspect of it, or its
form. The kalon or beauty is the moving force of the striving for harmony or fulfillment in many
aspects of life. An eternal idea of the kalon lies behind in the earthly form. It can be concluded
that beauty has an aspect that can stimulate every single creature in this world. It leads people to
find ways to realize a concept of trueness, organized, and righteousness in our life.
Plato in his Symposium, made the key connection of beauty to eros, desire. He believed
that worldly beauty especially the beauty of sexually attractive people could bring us toward a
celestial beauty, a beauty that would consist of the purest, most abstract truth. Eros is the ability
to perceive the kalon; from the vision or knowledge of the kalon through eros, come virtue and
immortality. The kalon blends deity, cosmos and humanity, and through art and virtue it brings
meaning, fellowship and eternity into life.
Moreover, since the topic of this research is related to beauty, it is necessary to discuss
the division of beauty that exists in this world through the way it can be perceived by human
senses. Thus, the type of beauty will be divided into two categories, tangible and intangible.

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3.1.1. Tangible Beauty

According to Oxford Advance Learners Dictionary (2005), tangible is something that
can be clearly seen to exist or that you can touch and feel (pg.1568). In other words, it relates to
something physical or visible through our senses. The tangible beauty that can be seen in the
stories, The Young King and The Happy Prince, are the description of those picturesque building,
beautiful ornaments, pretty jewelries, beautiful clothes, beautiful gems and paintings.
In the short story of The Young King, the young king is attracted to the beautiful things
exist in his palace. Those beautiful things have led him into a great amazement when he finds
himself in his new world. It can be seen from this passage:
but the wonderful palaceJoyeuse, as they called itof which he now
found himself lord, seemed to him to be a new world fresh-fashioned for his
delight; and as soon as he could escape from the council board or audiencechamber, he would run down with the great staircase, with its lion of gilt bronze
and its steps of bright porphyry, and wander from room to room, and
corridor to corridor, like one who was seeking to find in beauty an anodyne
from pain, a sort of restoration from sickness (Wilde, 2003, YK: 214).
This passage shows the physical beauty that is visible to his eyes is giving him pleasure
and satisfaction. He really enjoys what he had seen through his eyes and found it as a fondness to
the beauty that he has never seen before. Previously, this young king lived as a sixteen years old
boy in the forest with a poor goatherd and always following the goatherd when he was herding
the goats; he is also wearing rough leathern tunic and coarse sheepskin cloak. It can be said he
lived modestly in the forest as a young man. This new situationof living in the beautiful palace

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is drastically giving him big changes in his lifefrom a goatherd into a young kingrags to
riches.
On another occasion he had been missed for several hours, and after a lengthened
search had been discovered in a little chamber in one of the northern turrets of the
palace gazing, as if one in trance, at a Greek gem carved with the figure of
Adonis. He had been seen, so the tale ran, pressing his warm lips to the marble
brow of an antique statue that has been discovered in the bed river on the occasion
of the building of the stone bridge, and was inscribed with the name of the
Bithynian slave of Hadrian. He had passed a whole night in noting the effect of
the moonlight on a silver image of Endymion. (Wilde, 2003, YK: 214)
Young Kings fondness to the beautiful things exist in his palace has made him into a
worshipper of beauty. He becomes so fascinated with the beauty of those beautiful things and
even
The robe of tissued gold, the sceptre and the ruby-studded crown with its rows and rings
of pearls are three things that beautifully made for the coronation of this young King. These three
objects can be categorized into tangible beauty since they can be touched and seen by human
senses and can produce satisfaction to those who seen them.
Firstly, the robe tissued of gold can be considered as beautiful because it is weaved by
using a thread of gold and gold has been known to all human civilization as a sign of nobility and
divinity.
He thought that he was standing in a long, low attic, amidst the whir and clatter of
many looms. The meagre daylight peered in through the grated windows, and

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showed him the gaunt figures of the weavers bending over their cases.
(Wilde,

2003, YK, p. 215)

And he turned away scowling, and threw the shuttle across the loom, and
the young King saw that it was threaded with a thread of gold. (Wilde,

2003,

YK, p. 216 )
Since long time ago, the robe of a will-be-crowned king or queen always contains the

gold element, for example a thread of gold. This is showing that gold is a symbol of nobility and
divinity. It will be shining when the light falls on it and showing the greatness of a king or queen.
The robe that will be worn in the coronation should be handled carefully by the weaver because a
thread of gold is very expensive and delicate, even the weaver sometimes should not be sleeping
because he has to finish the robe so that the new king will look beautiful and sophisticated when
the coronation takes place.
Secondly, the precious thing that is also considered as beautiful and tangible is the pearl
from the young Kings sceptre. The sceptre with its rows and rings is covered with pearls. In
classical Rome, only persons above a certain rank were allowed to wear pearl jewelry. The Latin
word for pearl literally means "unique", attesting to the fact that no two pearls are identical
(http://www.pearloasis.com/pearlhistory.html). Pearl is also a symbol for purity and innocence
because of its white color; it is used to be sewn in bridal gowns (http://crystalcure.com/pearl.html).
Lastly, another thing that can produce a satisfaction to ones eyes is the ruby-studded
crown. The crown for the new king is usually made from any metal and studded with gems,
especially ruby. Ruby is usually associated to nobility. It has been considered for thousands of
years as kings stone or queen of gemstone because it surpasses all other precious stones in

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virtue, and its value exceeds even that of the Diamond (crystalvaults.com). Ruby has everything
a precious stone should have; Gemstone.org mentions that it has magnificent color, excellent
hardness and outstanding brilliance. In addition to that, it is an extremely rare gemstone,
especially in its finer qualities. This means that the finest ruby is rarer than the fine diamond. The
qualities possess by finest ruby, to make them rarer than diamond, are the size and transparency
of the ruby; the larger and clearer the ruby, the rarer and the more expensive the ruby. The beauty
of ruby has made many rulers in the world put this gemstone as decoration of the kings crown.
Due to its rarity, many people (rich ones) put a lot of effort to get this stone even mobilizes other
people (poor ones) to bring them this stone.
and there he saw an immense multitude of men toiling in the bed of a
up river. They swarmed up the crag like ants. They dug deep pits

dried-

in the ground

and went down into them. Some of them cleft the rocks with great axes; others
grabbled in the sand. They tore up the cactus by its roots,

and trampled on the

scarlet blossoms. They hurried about, calling to each other, and no man was idle.
(Wilde, 2003, YK, p.217-218)
And the young King wept, and said: Who were these men, and for what
were they seeking? (Wilde, 2003, YK, p. 219)
For rubies for a kings crown, answered one who stood behind him. (Wilde,
2003, YK, p. 219)
This is the description from the young Kings third dream that describes how many
people are being mobilized to find rubies for the young Kings crown. To make the crown looks
more beautiful and more king like. In order to find the ruby, those people who known as Avarice

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servants, have to find in any part of the dried-up river and do whatever that can bring them to the
finding of ruby.
Alike with The Young King, the story of The Happy Prince gives similar depiction about
what things related to the physical beauty. In this short story, the beauty can be seen from the
statue of a prince that is covered by gems and gold leaves. The sapphires, ruby and leaves of gold
are, obviously, attracting the people who see it and it can be seen from the passages:
High above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of the Happy Prince. He
was gilded all over with thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he had two bright
sapphires, and a large red ruby glowed on his sword-hilt. He was very much
admired indeed.
He is as beautiful as a weathercock, remarked one of the Town Councilors
who wished to gain a reputation for having artistic taste;
I am glad there is someone in the world who is quite happy, muttered a
disappointed man as he gazed at the wonderful statue. (Wilde, 2003, HP, p.
271).
From those passages, it can be seen that the people of this city admire the statue because
of different reasons. The statue which decorated with three kinds of precious material, sapphire,
ruby and leaves of fine gold, brings different perception of beauty to the Town Councillors and a
disappointed man.
Firstly, in the story of The Happy Prince, it is said that the first two gems the Prince
sacrificed are sapphires. Sapphire
Behr in her paper, The Symbolic Nature of Gold in Magical and Religious Contexts
(2010), says that gold has different meanings towards different contexts. In economic context, it

Magdalena 20

relates to material value. In social context, gold can show the status and position of people who
wear or own gold in the structure of the society. In religious context, gold can be used to
express as the veneration of divine or deities or a divinity. This implies that the nature of gold is
as a means of communication. For example, people who wearing gold or own gold can transmit a
sign, to whoever sees it, that those people are rich or coming from wealthy families.
In the previous quotation, there are some comments made by the city people after seeing
the statue of Happy Prince. Firstly, one of the town councillors said that the statue is as beautiful
as weathercock. The weathercock or weather vane is an instrument on the top of buildings. The
vane is functioned as the pointer of wind directions and used generally as a decoration of
buildings. The Town Councillors compares the beauty of the statue, in this case the fine leave of
gold, to the weathercock. The weather vane gains name weathercock from Peter, one of the
twelve disciples of Jesus Christ. Because the cock (rooster) relates to the Jesus prophecy that
Peter will denounce Him for three times before the cock crows. The beauty of weathercock
compares to the statue because the weathercock can be seen clearly since its position on the top
of the building and it is pointing to the direction where the wind blows.
The statue of the Happy Prince, along with the vane in the story, is also put in the top of
the tall column so that people can see and admire it. For the weathercock is also considered as
the emblem of the sun; for the cock is natural emblem to descry the dawn (Jennings, 1884). It
can be said that the Town Councillors is comparing the statue to the weathercock because of its
golden-covered body which is as beautiful as sun that symbolizes by the weathercock as well.
The second comment is made by a disappointed man who thinks the statue of Happy
Prince is a realization of the prince being happy. The word happy that modifies prince mentioned
Magdalena 21

here by the disappointed man refers to the attribute that the statue has, especially the fine gold
leaves that covers the body of the Happy Prince statue.
In her paper, The Symbolic Nature of Gold in Magical and Religious Contexts, Behr
mentions Janes, who wrote a book entitled God and Gold Late Antiquity. In this book Janes has
shown the continuity of the use of gold, and its numerous associations with the numinous, from a
pre-Christian to a Christian world. It means that gold held its importance even within a religion
that upheld poverty and the rejection of worldly goods. The disappointed man shows an
expression that he lacks of material, in this case money or gold, which can be a symbol of
prosperity or prosperous life. The disappointed man thinks that by having all the gold, when
he was alive, the Prince lived in happy state. As the statue of Happy Prince said,
I am covered with fine gold, said the Prince, you must take it off, leaf by leaf, and
give it to my poor; the living always think that gold can make them happy. (Wilde, 2003,
HP, p.276)
The statement uttered by Happy Prince is showing that he does not really understand the
meaning of happiness before he turns into a statue. It also implies that having plenty of
gold is not a warrant that ones life will be happier than others.
3.1.2. Intangible Beauty
According to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (2005: 807), intangible is defined as
that exists but that is difficult to describe, understand or measure. This means that this
characteristic can only be sensed by human conscience; it cannot be grasped by the five senses.

Magdalena 22

Therefore, intangible beauty can be defined as something that is beautiful in inner state rather
than physical state.
In the story of The Young King the example of intangible beauty can be seen through the
behavior of and the words utter of the Young King after he finds out how his delicate robe, rubies
for the crown and the pearl for his sceptre are produced.
And the Chamberlain and the high officers of State came in and made obeisance
to him, and the pages brought him the robe of tissued gold, and set the
crown and

the sceptre before him.

And the young King looked at them, and they were beautiful. More beautiful were
they than aught that he had ever seen. But he remembered his dreams, and he
said to his courts lords: Take these things away, for I will not wear

them.

But he spake sternly to them again, and said: Take these things away, and
hide them from me. Though it be the day of my coronation, I will not wear them.
For on the loom of sorrow, and by the white hands of Pain, has this my robe been
woven. There is Blood in the heart of the ruby, and Death in the heart of the
pearl. And he told them his three dreams. (Wilde, 2003, YK, p.219)
The passages show how wise the young King acts and thinks after he experienced three
dreams which unfold the ugliness of producing beautiful and precious things. He insists not

Magdalena 23

wear the kings raiment since they are produced on other peoples sufferings. It is the people,
whom he will be the lord of, who suffer from the oppression and torture in order to give him the
proper kings raiment. His actions and decision to abandon his kings apparel shows his love and
empathy to his people. He wants to see his people especially the poor to live properly and fairly.
His encounter with the Bishop in the Cathedral leads his stern respond towards the old bishop;
his respond can reflect his beautiful heart as shown in following:
Shall Joy wear what Grief has fashioned? said the young King. And he

told

his

three dreams.(Wilde, 2003, YK, p.221)

After the young King tells the old Bishop about his dreams, the Bishop replies to him by
mentioning the ugliness or worst things that exist in this world even around them such as
robbery, people with leper, the beggars, the thieves, and the pirates. Also, he advises the young
King to forget his three dreams since the old man considers it as only dreams. This implies that
the young King should not think hard and take it as a burden since the young Kings dreams are
making him weary. This can be inferred from the young Kings conversation with the Bishop in
the following:
Bishop

: And as for dreams, think no more of them. The burden of this

world is too great for one man to bear, and the worlds sorrow
too heavy for one heart to suffer.

Young King

: Sayest thou that in this house? said the young King, and he
strode past the Bishop, and climbed up the steps of the altar,
Magdalena 24

and stood before the image of Christ. (Wilde, 2003, YK,

p.221)
It can be inferred that the young King feels that it is his responsibility to provide the
prosperous life to his people and do many righteous acts towards anybody even to the leper, the
beggars or the thieves. The implied beauty in these passages is love. Love is the most beautiful
thing in this world. The love that is owned by the young King makes him abandon another
beauty that he owns. He chooses not to wear the raiment or sovereigns robe because he knows
that this beautiful robe and his kings attire need sacrifice from the people who make it. In other
words, he refuses to wear the beautiful raiment, because he loves his people.
Furthermore, the act of the young King to fight the statement delivers by the Bishop
occurs because the young King sticks to the truth though the Bishop has asked him to turn away
from what he believes as the righteousness. Instead, the young King questions the Bishops
credibility as a religious leader since stating controversial statement in front of the young King.
It is charity that exists in the story of The Happy Prince. In the short story, the prince
portrayed by the statue of Happy Prince is doing heroic things helped by a little Swallow. This
statue of a prince sacrifices his beauty by asking the Swallow to give the sapphires in his eyes,
the ruby on his sword hilt and the fine leaves of gold covering his body to the poor or the needy.
The act of sacrificing that is done by the statue of Happy Prince and the Swallow can be
considered as beautiful. The statue of Happy Prince willingly gives the gems, sapphires and a
ruby, and the leaves of gold that cover his body for the poor people by the help of a Swallow;
and the Swallow is willing to sacrifice his time to fly to the south only for helping and fulfilling

Magdalena 25

the request of the Happy Prince statue. The Happy Prince and Swallow are willing to give
whatever they have to make people happy. The statue of Happy Prince does this because he sees
the realities that there are many people of his town living in poverty and he never knew this
before. When he knows about it, he would like to help them but he cannot move since he is a
statue. So, when a little Swallow stays with him, he asks this bird to help him. At first, the
Swallow refuses to help. Later on, he helps the statue of Happy Prince to give away the
sapphires, ruby and leaves of gold to the poor or the needy. Their act of sharing, helping and
caring can be considered as beautiful because it brings happiness for other people and reduces
the sorrow that the poor suffer.
The statue of Happy Prince and the Swallow show that the beauty can come from small
acts and sincere intention. They give their belongings, precious gems and times, to help others, to
make other peoples life better.
3.2. Relation of Beauty with Humanity
The word aestheticism gains its popularity since a well-known author promotes this term
through his works and styles. It is Oscar Wilde who claims himself as an aesthete or the Apostle
of Aestheticism (Holland, 2003:7). His adoration to beautiful things not only limited in his
writing style or in literature but he expands it to his dressing style. In Artistic Dress
Movements, Wilde is wearing velvet jacket and knee breeches as his lecturing costume for his
speaking tour of America in 1882. Another interest of him is his love to precious gems and stones
that is influenced by his mentor, Walter Pater, (Gaunt, 1945: 102) and his adoration to many
figures in Classics especially Greek mythology and natural element that symbolizes beauty such
as flowers. The use of precious gems and stones can be seen in his two short stories, The Happy
Magdalena 26

Prince and The Young King where Wilde exposed the beauty of ruby, pearl, sapphire and gold to
encode moral issues in his fairy tales.
In The Young King and The Happy Prince, Wilde uses gold, ruby, pearl and sapphire as
the means to emphasize the beautiful things which usually refers to nobility and weaves a story
that can deliver his criticism towards the society by using those four elements. Those four
elements are considered as precious, valuable and referring to nobility which are limited only to
the upper class to show their status or level in the society. In a letter, Wilde states his purpose in
writing The Happy Prince was to address the issue of modern art in Victorian society (HartDavis and Holland, 355). Through various characters, such as the townspeople, Wilde wants to
criticize the sentiments of the 19th century art movement "What is not beautiful, is not useful".
Wilde fights this idea with the transformation of the statue from golden and beautiful to grey and
ugly. He supported the realism movement that showing that even something is not beautiful, it is
useful.
Dear me! How shabby the Happy Prince looks! he said.
How shabby, indeed! cried the Town Coucillors, who always agreed with the
Mayor.
The ruby has fallen out of his sword, his eyes were gone, and he is golden no
longer, said the Town Councillors.
And here is actually a dead bird at his feet! continued the Mayor. We must
really issue a proclamation that birds are not to be allowed to die here.
And

the Town Clerk made a note of the suggestions.

Magdalena 27

So they pulled down the statue of the Happy Prince. As he is no longer

beautiful he is no longer useful, said the Art Professor at the University.
(Wilde, HP, pp. 276-277)
The description given by Wilde in the Happy Prince is a transformation of the beautiful
statue of the Happy Prince into the ugly one. It lost its golden shine and the precious gems that
cover its eyes and sword-hilt. The statue becomes dull and grey. It lost its shining and its beauty
according to the Town Councillors and Mayor. The statue was seen only as a decoration for the
city because of its beauty cover. Then, when it becomes ugly, they no longer consider it as
useful; because it has nothing except its leaden heart. In spite of its ugliness in the end, the statue
and the Swallow represent far greater beauty in its Christ-like self-sacrifice; they have shown a
true love by sacrificing all they have to help the needy and later, are given a heavenly reward by
God for what they have done.
Bring me the two most precious things in the city, said God to one of His
Angels; and the Angel brought Him the leaden heart and the dead bird.
You have rightly chosen, said God, for in my garden of Paradise this little
bird shall sing for evermore, and in my city of gold the Happy Prince shall
praise me.(Wilde, HP, 277)
The heavenly reward given by God to the Happy Prince and the Swallow of what they
have done is being placed in his garden of Paradise where the Swallow and the Happy Prince
would sing and praise Him forever. This heavenly reward is a proof that what has been done by
the Happy Prince and Swallow is, indeed, a good thing. God considers they sacrifice as precious
and he accepts their good deeds.

Magdalena 28

Through his two short stories, Wilde wants to pour his thoughts towards the Late
Victorian society. The British society, indeed, achieved its highest peak when Queen Victoria
ruled the country. According to Hudson and Adams (from Victorian Age: Review par. 1), the
Victorian era was described as a period of dramatic change that brought England to its highest
point of development of world power, but also a period of prudishness, repression and oldfashioned grew (Landow 2009, par. 1). The rapid changes shown in Britain gave Wilde
concerns on the condition of low class people at that time. It is sweated workers or sweatshop
that becomes one of the objects that Wilde captured in his short stories, The Young King and The
Happy Prince.
Wilde uses his aesthetics adoration towards beautiful things to encode his view on the
real ugliness that exists in the life of British society. He does not only use his knowledge of
Classics to describe the world that he creates for the two short stories but also the virtues that he
considers appropriate to the message he wants to say.
According to Peterson and Seligmans book, Character Strengths and Virtues Handbook
as quoted in Wikipedia, the virtue, humanity, is a set of strengths focused on tending and
befriending others. This phrase expects us to give awareness to our friends or even strangers
that really need the help from us. Through the two short stories, Wilde intends to show the
attitudes of the young King and Happy Prince are a proof of their ability to sense the hardship
that happens in the settings of these two short stories. Their ability to feel the sufferings from the
poor is leading them to act humanely. In addition, the good deed performed by the Swallow by
helping his new friend, the Happy Prince, to deliver the beautiful gems and gold leaves to the
needy and even sacrificed his life is also a proof of loyalty and love in his companionship to the
Happy Prince.
Magdalena 29

All the sacrifices made by the three characters in Wildes short stories, The Young King
and The Happy Prince, reflects the Wildes implied concern of humanity. According to Oxford
Advanced Learners Dictionary (Hornby, 2005), the word humanity means the quality of being
kind to people and animals by making sure that they do not suffer more than is necessary; the
quality of being humane (760).
Furthermore, in their book, Peterson and Seligman state that humanity has three strengths
associated with it; they are love, kindness, and social intelligence. These strengths are helpful
to relate the elements that makes human more humane. Moreover, in humanity there is a more
level of altruism towards individuals than the fairness found in justice; and this makes a
difference of humanity and justice. Humanity consists of the acts of love, altruism, and social
intelligence are typically person to person strengths while fairness [in justice] is generally
expanded to all. Humanity is in the third position and one of six virtues, as defined by Peterson
and Seligman that are consistent across all cultures. The other virtues are wisdom and
knowledge, courage, justice, temperance and transcendence.
3.2.1. Love (Charity)
Love is a universal matter in this world and the most discussed topic as well. It can be
found in poems, songs, books, prose even movies. Love has many different definitions ranging
from a set of purely biological and chemical processes to a religious concept. As strength, love is
a mutual feeling between two people characterized by attachment, comfort, and generally
positive feelings. In Greek, love can be divided into four types. They are Storge-affection,
Phillia-friendship, Eros-romance and Agape-unconditional love or charity. Love is also the topic
that is implied in Wildes short stories.

Magdalena 30

Charity is the type of love that is described as caring regardless of the circumstance. It
gives, but it takes nothing in return. This kind of love is conceived from what the Ancient Greek
categorized as Agape. Agape is often translated into unconditional love and usually relates to the
New Testaments Gods love to human, as well as human reciprocal love for God (Agape in
Encyclopaedia Britannica). Charity contains a deepest sense of love than the other three because
it formulates the sense of giving and loving without asking rewards in return. Lewis in his book,
The Four Loves (1960), writes that the Divine-love (or Agape) is Gift-love from God. He
highlights the Gift-love from the sacrifice cycle exists in the Christianity which he illustrates as
The Father gives all He is and has to the Son. The Son gives Himself back to the Father, and
gives Himself to the world, and for the world to the Father, and thus gives the world (in Himself)
back to the Father too (Lewis 11). It tells about the act of giving from the Father and the Son
which engages the love in the process of giving or sacrificing. This Gift-love that Wilde
wants to embed to his short stories, The Young King and The Happy Prince.
Wilde displays a similar type of sacrifice with different objects to be sacrificed in his two
short stories. In The Young King, Wilde shows the sacrifice of this young King toward his
enjoyment from the beautiful objects he adores that almost blind him from the sufferings of his
people. The same as the young Kings attitude, the Happy Prince and the Swallow in The Happy
Prince are showing good actions towards the poor people in Happy Princes country. Both of
them give the most precious things in their life to make others happy. The willingness of the
Happy Prince statue to give all his belongingsthe precious gems and leaves of goldthat
cover his body is a great example of love to other people that Wilde wants to show. In addition,
the Swallow, which accompanies the statue of Happy Prince, exhibits a true companion and love
not only for the statue but also for the people in the town.
Magdalena 31

In the story of The Young King, this young King lives in a beautiful palace, but he
previously lived in the forest as a son of a goatherd. The beauty of the new place leads him to
worship the beauty he has never seen. It is similar to what happen to British people in Victorian
era. The revolution in industry has dazzled them with the ability of the machines created at the
nineteenth century in which helping them to produce the goods easier and increased the
efficiency of the production. As quoted from Industrial Revolution the revolution is
increasing the demand for the metal parts used in machinery. Though, the British people
already have their original tools from the eighteenth century, the development of machine in the
nineteenth century was an advent for them (2014, par. 35). This meant they could make money
easier than the previous era. It is paralleled with the condition of the young king. Both, young
king and Victorian people were once lived in an average state, but one day they found themselves
living in a prosperous condition. By having a new status as a young king, this adopted son of a
goatherd transforms into a person who admired his new living place and its decorations. At the
short period of time, he is mesmerized by such beauty.
but the wonderful palace-Joyeuse, as they called itof which he now found
himself lord, seemed to him to be a new world fresh-fashioned for his
delight.and, indeed, they were to him real voyages through a
marvelous

land,
Many curious stories were related about him at this period. It was said that a stout
Burgomaster, who had come to deliver a florid oratorical address on behalf

of the
before a
seemed to herald

citizens of the town, had caught sight of him kneeling in real adoration
great picture that had just been brought form Venice, and that
the worship of some new gods. (YK, p. 214 pars. 5-7)
Magdalena 32

All rare and costly materials had certainly a great fascination for him, and in
his eagerness to procure them he had sent away many merchants, some to
traffic

for amber with the rough fisher-folk of the north seas, some to Egypt to

look for

that curious green turquoise which is found only in the tombs of

kings, and is said

to possess magical properties. (YK, 2003, p.214 par 8)

The beautiful objects seen by the young King in his palace has impressed him and left
him into a deep adoration about many precious and beautiful objects. This crave causes him to
order many merchants to go in any direction to get everything he wants to own without realizing
the impact resulted by his command. One of his commands was, for his coronation day, to have
kings attirerobe, sceptre and crowntoiled by the artificers night and day to finish them and
the compensation for their worthy work was jewels searched in every corner in the world. The
outcome of his order affected the artificers. Firstly, many weavers were employed by the
artificers and paid low to weave the kings robe. These weavers had to work day and night
without having much break. It is similar to what happened to working classes in Victorian era.
The working classes in Victorian era fell into a working system which known as sweated
workers. The sweated workers underwent horrible conditions when working in the factories
which were portrayed by Wilde in The Young King.
He (young King) thought that he was standing in a long, low attic, amidst the
whir and clatter of many looms. The meager daylight peered in through
the grated

windows, and showed him the gaunt figure of the weavers bending over

their

cases. Pale, sickly-looking children were crouched on the huge cross

beams.

Magdalena 33

As the shuttles dashed through the warp they lifted up the heavy battens, and
when the shuttles stopped they let the battens fall and pressed the threads
together.

Their faces were pinched with famine, and their thin hand shook and

trembled.

Some haggard

women were seated at table sewing. A

horrible odour filled the

place. The air was foul and heavy, and the walls

dripped and streamed with damp.

(YK, Wilde, 2003:215)

It is miserable to watch this condition of working environment for human. The sufferings
of weavers in this short story are also experienced by the working classes in Victorian era
especially in sweatshop. Those who work in sweatshop industry lived in poor condition because
the workers were paid low, while they have to work hard to meet the high demand from the
customers.
To get the white pearl for young Kings sceptre was the task burdened from the sceptres
artificers to the pearls finders. The finders were a hundred slave led by the negroes; the finders
should dive into the sea only to find the pearls with painful state.
As soon as they had cast anchor an hauled down the sail, the negroes went into
the hold and brought up a long rope-ladder, heavily weighted with lead.
Then the negroes seized the youngest of the slaves and knocked his gives off,
and filled his nostrils and with his ears with wax, and tied a big stone round his
waist. He crept wearily down the ladder, and disappeared into the sea. A few
bubbles rose where he sank. Some of the other slaves peered curiously over the
side. At the prow of the galley sat a shark charmer, beating monotonously upon a
drum. (YK, Wilde, 2003, p. 217)
Magdalena 34

This diving procession took a very long time since it was not easy to find the oysters
which have the pearls inside. In the past, the pearl diving is the only way to get the natural pearls
because of its rarity. In Pearl Hunting (2014, par. 1) mentions that the pearl hunting started in
Persian gulf and Japan. The increasing activity of hunting was caused by higher demands of
India in the eighteenth and nineteenth century since that country became more prosperous (as
qtd. from Pearl Diving, 2001) .To get the pearl, the diver should dive into at least 12 to 40
meters depth to find it in one single breath (qtd. from Pearl Hunting, 2014, pars. 4). These
circumstances were not uncommon resulting death to the divers. This pearl diving activity that
caused death was also seen by the young King in one of his three dreams and brought him into
agony.
The last part of the young Kings command on preparation of his coronation was the
searching of rubies for his crown. Ruby is well known for its value since ancient era and usually
used as the jewelry for the noble. To decorate the kings crown, the artificers ordered the rubies
from the miner of ruby which is depicted by Avarice. Avarice summoned her servants to dig up
in every corner of the woods and in the banks of dried-up river. And when those people were
digging, Avarice was visited by Death. The conversation between Avarice and Death was like a
bargain that will decide the fate of the servants. Many servants were lost because of Ague, Fever
and Plague.
The circumstances that happened to the working classes in the story of The Young King
were alike with the working classes in Victorian Britain. They live in a very poor condition, paid
in very low wages, and the working hour that was bad if it is compared to today conditions. The
working hour was about fourteen hours to nineteen hours per day (qtd. from Del Col, Evidence
Given Before the Sadler Committee). The depiction of Victorian Society that grew rapidly into
Magdalena 35

great development was not giving same to the conditions of the society, in this case the working
class. The working class people could not enjoy the same happiness like the upper class society.
The new world that the Victorian British found has changed them to be more individualistic and
did not care of what happened to other people. While the young King showed different reaction
towards the poor people. He abandoned his personal pleasure and instead transformed his
character from a person who worshipped the Beauty, which almost makes him forget his
surrounding, to a person who cares of poor or marginalized people in his land. Wilde shows the
British people in Victorian era the figure of young King who rejects the precious and beautiful
things for his coronation as an act of his awareness to what he saw in his dreams considering the
conditions of the people that have worked for him to make the robe, to get the pearls and rubies
for his coronation. The young king is shown by Wilde as a person with an exceptional character
that is different from most British people during Victorian era. He is showing his love through a
sacrifice of the desire and pleasure of beautiful things.
Unlike The Young King which only shows one main characterthe young King, the short
story The Happy Prince shows two characters that emphasizes the sacrifice of the Happy Prince
and the Swallow as a proof of their love, the love of Happy Prince statue to his people and the
love of the Swallow to Happy Prince.
By witnessing the unfairness in the city, the Happy Prince felt touched and needed to help
the needy. After enjoying all the pleasure he had when he was alive, he now consumes the reality
that for long time he had never seen behind the wall of his palace. Wilde named the palace where
Happy Prince lived after the French words, Sans-Souci which means carefree. He seemed to tell
that everyone who lives in the palace lives happily not need to worry about everything outside
their palace through the speech uttered by the Happy Prince to the Swallow.
Magdalena 36

When I was I alive and had the human heart, answered the statue, I did not
know what tears were, for I lived in the Palace of Sans-Souci, where sorrow is not
allowed to enter. In the daytime I played with my companions in the garden, and
in the evening I led the dance in the Great Hall. Round the garden ran a very lofty
wall, but never I cared to ask what lay beyond it, everything about me was so
beautiful. My courtiers called me the Happy Prince, and happy indeed I was, if
pleasure be happiness. So I lived, and so I died. And now that I am dead they have
set me up here so high that I can see all the ugliness and all the misery of my city,
and though my heart is made of lead yet I cannot choose but weep. (HP, Wilde,
2003: 272)
This sight was the basis of the Happy Princes reason to help people in his city. He feels
that those people in the city, the poor, should have the better life and he thinks he has to help
them. Losing all the precious gems and the leaves of fine gold on his body is better for him than
having them. He chooses to sacrifice his own beauty to see other people happy rather than keep it
for his own. He also mentions the result of the act of giving to the Swallow after the bird helped
the Happy Prince to deliver a ruby for a seamstress who needs financial help to feed her son who
is sick and needs food.
Then the Swallow flew back to the Happy Prince, and told him what he had done.
It is curious, he remarked, but I feel quite warm now, although it is so
cold.

That is because you have done a good action, said the prince.
By giving all the precious gems that cover his body, the Prince is implicitly showing his

love towards the poor people as well as the Swallow which also showing its love to the happy

Magdalena 37

Prince. The charity that lies in these two sacrifices is a reflection of Wildes love to God. Charity
is mostly known by the Christian as the act of loving God as it is referring to most well-known
phrase God is Love from the Holy Bible in 1 John 4:8 (NIV Bible, 570). Because there is no
way to repay the love that God has given to human for His love is divine and great. The only way
to show the love to God is by loving the neighbors and the life that God has given. The love that
is mentioned in the two short stories is the love that is sincere and honest without asking
something in return and not limited only to the closest people in the neighborhood but to
everyone.
3.3. Ignorant Characters
In these two short stories, The Young King and The Happy Prince, there are some
characters in the highest position which show their unawareness toward poor characters in
their society. Most of them are considered as leaders or noblemen in the society whether as
religious or political leaders. In The Young King, not only the leaders but also a crowd of
people mock the appearance of the young King when he dresses in a simple way. They
expect a king should wear an attire which can show his regalitykings robe, crown and sceptre.
But it is not what they see when the young King shows himself in front of many people. His
simple appearance is considered as unexpected and bringing shame upon the nobles and he is
unworthy to rule them. They disagree with his decision to not dress kingly; thus, they mock
him because the young King told them the story of his three dreams about three occasions
which related to the origin of kings raiment (the robe, the crown and the sceptre). The
young Kings refusal in wearing the raiment is depicted through these passages:

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And the young King looked at them, and they were beautiful. More beautiful were
they than aught he had ever seen. But he remembered his dreams, and said to his
lords: Take these things away, for I will not wear them. (YK, Wilde, 2003: 219)
And the courtiers were amazed, and some of them laughed, for they thought that
he was jesting. (219)
But he spake sternly to them again, and said: Take these things away, and hide
them from me. Thought it be the day of my coronation, I will not wear them. For
on the loom of sorrow, and by the white hands of Pain, has this my robe been
woven. There is Blood in the heart of the ruby, and Death in the heart of the
pearl. And he told them his three dreams. (219)
The passages are evidence that the king raiment, indeed, is beautiful and made for
the kings coronation and only for king. But later, the young King refuses to wear it because
he knows how the attire which he should wear is made of in his dreams. He mentions four
things that relate to his raiment making, they are sorrow, pain, blood and death which
become the basis of his refusal. Furthermore, he describes the conditions of people who are
toiling for him to create a beautiful robe, crown and scepter after uttering his refusal to
wear the raiment.
In the first dream, he sees how miserable the life of the weavers of his robeto eat and
to live properly are something that they only could dream because of their wages are very
low and they cannot feed their children with healthy food and good portion. In his second
dream, the pearl for decorating his sceptre should be earned by the slave who has to risk
his life by swimming into ocean deep. He watches how the slaves blood gushes out from his
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ears and nose because the nostrils and ears are filled with wax by the slaves master,
previously, while he is getting the pearl from the depth of the ocean. It is painful for the
young King to watch this episode and he cannot do anything. And lastly, in his third
dreams he sees three times the death of Avarices servants while they are seeking rubies for
the kings crown. There are two events occur between Avarice and Death, but only one shall
decide the fate of Avarices servants. Firstly, Death asks Avarice to give him a third of her
servants and will let her servants continue the mining. But he changes his mind when he
looks at Avarices fist, which contains three grains of corn. So, he asks her to give him one
of her three grains of corn to be planted in his garden. But she refuses for three times the
request of Death to give him a grain of corn which results to the death of Avarices servants
through three times occurrence. The death of Avarices servants are The latter event puts
Avarice and Death in a situation where Death tries to persuade Avarice to give him a grain
of corn, but she refuses three times, Here lies implicit meanings delivered by Wilde in
which are important to the
The young King cannot do anything but weep when he witnesses this tragedy. The
sufferings and hardships watched by the young King in his dreams are making him a different
person. It is why he insists to abandon the raiment.
Those description are told by the young King to the courtiers and noblemen but
they seem disapprove the dreams and lead to the objection from the courtiers and the
noblemen. The courtiers even whisper their disappointment of the story of the young Kings
three dreams. They said:

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Surely he is mad; for what is a dream but a dream, and a vision but a vision?
They are not real things that one should heed them. And what have to do with the
lives of those who toil for us? Shall a man not eat bread till he has seen the sower,
nor drink wine till he has talked with the vinedresser?(YK, Wilde, 2003:219)
This passage showed us that the courtiers were not really concern of what the lower class people
experienced. They consider that the dreams were only dreams and one should not think about it
too much. Furthermore, they thought it was not necessary to really consider the condition of the
people who worked for them. They think they have given some amounts of money for those
people who produced the things they consumed. They thought it was enough and they did not
have to give more care for those workerss live condition or hardship. They do not realize that
even though the stories are dreams, but it happens in the real life. They do and may not
question how those beautiful objects are made because they only care about how pleasant
the things if they are theirs.
In addition, a Chamberlain could not accept that a king would not dress according the
tradition of kings coronation. Because it is his duty to make sure the ceremonials and rituals
or traditions usually held by the monarchy go as well as it should be. (Wikipedia, Lord
Chamberlain, par.6-7). So he asked the young King to put one his kings raiment and forget the
dreams.
And the Chamberlain spake to the young King, and said: My lord, I pray thee set
aside these black thoughts of thine, and put on this fair robe, and set this crown upon thy
head. For how shall the people know that thou art a king, if thou hast not a kings
raiment? (YK, Wilde 219)

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But the young King replied in amazement,

Is it so, indeed? he questioned. Will they not know me for a king if I have
not a kings raiment? (219)
They will not know thee, my lord, cried the Chamberlain. (219)
I had thought that there had been men who were kinglike, he answered, but it
may be as thou sayest. And yet I will not wear this robe, nor will I be crowned with this
crown, but even as I came to the Palace so I will go forth from it. (219-220)
As he made his decision to not wearing his kings raiment, the young King decided to
take his leathern tunic and rude wooden staff with a crown from wild briar for his kings raiment.
This decision made the noblemen upset when they saw him in the Great Hall. The noblemen
could not accept that a king will dress in leathern tunic, holding rude wooden staff and crowned
by wild briar rose.
And the nobles made merry, and some of them cried out to him, My lord, the
people wait for their king, and thou showest them a beggar, and others were
wroth and said, He brings shame upon our state, and is unworthy to be our
master. But he answered not a word, but passed on, and went down the bright
porphyry staircase, and out through the gates of bronze, and mounted upon his
horse, and rode towards the cathedral, the little page running beside him. (YK,
Wilde 220)
Through this description, it can be seen that the young King is upset and disappointed with those
noblemen but he gave no answer and did not really confront them. Instead he mounted his horse

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to the cathedral where his coronation will be held. They showed that they were not aware of
other people especially the poor ones. They did not take it seriously what the young King was
really concerned at. Although he was ignored by the noblemen, he still put high hope on the
people, nobles and commoners, to understand him about his decision not to wear kings raiment
because he did care about the origin of the raiment. He feels afraid and sorry for those people
who are toiling day and night for preparing his kings raiment and many who die in searching
for the decoration of his sceptre and crown. But in reality, his people mocked and
humiliated him.
And people laughed and said, It is the Kings fool who is riding by, and they
mocked him. (YK, Wilde 220)
And he drew rein and said, Nay, but I am the King. And he told them his three
dreams. (220)
And a man came out of the crowd and spake bitterly to him and said, knowest
thou that out of the luxury of the rich cometh the life of the poor? By your pomp
we are nurtured, and your vices give us bread. To toil a master is bitter, but to
have no master to toil is more bitter still. Thinkest thou that ravens will feed us?
And what cure hast thou for these things? Wilt thou say to the buyer, Thou shalt
buy for so much, and to the seller, Thou shalt sell at this price? I trow not.
Therefore go back to thy Palace and put thy purple fine linen. What hast thou to
do with us, and what we suffer? (220)
Furthermore, he receives more mockery from his people of his decision than
agreement. They do not think that the reaction made by the young King will affect their life.
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They cannot see the young Kings good intention and reason to object wearing the kings
raiment. And even a man, from the crowd, replies to him in a cynic way and think of his
drastic change is a useless thing. The mans cynicism rises because they have been in too
much suffering and have lost their hope to their masters and it is better for them to do what
they should do and so does the King.
As same as The Young King, the story of The Happy Prince shows the insensitive leaders
of the condition of their people. The Town Councillors are the representation of the leaders
whom Wilde describes as selfish or only concerning their lives and nobody else. They only
care about their own image in the elite society but never care about the hardships which are
experienced by their people. It can be inferred from this excerpt:
He was very much admired indeed. He is as beautiful as weathercock, remarked
one of the Town Councillors who wished to gain a reputation for having artistic
tastes; only not quite so useful, he added, fearing lest people should think him
unpractical, which he really was not. (HP, Wilde 271)
The excerpt is the first statement uttered by the Town Councillors in the beginning
of the story. They are showing admiration toward the statue of Happy Prince but they are
actually trying to impress the people in the city through their words. They are only
wondering about the opinion of the society about them, how they are portrayed publicly.
They hope that if they are giving a statement that shows their practicality, the people in
their city will compliment them. They are trying to make people to see them as good and
practical people. And this still happens in the end of the story.

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Early the next morning the Mayor was walking in the square below in the
company with the Town Councillors. As they passed the column he looked up at
the statue: Dear me! How shabby the Happy Prince looks! he said. (HP, Wilde
276)
Then they melted the statue in a furnace, and the Mayor held a meeting of the
Corporation to decide what was to be done with the metal. We must have another
statue, of course, he said, and it shall be a statue of myself. (276-277)
Of myself, said each of the Town Councillors, and they quarrelled. (277)
Those are the comments they uttered when they see the dullness of the statue. They
do not realize since when the statue of the Happy Prince turns grey and looks dull though it
is situated in the center of the city. They show their carelessness They also make ridiculous
decision by saying, We must really issue a proclamation that birds are not to be allowed to
die here when they found little Swallows body on the Princes feet. They ignore the reality
that surrounds them where there are still many people living in troubles.
A different behavior if it is compared to the Princes and the Swallow. The Prince,
though now only a statue, feels that it is more necessary to pay attention to other peoples
suffering than to the marvelous things that you can only enjoy for yourself; and the
Swallow, though it is a bird, thinks he should help the Prince to do what he wants because
he finds that helping and do something for goodness are worth and makes him feel happy,
which relates to the warm feeling the Swallow had after helping the Prince.
Dear little Swallow, said the Prince, you tell me of marvellous things, but more
marvellous than anything is the suffering of men and women. There is no Mystery
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so great as Misery. Fly over my city, little Swallow, and tell me what you see
there. (HP, Wilde 275)
So the Swallow flew over the great city, and saw the rich making merry in their
beautiful houses, while the beggars were sitting at the gates, He flew into dark
lanes, and saw the white faces of starving children looking out listlessly at the
black streets. Under the archway of a bridge two little boys were lying in one
anothers arms to try and keep themselves warm. How hungry we are! they said.
You must not lie here, shouted the watchmen, and they wandered out into the
rain. (275-276)
Then he flew back and told the Prince what he had seen. (276)
The order given by the Prince is showing his true character as a Prince who
concerns about his peoples life. In spite of losing his sights, it does not make his heart goes
blind. He sacrifices his fine leaves of gold which cover his leaden body for the unfortunate
people so that they can use it for their own goodness. And by the helping hands of the
Swallow, all his intention to do good things can be possibly done.
The Town Councillors may not appear as much as the Prince and Swallow, but their
simple statements toward the surrounding reality in the city give an impression of who they
really are. And their little appearance also can be interpreted as an intentional depiction of
the absence of proper leaders in the life of city people portrayed by Wilde. Their
absenteeism towards the city people life is making the condition of those people uncertain.
They seem have no guardian to preserve their rights and life.

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CHAPTER IV
Conclusion

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