The Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde

'If I bring her a red rose she will dance with me till dawn.

How can love and lust be the major allegory in this story?Ībout the boy, his way of showing his love to the girl is cute and child-like, yet it is not the real definition of love. Lust means a very strong sexual desire for someone. Love denotes a meaning of unconditional care for a person who takes a special part in our heart. Love and lust are two things in common that sometimes are hard to differentiate. The figurative language in this story is a little bit advanced for children level, but the poetry-like lines by the nightingale are one of the key points that made this story a mellifluous prose. Wilde really give a melancholy touch to this story that spices it up beautifully.

Her blood, her painful song, her falling pulse, her failing heart bloomed the rose into life but Alas! her sacrifice found no true love. She did find a rose but had to sacrifice her the blood from her heart to color it red. This agonizing was heard by a Nightingale who then flew around from tree to tree to find a red rose for the boy’s ‘true love’. It narrates a story about a young student, deeply in love with a girl who promised him a dance only if he brought a red rose for her, is in agony over not having a rose for his love. Written in 1888, The Nightingale and The Rose by Oscar Wilde performs an allegorical lines about love and lust, or can be defined as selfishness and selflessness.

The Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde