The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde by
The Canterville Ghost By Oscar Wilde."The Canterville Ghost" is a short story by Oscar Wilde, widely adapted for the screen and stage. It was the first of Wilde's stories to be published, appearing in two parts in The Court and Society Review, 23 February and 2 March 1887.The story is about a family who moves to a castle haunted by the ghost of a dead nobleman, who killed his wife and was starved to death by his wife's brothers.
“… and spent most of that day looking over his wardrobe, ultimately deciding in favour of a large slouched hat with a red feather, a winding-sheet frilled at wrist and neck, and a rusty dagger.”
Situational Irony:
In The Canterville Ghost, Oscar Wilde created the character of this ghost by thinking out of the traditional box for ghosts. He portrays this ghost as someone who cares about appearance, someone who have deep thoughts about life.
Ghosts are dead people that raise from the ashes, in traditional gothic novelas, they normally don’t care about anything besides revenge. But the ghost from Canterville cares about his appearance, and the ghost is rather polite to others. Which created this ironic situation through out the story.
“Never having seen a ghost before, he naturally was terribly frightened, and, after a second hasty glance at the awful phantom, he fled back to his room…”
Dramatic Irony:
The fake ghost that the Otis twins made scared the real ghost of Canterville. Ironically, the gentle Canterville ghost was scared by fake ghosts, and the readers are all aware that this is exactly what the Otis family hope the ghost would fail for. Wilde was trying to imply the message that although some people might be scary, they can still be gentle inside and even be frightened by other things.
The Nightingale and the Rose Oscar Wilde by
A nightingale overhears a student complaining that his professor's daughter will not dance with him, as he is unable to give her a red rose. The nightingale visits all the rose-trees in the garden, and one of the white roses tell her that there's a way to produce a red rose, but only if the nightingale is prepared to sing the sweetest song for the rose all night, and sacrifice her life to do so. Seeing the student in tears, the nightingale carries out the ritual, and impales herself on the rose-tree's thorn so that her heart's blood can stain the rose. The student takes the rose to the professor's daughter, but she again rejects him because another man has sent her some real jewels, and "everybody knows that jewels cost far more than flowers." The student angrily throws the rose into the gutter, returns to his study of metaphysics, and decides not to believe in true love anymore.
“… and he threw the rose into the street, where it fell into the gutter, and a cartwheel went over it.”
The rose that the nightingale watered with blood was tossed and thrown away in such an ease. This shows that sometimes what a person cherish the most the other might not even bother to look at.
A Woman of No Importance by
Devilishly attractive Lord Illingworth is notorious for his skill as a seducer. But he is still invited to all the best houses while his female conquests must hide their shame in seclusion. In this devastating drawing - room comedy, Wilde uses his celebrated wit to expose English societys narrow view of everything from sexual mores to Americans.
“LORD ILLINGWORTH. So that is our son, Rachel! Well, I am very proud of him. He in a Harford, every inch of him. By the way, why Arbuthnot, Rachel?”
Dramatic Irony:
Both Lord Illingworth and Mrs. Arbuthnot are aware at this point that Gerald is their son (and so does the audience), but others (including Gerald) don’t know about this. The dramatic irony in this play helped to build up major conflicts and tensions later in the play. This is what caused the conflict between Gerald and Mrs. Arbuthnot.