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.
Selfless actions seem astonishing in the current world
The student said nightingale “would not sacrifice herself to others”, in Wilde’s world, most people view selfless actions as something rather astonishing because it barely exists anymore.
The Picture of Dorian Gray by
Celebrated novel traces the moral degeneration of a handsome young Londoner from an innocent fop into a cruel and reckless pursuer of pleasure and, ultimately, a murderer. As Dorian Gray sinks into depravity, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait reflects the ravages of crime and sensuality.
Beauty doesn’t always come with morality.
As Dorian Gray remained his beauty, he somehow slowly lost his morality. Through out the novel, Dorian Gray was able to stay in his use as the magic painting slowly become tainted and rot. The painting represents Dorian Gray’s morality when he was first introduced to the artist. During that time, he was beautiful and kind. But as time passes, Dorian lost his kind nature, become a cruel person, that’s when the painting starts to rot and decay.
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.
Good nature in humans can concur sins
Virginia’s kindness nature has over come the sin committed by the ghost long time ago. This shows that a person with a kind heart is stronger than deadly sins.
People with modernized views sometimes failed to attach with tradition
The ghost’s blood stain represents the past of Canterville. While some characters in the story (such as Virginia and Mrs. Umney) noticed and respected the blood-stain, the rest of the Otis family doesn’t because they failed to attach with the past represent by the blood stain due to their modern views.
De Profundis and Other Prison Writings by
De Profundis and Other Prison Writings is a new selection of Oscar Wilde's prison letters and poetry in Penguin Classics, edited and introduced by Colm Tóibín. At the start of 1895, Oscar Wilde was the toast of London, widely feted for his most recent stage success, An Ideal Husband. But by May of the same year, Wilde was in Reading prison sentenced to hard labour. 'De Profundis' is an epistolic account of Oscar Wilde's spiritual journey while in prison, and describes his new, shocking conviction that 'the supreme vice is shallowness'. This edition also includes further letters to his wife, his friends, the Home Secretary, newspaper editors and his lover Lord Alfred Douglas - Bosie - himself, as well as 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol', the heart-rending poem about a man sentenced to hang for the murder of the woman he loved. This Penguin edition is based on the definitive Complete Letters, edited by Wilde's grandson Merlin Holland. Colm Tóibín's introduction explores Wilde's duality in love, politics and literature. This edition also includes notes on the text and suggested further reading. Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin. His three volumes of short fiction, The Happy Prince, Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and A House of Pomegranates, together with his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, won him a reputation as a writer with an original talent, a reputation enhanced by the phenomenal success of his society comedies - Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest. Colm Tóibín is the author of five novels, including The Blackwater Lightship and The Master, and a collection of stories, Mothers and Sons. His essay collection Love in a Dark Time: Gay Lives from Wilde to Almodovar appeared in 2002. He is the editor of The Penguin Book of Irish Fiction.
The unbearable shame cause a person suffer from compunction
Oscar Wilde suffered from shame he received after his trail. Yet in De Profundis, he thinks that due to Douglas’s callous actions and ungrateful nature, Douglas should also be ashamed because of those act. Wilde view shame as a sign of how a person realized their mistakes and therefore are able to correct those mistakes in the future.
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.
What a person did wrong before is something a person cannot runaway and avoid from.
The play mentioned dishonesty and sin through out the conversation between Hester and other female characters. In the play, it discussed whether a person should bear and carry their sin/wrongs through out their entire life.