The Nightingale and the rose contains a main character that undergoes the hardship. How does Oscar Wilde sympathise with the Nightingale?

“The Nightingale and the Rose” contains a character that undergoes hardship. Oscar Wilde makes us sympathise with the Nightingale by clever use of situation and language. “The Nightingale and the rose” is set in a fairytale style genre; this also helps create sympathy for the Nightingale.

In “The Nightingale and the Rose”, the Student needs a red rose because “If I bring her a red rose she will dance with me till dawn. If I bring her a red rose, I shall hold her in my arms” this shows us that the student desires to be with her, and really wants a red rose. “But there is no red rose in my garden” this creates sympathy for the student because he wishes to be with her but without a red rose she shall not go with him to the dance. The Nightingale overhears the student speaking, and feels he is a “true lover”, the Nightingale believes the student is a true romantic and believes in true love. The nightingale feels sympathy for the student and goes to find him a red rose. The nightingale must sacrifice her own life for a red rose. The nightingale thinks and decides that “love is better than life, and what is the heart of a bird compared to the heart of a man”. This shows that the nightingale is a kind-hearted bird and is willing to sacrifice her own life for true love. This creates more sympathy because the reader feels sorrow for the nightingale.

In “The Nightingale and the Rose”, the Nightingale is the main character. The Nightingale is a likeable character, she is unselfish, kind, nice, she is self-sacrificing and she is a true believer of true love. This creates more sympathy because when she sacrifices herself it makes us sad because she was such a kind creature.

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The Student is another main character in the story. At the beginning of the story we feel sympathy for the student as he weeps for a red rose, so that he can go to the prince’s ball with the girl. The student is so upset about the red rose that the nightingale believes he is a true lover. This strengthens the sympathy we feel for the nightingale because she is helping the student because she believes in love and no other reason. In the end the student does not go to the prince's ball with the girl. We feel even more sympathy for the nightingale at this point because she sacrificed herself for nothing because the student and the girl do not go the Prince’s ball in the end. Also our feelings towards the student change because the nightingale died for the rose and “he threw the rose into the street, where it fell into the gutter, and a cartwheel went over it.” Again this increases the sympathy we feel for the nightingale because that rose is like a symbol of the nightingale’s life and beliefs of true love and it is thrown angrily into the gutter.

Other Characters in “The Nightingale and the Rose” are mostly all creatures (plants and animals). All the other characters except the Oak-tree don’t understand the Nightingales sacrifice. They do not appreciate the Nightingales sacrifice. Only the Oak-tree understands the Nightingales sacrifice, the Oak-tree will miss the Nightingale and asks her to sing him one last song before she goes, and this makes us feel sad for the Oak-tree and the Nightingale because they are friends and they will miss each other.

“The Nightingale and the Rose” is written in fairy tale genre, but it is not a typical fairy tale because it doesn’t have a happy ending. The Nightingale and the rose has the rules of three: three rose bushes, and three songs. It also uses Anthropomorphism (A form of non-humans so that they have human characteristics); use of this is common in fairy tales. The story involves love, it involves magical elements, the story is a “Quest” for the Nightingale, and it has good/bad characters. But the nightingale and the rose is not a typical fairy tale because it does NOT have a happy ending. This creates sympathy because people expect a fairy tale to have a happy ending but when this ends unhappily, it is kind of shocking and creates sorrow for the nightingale when we realise that her sacrifice was meaningless to the student.

In Conclusion, Oscar Wilde creates sympathy by using Phrases and words, fairy tale features and by clever use of situation.