Comparing The Stolen Bacillus and The Nightingale and the Rose

The Nightingale and the Rose like The Stolen Bacillus goes straight in to the story from the beginning - they have no introduction which is probably the best way to start short stories, to grab the readers attention right from the beginning. The young student is sulking over a girl, the girl will only dance with him if he gives her a red rose but there is, "No red rose in all my garden!" The reader can tell from the beginning that the young student is well educated, "all the secrets of philosophy are mine". Also the language of this story, compared to the Stolen Bacillus, is more complex especially the speech of the young student, "yet for want of a red rose is my life made wretched." The Nightingale and the Rose is sometimes written like a fairytale and would appeal more to a younger audience whereas the Stolen Bacillus would appeal to an older audience. The nightingale over-hears the young student and, "understood the secret of the Student's sorrow," the nightingale refers to the young student as "a true lover" and then later when he hears more, "the true lover" as if the bird has been waiting for the true lover. The young student is so optimistic that if he finds a rose then the girl will dance with him. Because he is in so much love he is oblivious to the fact that the girl may have just said that to keep the young student quiet. The boy is optimistic like the anarchist was optimistic that if he got the bacillus he had the power to wipe out the city. The young student almost drifts off in to dreams about the girl and himself dancing but every dream ends with the fact that he has, "no rose to give her" this emphasises how much he wants to dance with the girl and therefore how much he needs the rose. This repetition of certain lines is similar to the repetition of the word, "death" in the Stolen Bacillus, both writers use similar techniques to create similar effects. The nightingale really did feel for the young student's, "mystery of Love" and felt it was his duty to do something about it. The nightingale went to three different rose trees, (showing that the bird will go to great lengths to get a red rose) the first two trees said that it was impossible to make a red rose. The third tree said that there was a way "but it is so terrible that I dare not tell it to you" to which the bird replied, "I am not afraid" this again shows the determination the bird has to get a red rose. To got the red rose the nightingale, "must build it out of music by moonlight, and stain it with your own heart's-blood" implying that the bird must sacrifice its life to get the red rose.

When the bacteriologist realises that the bacillus is missing he cries out, "Blue ruin!" here he knows more than the audience does at this point. H. G. Wells then creates a comical image of the bacteriologist "hatless, in his carpet slippers" running down the street, Minnie thinks, "he has gone mad!" A lot of humour is made out of Minnie wondering why her husband is, "running about London - in the height of season, too - in his socks!" The anarchist is in a cab trying to escape from the bacteriologist, also in a cab, is being followed by Minnie in another cab, all of them speeding down the road one after another. Other people on the streets are seeing this and thinking that they are, "blooming lunatics" the way these people speak make the situation even more humorous for the reader, for example, "Ain't he a-clawing out of the keb?" The anarchist then accidentally breaks the test tube and decides to drink the "cholera" he looks on the bright side and says that he, "shall be a Martyr" and that "he would not fail" although it is ironic because in the end he does fail. Even after the anarchist has drunk the "cholera poison" the writer still makes the reader think that it is dangerous by saying it made his, "head felt queer" and its, "rapid stuff" this keeps the reader interested. The anarchist then tells the bacteriologist that he has drunk it. The bacteriologist smiled which is not how you would expect him to react. The anarchist walks off and Minnie arrives with the bacteriologist's coat. The bacteriologist explains to Minnie that the bacillus was only to make the victim turn blue, this is the twist in the story. Near the end the bacteriologist makes a pun that the anarchist could, "have made things turn blue for the civilised city."

In The nightingale and the Rose the nightingale weighs up whether to self-sacrifice or not, "death is a great price to pay for a rose," but in the end she decides that, "Love is better than Life". The nightingale takes one last look at the young student and sings to him. Ironically, the young student says that the nightingale, "would not sacrifice herself for others", Wells also used irony in his story. As night begins the nightingale presses her breast against the thorn of the tree and starts singing. A rose blossoms but it is not red it is white so the bird has to "press closer against the thorn" to make it red. The nightingale has to press harder and harder and the writer shows the pain the nightingale is receiving by repeating words, "Bitter, bitter was the pain, and wilder and wilder grew her song". Eventually the red rose is finished but by this time the nightingale has died. When the young student wakens in the morning and sees the red rose he can't believe it. He picks the rose straight away and finds the professor's daughter. But the girl is not pleased, she makes up a pathetic excuse, "it will not go with my dress," she also says something completely opposite to what the nightingale had said at the beginning, she said, "jewels cost far more than flowers." The bird referring to the rose as a symbol of love had said, "it is more precious than emeralds, and dearer than fine opals". The young student then throws the rose (which is all that is left of the nightingale) on to the road which is run over by a cart-wheel. The girl calls the young student as being, "only a student" as if he is not worth anything. The young student then says "what a silly thing Love is" which is also contradicting what the bird said at the beginning. The young student then reverts back to studying as if nothing has happened, as if he was ungrateful of what the bird has done for his love.

Both the sacrifices were pretty pointless sacrifices because in the Stolen Bacillus the anarchist does not achieve his goal (which was to wipe out the city) instead he turned green, and in the Nightingale and the Rose the bird had sacrificed its life for love, but no love came of it, in fact, less love came of it because the young student realised what a silly thing love is. The anarchist sacrificed his life so that bad things could come of it but no bad things did, the nightingale sacrificed its life so that good could come of it but instead bad things did.

Although The Nightingale and the Rose was a very sad, touching story with complex language I think I preferred the humorous and interesting story of the Stolen Bacillus because of its realism.

James Robertson 10S