Student Question
What is the ending of "The Happy Prince" by Oscar Wilde?
Quick answer:
The ending of "The Happy Prince" by Oscar Wilde features angels bringing the swallow and the leaden heart of the prince's statue to God, who declares they will live forever in His "city of gold." This symbolizes the continuation of class distinctions and subordination, as Wilde critiques the persistent selfishness and wastefulness of the upper class, despite the prince's sacrifices.
Oscar Wilde's short story "The Happy Prince" is a
satire commenting on social class
distinctions and the wastefulness and
selfishness of the upper class, particularly
the nobility. The story features a statue of a deceased prince made of gold
leafing and decorated in gem stones. When the prince was alive, he was called
the Happy Prince, so the statue is also called the Happy Prince in his death.
However, as the statue explains to the nesting swallow, the Happy Prince was
not truly happy in life and is absolutely miserable now that
he has been able to observe life.
As the statue explains to the swallow while weeping, when he was alive he was kept confined to the palace and the garden. He was surrounded by beauty and spent his days playing and dancing. His courtiers called him the Happy Prince, and at the time he believed he...
Unlock
This Answer NowStart your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
was happy because he thought that happiness was nothing more than feeling "pleasure." However, now that he is a statue perched high above the city, he "can see all of the ugliness and all of the misery of [his] city" and cannot keep from weeping.Seeing all of
the misery makes him realize that true happiness is
not just a feeling of pleasure, it's the ability to
overcomemisery.
He then sets out to overcome all of the misery and poverty found in his city by
having the swallow bring bits of the statue to the people. He asks the sparrow
to bring his ruby to the queen's warn seamstress who has an ill son, one of his
sapphires to the poor playwright starving in his garret, his other sapphire to
the poor match-girl, and all of his leaves of gold to the rest of the poor in
the city.
Yet, sadly all of the statue's sacrifices have no
permanent effect since the upper class continue to act in their
selfishness and the sparrow who helped the statue dies. We see evidence of the
upper class continuing in their blind, selfish ways when the art professor at
the University declares the statue must be taken down because if "he is no
longer beautiful he is no longer useful." Further evidence of the
continuation of selfishness is seen when all of the Town
Councillors declare that statues of all of them should be made instead, which
would be a waste of money.
The short story ends with angels of God bringing to God the
two most precious things in the city, the swallow and the leaden heart of the
prince's statue. God declares that both the bird and the prince shall live
forever in God's "city of gold," praising God. Yet since the story ends with
the swallow and the prince being in subordination to God and
praising God for his beauty, just as the townspeople praised
the statue of the wealthy prince, we see that Wilde is showing us that the
cycle of class distinction and subordination
has not ended and will not end because it is far too deeply
ingrained in society.