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A Summary and Analysis of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Happy Prince’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Of Oscar Wilde’s various short works for children, ‘The Happy Prince’ (1888) occupies a special place as his signature tale, and is perhaps Wilde’s definitive statement about the relationship between inner and outer beauty. ‘The Happy Prince’ is a sad tale that clearly owes much to earlier fairy stories, especially the tales of Hans Christian Andersen. However, it is also a typically Wildean story.

You can read ‘The Happy Prince’ in full here . Below, we offer a shorter summary of the plot of this tale, followed by an analysis of the story’s meaning.

  ‘The Happy Prince’: summary

The Happy Prince of the story’s title refers to a statue, made of lead but painted all over with gold. The statue’s eyes are sapphires, and in the hilt of the sword he holds is a bright red ruby. The statue stands high above a city, and is admired by those who live there because he looks happy and ‘like an angel’.

One night, a Swallow flies over the city, having stayed behind in northern Europe when his friends flew south to Egypt for the winter. The Swallow had stayed behind for love: he is in love with a Reed he had met in the spring. However, he begins to tire of the Reed, because she flirts with the wind every time it blows, and when he asks her if she will come away with him, she appears to shake her head.

The Swallow flies south, stopping the following night to rest. It just so happens that he arrives at the city where the statue of the Happy Prince is located. He decides to sleep underneath the statue of the Happy Prince that night, but when the statue starts to cry on him, he strikes up a conversation with it.

It turns out the Happy Prince isn’t so happy. In life, he had been a wealthy and privileged man who had been sheltered from the misery and hardship of ordinary people in the city. Only in death, when he became this statue looking down on the city and its inhabitants, has he come to realise how many people suffer and struggle.

He tells the Swallow to take the ruby from his sword hilt and deliver it to a poor seamstress whose son is ill. The Swallow reluctantly agrees. When he returns, he tells the Happy Prince what he has done and that he feels warm, even though the air is cold. The Happy Prince tells him that he has been warmed inside because he has done a good deed.

The next day, the Swallow prepares to bid the Happy Prince farewell as he must fly to Egypt to join his friends. But the Happy Prince persuades him to take the sapphire out of one of his eye sockets and take it to the poor young man who is so poor he is freezing in his garret and cannot finish the play he is writing. Once again, the Swallow does as the statue requests – though again, he does so reluctantly, this time because he doesn’t want to rob the Happy Prince of one of his eyes.

The next day, the Swallow once again says he must leave the Happy Prince and fly to Egypt, but the Happy Prince persuades the Swallow to remove the other sapphire from his eye socket and take it to little match girl who has dropped her matches in the gutter and will be beaten if she returns home empty-handed. The Swallow doesn’t want to remove the statue’s second sapphire because it will leave the Happy Prince blind, but the Prince insists.

Finally, the Happy Prince, having heard from the Swallow that children are starving in the city streets, insists that the Swallow remove his gold leaf that covers him and take it to the children so they can buy food with it. When the Swallow returns, having done this deed, he grows colder and colder, and, after kissing the Happy Prince on the lips, he drops down dead at his feet.

The Prince dies from a broken heart. The next day, the Mayor and his Town Councillors notice the lead statue without its gold coating and its jewels, and remark how ugly it looks. They also notice the dead Swallow at the foot of the statue, but express nothing but contempt for the dead bird. They have the statue of the Happy Prince torn down and decide that the lead will be melted down to make a new statue (of one of the Councillors, naturally).

But God, watching from heaven, tells one of his Angels to bring him the two most precious things in the city. The Angel brings him the lead heart from the Happy Prince (which wouldn’t melt when the rest of the statue was melted down) and the body of the dead Swallow who loved the Happy Prince. God announces that the bird will song in heaven for evermore, and the Happy Prince will praise God in his ‘city of gold’.

‘The Happy Prince’: analysis

‘The Happy Prince’ was written several years before Oscar Wilde wrote his one novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), but in some ways it might be viewed as a fairy-tale version of that later Gothic narrative, but with the central conceit inverted.

Whereas Dorian Gray will remain outwardly beautiful while he commits foul and evil deeds (because his portrait, kept out of sight in the attic, turns grotesquely ugly while Dorian Gray the man remains young and handsome), the Happy Prince loses his outward beauty as he commits more and more generous and selfless acts. (We have analysed  The Picture of Dorian Gray  here .)

Indeed, the Happy Prince achieves spiritual beauty, as the last words in the story – spoken by God himself – attest. And although some critics have detected undercurrents of male love in the burgeoning friendship between the Swallow and the Happy Prince (who are both male, and share a kiss before they both die), this is a love between kindred spirits, two souls selflessly helping others.

The Swallow agrees to help the Happy Prince because he loves him, and the Happy Prince wants to give up his gold and his jewels out of compassion for the poor and downtrodden of the city.

‘The Happy Prince’ has been dramatised on many occasions, and remains one of Oscar Wilde’s best-known works – perhaps his best-loved short story. Bing Crosby and Orson Welles, those giants of Hollywood, even tried to make it into a musical extravaganza, though not with any real success.

Wilde himself once said that this and his other fairy stories were ‘an attempt to mirror modern life in a form remote from reality – to deal with modern problems in a mode that is ideal and not imitative’.

In some ways, we might regard ‘The Happy Prince’ as a combination of Hans Christian Andersen’s wistfully tragic fairy tales and Charles Dickens’s social problem novels about child poverty. But these influences find themselves combined with a peculiarly Wildean attitude to life and art: the statue must lose its outward beauty to be truly useful to society.

5 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Happy Prince’”

The recent superb film The Happy Prince about Wilde’s latter years is titled ironically I think. Bravo to Rupert Everett ! The best Wilde on screen

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Fascinating how political attitudes appear in fairy tales. I have done it myself in my latest book, “Penny Down the Drain”where the characters try to clean up the oceans and take care of the land and will do so again when the next book comes out as it has an epidemic in it! It might be fantasy but reality intrudes.

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Home › British Literature › Analysis of Oscar Wilde’s The Happy Prince

Analysis of Oscar Wilde’s The Happy Prince

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on September 21, 2022

Arguably the most popular of Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales, “The Happy Prince” is the first story in The Happy Prince and Other Tales , which was published in 1888. The narrative, which has been favorably compared to the work of Hans Christian Andersen and Andrew Lang, tells of the transformation of a swallow and a young prince.

The story begins with the swallow’s decision to leave his earthbound wife, a reed, to join his fellow birds in Egypt. Having waited in the hope that his wife would accompany him, the bird migrates alone. After a day’s flight, he seeks shelter from the elements beneath the bejeweled statue of a young man and falls asleep. Falling water awakens the swallow, who finds that the annoying moisture is not rain but teardrops from the statue’s sapphire eyes. The beautiful prince explains that he grew up removed from ordinary concerns in the palace of Sans Souci and knew only human happiness; however, since he was now outside that cultivated environment, he saw the grief of the people he had ruled and wept for their sorrows, despite having a leaden heart.

The swallow becomes, reluctantly, the prince’s messenger. The bird takes the rubies that adorn the prince’s sword to a seamstress whose son is ill, delivers the prince’s sapphire eyes to a poet starving in a garret, and gives the gold leaf that covers the statue to the poor of the city. Eventually, however, the bird dies in the cold, and the statue of the prince grows shabby. The mayor tears down the statue and has it melted for a new monument. As the mayor and the town councillors squabble over which of them deserves the honor, a workman notices that the leaden heart has not melted and discards it. An angel from heaven finds the dead bird and the rejected heart to be the most valuable items in the city, and God grants the bird and the prince eternal life in the garden of paradise.

The fairy tale, whose moralism seems antithetical to Wilde’s aesthetic, is consistent with Wilde’s sense of art. The genre, which may seem as simple as the lines of an Oriental drawing, has additionally a self-contained beauty: complete in itself and internally balanced. Paradoxically, the form presents truth without a slavish imitation of real life.

Short narrative, and the fairy story in particular, seem well suited to Wilde’s talent as a raconteur: These forms are compact and to the point, and they can blend sheer delight with surprising depth. Some critics, however, see Wilde’s success as a teller of fairy tales (whatever their appeal to an adult audience) as a symptom of his emotional immaturity. Another view might be that Wilde was playing with his audience in presenting a serious message for adults in a seemingly frivolous form for children.

Paradox is an important element in “The Happy Prince.” Although the statue has a heart of lead, it is purer than the gold leaf that clothes the body of the statue, and the prince’s artificial heart is more sympathetic than the human hearts within the presumably democratic leaders of the town. The metal heart is closer to the biblical heart of fl esh than the living prince’s heart was. The prince has a greater beauty after stripping himself of his outward attractions; the nobility of his soul is greater than that of his blood. The allegedly democratic rulers of the town, the mayor and the council, lack that inherent nobility of action and show less concern for the poor than does the aristocratic prince. Finally, the two most precious items in the city are on a dust heap; they seem to the inhabitants to be useless now that they have been used to improve the lot of the poor. All the good the prince and the swallow have done seems to have been for nothing, but it earns them a great reward.

Christian commentators on the story have seen the prince as a Christ figure who empties himself as a sacrifice for others. These critics also see “The Happy Prince” as a fable of a transformation from selfish interest to agape, the highest form of love. The prince has been aware only of aesthetic beauty; the bird cares only for himself. The sight of the unfortunate brings them to express a generalized love for humanity fully and unselfishly. Like Christ, the prince ultimately dies for his people.

Some have seen in this story a blend of Pater’s valuation of ancient Greek ideals with Christian principles. The emphasis on physical beauty comes from Pater’s thought, while the later emphasis on spiritual beauty comes from Christianity. Other recent commentators have focused on the elements of the story that seem to express Wilde’s sexual preference, and some look at the tale as a coded coming out. The fact that the swallow leaves his wife and keeps the company of a handsome young man has received emphasis and attention, as has the fact that none of the marriages in The Happy Prince and Other Tales produce offspring. Queer theorists see childless marriages in literature as a way of masking homosexual union, and other scholars have seen in the friendship between the prince and the swallow a veiled but unmistakable indication of sexual preference. They class this story with other Victorian literature in which strong same-sex friendship is a cover for homosexual love. The emphasis on the aesthetic beauty of the prince’s statue and the growing sensitivity of the prince are also seen as peculiarly homosexual concerns. Those who draw on Wilde’s biography note that he once remarked that his fairy stories were not just for children but also for a particular kind of adult, one who presumably could break the code.

Wilde himself, however, argued that life imitates art, rather than the reverse, and he saw in this tale a prefiguring of his transformation from the carefree, possibly careless, celebrity to the wiser and more compassionate man who emerged from Reading Gaol.

Analysis of Oscar Wilde’s Plays

BIBLIOGRAPHY Duffy, John-Charles. “Gay-Related Themes in Wilde’s Fairy Tales,” Victorian Literature and Culture 29 (2001): 327–349. Knight, G. Wilson. “Christ and Wilde.” In Oscar Wilde: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Richard Ellman, 138–149. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1969. Martin, Robert K. “Oscar Wilde and the Fairy Tale: ‘The Happy Prince’ as Self-Dramatization,” Studies in Short Fiction 16 (1979): 74–77. Wilde, Oscar. Complete Shorter Fiction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.

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Oscar Wilde online

The happy prince.

by Oscar Wilde

High above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of the Happy Prince. He was gilded all over with thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he had two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby glowed on his sword-hilt.

He was very much admired indeed. “He is as beautiful as a weathercock,” remarked one of the Town Councillors who wished to gain a reputation for having artistic tastes; “only not quite so useful,” he added, fearing lest people should think him unpractical, which he really was not.

“Why can’t you be like the Happy Prince?” asked a sensible mother of her little boy who was crying for the moon. “The Happy Prince never dreams of crying for anything.”

“I am glad there is some one in the world who is quite happy,” muttered a disappointed man as he gazed at the wonderful statue.

“He looks just like an angel,” said the Charity Children as they came out of the cathedral in their bright scarlet cloaks and their clean white pinafores.

“How do you know?” said the Mathematical Master, “you have never seen one.”

“Ah! but we have, in our dreams,” answered the children; and the Mathematical Master frowned and looked very severe, for he did not approve of children dreaming.

One night there flew over the city a little Swallow. His friends had gone away to Egypt six weeks before, but he had stayed behind, for he was in love with the most beautiful Reed. He had met her early in the spring as he was flying down the river after a big yellow moth, and had been so attracted by her slender waist that he had stopped to talk to her.

“Shall I love you?” said the Swallow, who liked to come to the point at once, and the Reed made him a low bow. So he flew round and round her, touching the water with his wings, and making silver ripples. This was his courtship, and it lasted all through the summer.

“It is a ridiculous attachment,” twittered the other Swallows; “she has no money, and far too many relations”; and indeed the river was quite full of Reeds. Then, when the autumn came they all flew away.

After they had gone he felt lonely, and began to tire of his lady-love. “She has no conversation,” he said, “and I am afraid that she is a coquette, for she is always flirting with the wind.” And certainly, whenever the wind blew, the Reed made the most graceful curtseys. “I admit that she is domestic,” he continued, “but I love travelling, and my wife, consequently, should love travelling also.”

“Will you come away with me?” he said finally to her; but the Reed shook her head, she was so attached to her home.

“You have been trifling with me,” he cried. “I am off to the Pyramids. Good-bye!” and he flew away.

All day long he flew, and at night-time he arrived at the city. “Where shall I put up?” he said; “I hope the town has made preparations.”

Then he saw the statue on the tall column.

“I will put up there,” he cried; “it is a fine position, with plenty of fresh air.” So he alighted just between the feet of the Happy Prince.

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The Happy Prince Summary Analysis and Explanation By Oscar Wilde

Students can also check  English Summary  to revise with them during exam preparation.

The Happy Prince Summary Analysis and Explanation

About the Poet Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an Anglo-Irish playwright, novelist, poet, and critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest playwrights of the Victorian Era. In his lifetime he wrote nine plays, one novel, and numerous poems, short stories, and essays.

The Happy Prince Oscar Wilde Summary

The Happy Prince Summary Introduction The Happy Prince is a story by Oscar Wilde. It is about the story of a statue, the Happy Prince, covered with gold and many fine jewels. It sits overlooking the city. One day a swallow bird seeks shelter under the statue and discovers the prince not happy, but sad.

The bird becomes friendly with the prince and tries to make him happy by assisting him in his desire to ease the suffering of others. It plucks out the ruby, the sapphire and other fine jewels from the statue and delivers them to those who are poor and needy.

The Happy Prince Short Story Summary of the Lesson

The story of the Happy Prince dwells upon the themes like social injustice, redemptive power of love and the loss of innocence. In this story, we come across a statue, who, at one time, a real Prince. When the Prince was alive, he was a happy person. He lived in the palace and did not know about human suffering. His life was full of joys. Upon his death, his statue was built at the top of a tall column in the city.

The statue was covered all over with thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he had two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby glowed on his sword-hilt. The statue of the Happy Prince looked beautiful and everyone in the city loved to see their Prince. Since he was placed high above the city, on a tall column, the Prince was able to witness all the sorrows and sufferings which the common people faced in their daily life.

But the Prince remained ignorant of them during his lifetime. This made the Prince, once happy, very sad. His eyes got watered and large drops of tears began to run down his golden cheeks. A little swallow, who had alighted between the feet of the Happy Prince to spend the night there, became curious to know where did the drops of water fall from. He looked up and saw the eyes of the Happy Prince full of tears.

The bird took pity on the Prince and became ready to assist him in his desire to ease the sufferings of the common people. He became the messenger of the Prince and agreed to remove the fine gold and jewels from his statue to distribute them among the poor and the needy.

He started with plucking the ruby from the Prince’s sword and giving it to the seamstress who had no money to feed her ailing child. Then he plucked a sapphire from one of the eyes of the statue and gave it to the playwright who was too poor to make fire in the winter to continue his writing. He was also very hungry and feeling weak.

One day, the Prince saw a match girl who was being beaten by her father for letting her matches fall in the gutter. The Prince’s heart filled with pity for the girl. He immediately commanded the swallow to pluck out his other eye and help the girl.

But the swallow was not ready to do so because this would make the Prince completely blind. On being insisted, he plucked out the Prince’s other eye, swooped past the match girl, and slipped the jewel ‘ into the palm of her hand. The little bird decided not to leave the company of the Happy Prince who had gone blind now. Although the Prince was not able to see the sorrows or sufferings any more, he knew it was there. So he instructed the bird to take off the fine gold he was covered with and give it to the poor.

The bird followed his words and picked off leaf after leaf of the gold, till the Happy Prince looked quite dull and grey. Then the snow came and the poor little swallow grew older and colder. But he did not leave the Prince. Eventually, he grew weak and died from exposure and exhaustion. Just at that moment a curious crack sounded inside the statue, as if something had broken.

It was, in fact, the leaden heart that had snapped right in two at the loss of the sweet and kind swallow. The statue was no more beautiful and useful. It stood deserted. So, the Town Councillors and the Mayor pulled it down. Then they melted the statue in a furnace but the broken heart did not melt. So, they threw it on a dust-heap where the dead swallow was lying.

When God asked one of His Angels to bring the two most precious things in the city, the Angel brought him the leaden heart and the dead bird. God welcomed the two in His garden of Paradise and deemed them beautiful creations.

What is the summary of the chapter The Happy Prince class 9?

The Happy Prince gave a ruby for a poor seamstress. He gave a sapphire for a playwright and another sapphire for a match girl. The swallow carried out the prince’s wishes. He also plucked out the gold leaves from the statue and gave it to the poor.

What is the main theme of Happy Prince?

Love, compassion and sacrifice are all a part of the themes of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Happy Prince.

What is the conclusion of the Happy Prince?

The conclusion of “The Happy Prince” shows the Sparrow and the prince transported to heaven. God calls them the “most precious” objects in the city because of their good deeds. They will spend eternity in paradise.

What was done after Prince death?

So the courtiers called him the Happy Prince. But after his death, his statue was put on a high pedestal. Now he could see the misery of the people all around.

What made the Happy Prince cry?

Answer: The statue of the Happy Prince was weeping because when he had been alive, he had not known any sorrow. But after his statue had been erected, he was able to see all the ugliness and misery of the city, and even though he now had a heart of lead, he could still feel the pain, which made him cry.

What kind of story is The Happy Prince?

fantasy short story “The Happy Prince” is a fantasy short story for children by the Irish author Oscar Wilde. It was first published in the 1888 anthology The Happy Prince and Other Tales, which also contains “The Nightingale and the Rose”, “The Selfish Giant”, “The Devoted Friend” and “The Remarkable Rocket”.

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• CBSE Notes For Class 9
• Class 9 English Notes and Summary
• Supplementary Chapter 5 The Happy Prince

The Happy Prince Summary & Notes - CBSE Class 9 English Moments

Summary of the happy prince.

Chapter 5 of the Class 9 English Supplementary Reader ‘Moments’ consists of a short story titled The Happy Prince. This is a story about the statue of a prince that was studded with gems and gold leaves and a swallow who helped needy people. Read the prose summary of CBSE Class 9 English Prose Notes – The Happy Prince in CBSE English Notes Class 9 format here. We hope this summary will guide students to comprehend the meaning and moral of the story and help them prepare for their exams.

Students can also learn how to write an effective essay by going through the essays to increase marks in Class 9 English papers.

CBSE Class 9 English The Happy Prince Summary

The Happy Prince is a beautiful story written by Oscar Wilde. It is the tale of a sculpture of the Happy Prince that was covered with gold leaves and precious gems. The statue was placed at a height such that it overlooked the city from the top. One fine day, a swallow bird took shelter under the sculpture as he was flying to Egypt. He found out that the Happy Prince was not happy indeed; he was rather miserable. So, the bird asked the Prince the reason for his unhappiness. The Prince told him that when he was alive, he used to stay happy in his palace. He stayed uninformed of his people during his lifetime. When he died, his statue was erected on a tall column over the city. He became sad when he started noticing the misery and suffering of the needy people in the city.

The Prince’s sculpture was covered with gold and many precious jewels. His body was covered with gold leaves, his eyes had two splendid sapphires, and there was an enormous red ruby that was shining on his sword handle. The sculpture of the Happy Prince looked marvellous, and everyone praised the beauty of the statue. When the bird saw the Prince’s eyes filled with tears upon seeing the misery of the people, he decided to become the messenger of the Prince to make him happy again. This made the Prince glad. At first, the Prince asked the swallow to take the ruby from his sword and give it to the needy seamstress who had no money to take care of her ailing son. The bird did as commanded. The Prince asked the little bird to stay and help him as he could not move from that place. On another occasion, the Prince asked the bird to take out one sapphire from his eye and offer it to the poor dramatist who could not afford to make a fire during winter to proceed with his composition. The playwright was feeling very weak and hungry such that he could not finish his play to deliver it to the producer on time. The bird followed the Prince’s instructions.

One day, the Prince noticed a match girl who was ruthlessly beaten by her father for allowing her matches to fall into the canal. The Prince’s heart was filled with pain, and he promptly asked the swallow to pluck out his other eye and help the young lady. However, the swallow was unwilling to do so as this would make the Prince totally visually impaired. But the Prince insisted, and the swallow plucked it and dipped past the match girl and slipped the gem into the palm of her hand. Thereafter, the compassionate bird chose not to leave the Prince, who was completely blind at this point.

Despite the fact that the Prince couldn’t see the distress or suffering of the people anymore, the bird stayed with the Prince. Upon the instructions of the Prince, the swallow removed the fine gold leaves from his body and offered them to the poor people. The bird obediently followed the Prince’s words and took out leaf after leaf of gold till the Happy Prince looked very dull and sombre. Soon, winter came. There was snow everywhere, and the bird became colder and colder. Despite being weary and cold, he didn’t leave the Prince. Eventually, he became frail and died from exhaustion. Just then, there was a sudden curious crack that came from inside the sculpture as though something had broken.

It was, indeed, the leaden heart of the Prince that had snapped directly in two pieces at the sudden demise of the sweet and kind swallow. The sculpture was, therefore, no longer valuable and beautiful. It stood abandoned. When the Mayor and the Town Councillors saw the dull statue of the Prince, they pulled it down. Soon after, they melted the sculpture in a furnace, yet the broken heart didn’t melt. Thus, it was rendered useless for them, so they discarded it where the dead swallow was lying.

Soon, God requested one of His Angels to bring the two most valuable things to the city. The Angel brought the leaden heart of the Prince and the dead swallow. God warmly welcomed the two beings in His garden of Paradise and regarded them as His charming creations.

Conclusion of The Happy Prince

The chapter – The Happy Prince teaches us that we should show compassion towards the needy and help them in every little way we can. Here, we brought you the CBSE Class 9 English Moments Prose Summary of The Happy Prince that will aid young students in getting a thorough understanding of the story.

Besides, BYJU’S offers other resources such as CBSE Notes and CBSE study materials . They can download BYJU’S – The Learning App and can access CBSE sample papers and several years’ question papers.

Frequently Asked Questions on CBSE Class 9 English: The Happy Prince

Who was oscar wilde.

Oscar Wilde was an Irish wit, poet and dramatist. He was born in the year 1854 in Dubin, Ireland.

What were Oscar Wilde’s thoughts about death?

1. To have no yesterday and no tomorrow. 2. To forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace.

What is compassion?

Compassion literally means ‘to suffer together’ or to simply pity someone who is in pain.

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The Happy Prince: Summary and Analysis: 2022

The Happy Prince is a beautiful story by Oscar Wilde. It tells the story of a statue of a Prince that was studded with gems and gold leaves. It also had a swallow that helped needy people.

The Happy Prince Summary

There was a statue of the Happy Prince, and it stood high. It was decorated with delicate gold leaves. There was sapphire in his eye and ruby on his sword. A swallow was flying over the city to Egypt and decided to rest on the statue. Drops of water fell on the swallow, and he saw that the prince’s eyes had tears in them. The swallow asked the reason the prince wept. The prince told him that when he lived, he lived in a palace where sorrow was not allowed to enter, and since his death, he can only see the horror of the city. He sees a woman doing embroidery, while her child is sick and has nothing to eat. He asks the swallow to give the woman the ruby from his sword. The swallow did that and decided to stay with the prince for a night.

The prince asked the swallow to stay another night. He told him that he saw a man who was too cold to write the play and asked the swallow to give him the sapphire from his eye. He asked the swallow the give the other sapphire to the crying girl who destroyed all her matches. The swallow told the prince that he would stay with him because he was now blind.

The following day, the prince asked the swallow to fly over the city and inform him of the happenings. The swallow saw the rich enjoying their beautiful houses while the poor were sad and hungry. He plucked the gold leaves and distributed them to the poor. The prince now looked dull and grey. The poor of the city were happy and had bread to eat. There was snow everywhere and the swallow was very cold. He thought he would die soon and asked the prince to kiss him. After that, the swallow died.

The following day, the mayor observed how shabby the statue looked and the councilors agreed. The mayor proclaimed that birds were not allowed to die there. They pulled the statue down and melted it. However, the prince’s heart did not melt. They threw it in the garbage pool with the dead bird.

When God asked the Angel to bring the most precious things from the city, the Angel got him the leaden heart and the dead bird. God praised his choice and announced that the bird would sing in the garden of Paradise, and the prince would praise him.

The Happy Prince Analysis

The story is about a prince’s statue and a swallow who sacrificed their lives to help the poor and needy. The statue named the Happy Prince was covered in gold, had sapphires for eyes, and ruby in his sword. The Happy Prince saw the people’s sufferings but could not move and help them. One day, a swallow who was on his way to Egypt landed on the statue and found it weeping. He was full of pity and asked why the Happy Prince was crying. He replied that he could see people in hunger and wished to help them and asked the swallow for a favor. The Happy Prince helped a seamstress by sending his ruby through the bird and then requested the bird to take out the sapphire from his eyes and give it to the playwright, who was about to faint out of the cold and hunger. He sent the other sapphire to the match girl. The Happy Prince was now blind. The swallow stayed with him and helped him take gold off and give it to the poor. The swallow could not survive and died. This led to the statue’s heart breaking into two. The next day, the Mayor ordered to pull the statue down and melted. The leaden heart could not be melted in a heap of dust, where the dead swallow lay.

God ordered that the Angel carried them from the city and praised the Angel for choosing the leaden heart and the Swallow. God said that the bird would forever sing in his garden of Paradise, and the Happy Prince would praise him in his city of gold.

The Happy Prince Theme

The story is based on the theme that one should always show compassion to the needy and help them. One must always spread happiness around if they wish to be happy. The Happy Prince could be happy only when sorrow did not enter his palace. The pain and suffering made his lead heart cry. The story says that one can overcome disparity and sorrow with passion and generosity.

The Happy Prince Character Sketch

The swallow is kind and polite. He had to go to Egypt but stayed back on the prince’s requests. He helped the prince distribute his jewels among the poor and needy. He was compassionate and refused to remove the sapphires because it was the prince’s eyes. He chose to stay with the prince and braved the cold and hunger until his last breath.

The Happy Prince was a statue that was decorated with gold, sapphire, and ruby. He could see the sorrow of the people, and it made him sad. He wept because he was helpless and requested the swallow to help him. He was generous and gave away all of his jewels to help the needy. He loved the swallow and could not bear separation from it. 

The Happy Prince Analysis Key Points

The story is about the Happy Prince and a swallow, who help the poor and the downtrodden in society. It gives the message that one should be sensitive to the people in suffering and help them. The story brings forward the virtues of kindness and pity and talks about sacrifice. The Happy Prince chose to give up his stones, but he retained his glory.

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The Happy Prince Themes by Oscar Wilde

Table of Contents

The central theme of the story is affection. The affection that the Prince feels for his people is taken forward by the Swallow. The affection between Swallow and the Prince develops into a full-blown romance.

Even though the Swallow wants to leave the place, it is bound by this love and the growing warmth toward the needy people of the city. It also has a brief love spell with a colorful Reed, a misadventure that ends in heartbreak. Though platonic in nature there love is romanticized in the story.

The central object of the story is the statue of Prince which is bejeweled and decorated with the most expensive of objects. This wealth is equated with happiness but is a form of shallow and deceitful existence.

The Prince himself feels appalled at the state of the poor in his city. The story is full of examples where a person is suffering at the hands of the greed of rich and entitled people like young girls or old seamstress.

For people in abject poverty, even gemstones are not as valuable as ration or food. Beauty in itself is valued differently by people in different circumstances. The statue itself is discarded once it loses its gems, a sign of the importance that is put on the appearance of beauty.

The story juxtaposes the lavish wealth of the kings with the abject poverty of the subjects. It highlights the sheer difference in the quality of life and opportunities to improve them between the privileged and the unfortunate.

The portrayal of the masses as victims of the greed of the rich is contrasted with the arrogance of the rich to turn a blind eye to the scarcity of the poor. The decorated statue of the Prince is contrasted with the broken leaden heart inside of it.

There is a clear reference to the religious figures like Jesus Christ in the portrayal of Prince who suffers to ease the pain of others. The values of charity and altruism are expounded through his character.

Also, there is an element of idol worship with statue beings the objects of reverence. There is a reference to Jewish money arguing over money also.

In the end, there is an introduction to God and his angel who is sent to the city to collect valuable artifacts. There is an appreciation of Christianity on one hand whereas the critique of others.

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The Happy Prince By Oscar Wild: Summary Themes Message

• Post category: NCERT Class 9 English

The Happy Prince By Oscar Wild: Summary Themes Message: In this article you would find notes based on the story “The happy Prince” including short and long summary, themes and message of the story. You can click here for study materials for class 9 English.

“The Happy Prince” is a poignant and allegorical tale written by Oscar Wilde. The story is set in a city where a beautiful statue of a prince, once a wealthy and pampered young man, stands adorned with gold and precious jewels. After his death, his spirit resides in the statue.

One day, a swallow, en route to Egypt, seeks shelter under the statue. The swallow’s compassionate heart prompts it to stay and help the needy in the city. The Happy Prince, deeply moved by the suffering he observes, instructs the swallow to distribute his gold and jewels to the poor. The selfless bird complies, helping the city’s downtrodden despite the challenges of cold weather and diminishing strength.

The Happy Prince’s kindness knows no bounds. He even sacrifices his eyes and the leaden heart to help a poor playwright, a sick child, and a matchgirl. The swallow, weakened and nearing death, remains loyal to the prince. When the swallow dies, God rewards its selflessness by allowing it to sing eternally in paradise.

Upon seeing the deteriorated statue, the city officials remove it, considering it no longer beautiful. However, God recognizes the true worth of the Happy Prince’s sacrifices. He deems the leaden heart and the dead swallow the city’s most precious possessions. The swallow’s loyalty earns it a place in God’s paradise, and the Happy Prince is allowed to praise God eternally in a heavenly city of gold.

The story beautifully illustrates themes of compassion, sacrifice, and the true meaning of beauty, highlighting the selflessness of the Happy Prince and the devoted swallow.

Long Summary

• The story is set in a city where a magnificent statue of a prince, once a living ruler, stands tall.
• The statue is adorned with gold and precious jewels, symbolizing the prince’s former wealth and luxury.

Characters:

The Happy Prince:

• A statue of a prince, whose spirit resides within it after his death.
• Initially, he is adorned with gold, sapphires for eyes, and a ruby on his sword hilt.

The Swallow:

• A kind and selfless bird migrating to Egypt.
• Seeks shelter under the Happy Prince and becomes his messenger to help the needy.

Plot Summary:

Introduction:

• The story begins with the introduction of the Happy Prince, a magnificent statue overlooking the city.
• A kind swallow seeks shelter under the prince’s statue, and they form a friendship.

The Prince’s Compassion:

• The Happy Prince sees the suffering of the city’s poor and becomes deeply compassionate.
• He asks the swallow to distribute his gold, jewels, and even his eyes to help the needy.

Acts of Kindness:

1. Helping the Playwright:

• The Happy Prince asks the swallow to pluck a sapphire from his eye and give it to a struggling playwright.
• The playwright sells the sapphire to buy firewood and completes his play.

2. Aiding the Sick Boy:

• The Happy Prince instructs the swallow to take a ruby from his sword hilt to help a sick child.
• The ruby is sold for food and medicine, saving the boy’s life.

3. Assisting the Matchgirl:

• The Happy Prince sacrifices his other eye (a rare sapphire) to help a matchgirl in dire straits.
• The swallow places the sapphire in her palm, allowing her to escape poverty temporarily.

Sacrifice and Loyalty:

• Despite the bitter cold and diminishing strength, the swallow remains with the Happy Prince, continuing their acts of kindness.

The Tragic End:

• The swallow, weakened and near death, shares a final moment with the prince.
• The swallow dies at the prince’s feet, and the prince’s heart breaks, signifying their shared sacrifice.

The Divine Recognition:

• God, recognizing the true value of compassion and selflessness, instructs an angel to bring Him the most precious things from the city.
• The angel brings the Happy Prince’s broken lead heart and the dead swallow.
• God praises the angel’s choice, stating that the swallow will sing in His garden of Paradise, and the Happy Prince will praise Him in His city of gold.

Compassion and Selflessness:

• The story emphasizes the importance of empathy and sacrifice for the well-being of others.
• Both the Happy Prince and the swallow demonstrate selfless acts of kindness, highlighting the theme of compassion.

Beauty and True Worth:

• The tale challenges conventional notions of beauty, portraying inner beauty derived from kindness and empathy as more valuable than external appearances.

Loyalty and Friendship:

• The enduring friendship between the Happy Prince and the swallow exemplifies loyalty and devotion, even in the face of hardship.

Sacrifice and Redemption:

• The sacrificial acts of the Happy Prince and the swallow lead to their redemption, as recognized by God in the divine reward.

Conclusion:

“The Happy Prince” is a heartfelt story that explores themes of compassion, sacrifice, and the true meaning of beauty. Through the selfless acts of the Happy Prince and the loyal swallow, the story conveys profound lessons about empathy, kindness, and the eternal value of benevolent actions.

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Story “The Happy Prince“ Important Lessons about Happiness

The article discusses the importance of understanding what happiness means to oneself in order to truly experience it. Using The Happy Prince story, the author highlights three personality traits that helped the prince achieve his happiness. These traits include being of great conscience, being inspirational, and being generous. The Happy Prince showed his conscience by facing the reality of the misery and sadness in his city. He was inspirational by persuading a little wallow to help people in the city, which in turn helped the wallow feel happiness. Finally, Happy Prince showed ultimate generosity by sacrificing his valuable possessions to help the poor. The author concludes that by developing these personality traits and considering others’ perspectives, one can learn to experience true happiness.

It is very difficult to feel the true happiness unless you realize what happiness means to you. One can earn his or her so called “ happiness “only by thinking of himself or herself in the first place whenever doing something . From the Story “ The Happy Prince “ important lessons can be learnt about happiness . I think “ Happy Prince “ truly realized his happiness through his three valuable personality traits. First, and most importantly ,happy prince is a human-being of great conscience. Having an inner sense of what is right or wrong in one’s conduct is an important trait . For The Happy Prince , this trait is the most visible .

After witnessing all the misery, sadness in his city, he admitted by saying , e. g, quote “When I was alive and had a human heart,” answered the statue, “I did not know what tears were, for I lived in the Palace of Sans-Souci, where sorrow is not allowed to enter. ” Happy Prince displayed his conscience when he finally faced the reality . Second, one of the essential personality traits that helped happy prince reach his happiness is that he was very inspirational. Inspiration comes only when you desire to achive something, similarly, in the story of Happy Prince , he persuaded a little wallow into becoming his courier and do his commandments . After doing Prince’s commands , helping people in the city . the little swallow felt inspired , quote:” It is curious . ” he remarked . “but I feel quite warm now ,although it is cold. ”

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Consequently, it is Happy Prince that inspired the swallow to feel happiness . Finally, to fulfill his true happiness , Happy Prince showed his ultimate generosity to his people in the city . Happy prince did all he can to help the poor he was willing to share his real happiness with the poor even when he had to sacrifice is valuable possessions , such as , quote: “ I am covered with fine gold,” “you must take it off , leaf by leaf, and give it to my poor; the living always think that gold can make them happy. ” In return his generosity helped him find his real happiness. In conclusion, to feel a real happiness , one should develop some form of personality traits , that is , being of conscience. , inspirational, and generous . by being committed to these traits , one can learn always to consider other people first from their perspective putting himself or herself in the situation like Happy Prince.

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The Happy Prince Questions and Answers

Table of Contents

Summary Of The Happy Prince

This is an interesting story about the statue of a Happy Prince and a little Swallow. The Prince was a sublime statue situated on a tall column high over the city. The idol was plated with fine leaves of gold and he had two brilliant sapphires settled instead of eyes. He had likewise a precious ruby settled in his sword hilt and his heart was made of lead. Every one of these things made the Happy Prince captivating.

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The Happy Prince

One night a little swallow flew there over the city. He was worn out and needed some rest. He saw Happy Prince and choose to spend the night between his feet. As he was set up to rest a large drop of water fell on him. It was interested in light of the fact that there was no cloud in the sky. Sooner or later, another drop of water fell on him. The swallow was exasperated. He chose to escape from that point to search for somewhere else for relief. Simply then the third drop of water fell on him, he gazed upward and incredibly, he saw that these were the tears overflowing from the eyes of Happy Prince.

On seeing this, the heart of the swallow was filled with pity. He asked Happy Prince who he was and for what reason, he was crying. The Happy Prince replied the swallow that he lived in the palace when he was alive and had a human heart. There was no sorrow and distress around him and his courtiers called him Happy Prince. After his passing, he had been set up on the high column. His heart is comprised of lead yet it generally sobs when he sees the ugliness and hopelessness of his city. He told the swallow that at a distance in a little street, there is a little child of a seamstress who is feeling the fever. He is crying because his mother couldn’t give him oranges to eat. He requested that the swallow giveaway his ruby to the poor lathe day when he was going to Egypt. He complied with the Happy Prince and after that, he flew and laid the ruby on the table of the poor woman.

Happy Prince then saw a writer. He was cold, moreover, he was starving. Happy Prince asked the swallow to give the writer one of the sapphires. The swallow had no wish to remove the sapphire from his eyes, but he was reluctantly obedient.

The Happy Prince then saw a match girl and her matches had fallen into the rubble. At his command, the swallow again unwillingly slaughtered the other sapphire from the Happy Prince’s other eye and the prince was now blind completely. The swallow slipped the sapphire on the palm of the match girl. After that, the Happy Prince permitted the swallow to take off to Egypt but the swallow chose to remain with the Prince who had turned blind now.

Read Also : Short Summary of The Happy Prince

Questions Of The Happy Prince

Q.Why do the courtiers call the prince ‘the Happy Prince’? Is he really happy? What does he see all around him?

Ans. The courtiers call the prince the “Happy Prince” because he lived in the palace where sorrow was not allowed to enter. He did not know what tears were and sorrow was not allowed to enter his palace. He was really happy because he was brought up in luxurious surroundings. For this reason, the courtiers called him The Happy Prince. When the prince died and his statue was set up in the city square. He could now see the reality of life from that height. He could see the misery of the poor and their pitiable condition. He could feel the pain his people were suffering from. All this left him no happier.

Q. Why does the Happy Prince send a ruby for the seamstress? What does the swallow do in the seamstress’ house?

Ans. The prince wanted the swallow to pick out the ruby from his sword-hilt and take it to the poor seamstress because he saw the poor woman’s son was seriously sick. He was crying on his bed. The boy was asking for oranges. But the woman could not afford. Therefore, the Happy Prince sent a ruby for her. The swallow put the ruby on a table and fanned the boy’s forehead with its wings.

Q. For whom does the Prince send the sapphires and why?

Ans. The prince sends one sapphire for a playwright and the other to a poor match girl. The Happy Prince saw a young playwright. He was leaning over a desk covered with papers. His hair was brown and crisp and his lips were red. He had large and dreamy eyes. He was trying to finish a play for the theatre. But he was feeling cold as there was no firewood, and hunger had made him faint. So, he could not finish the play.

The Happy Prince also saw a poor match girl. The match girl was weeping after she accidentally throws her matches into a drain. She was afraid that her parents would beat her. The Happy Prince helped both the playwright and the poor girl by sending them the sapphires.

Q. What does the swallow see when it flies over the city? Ans. When the swallow flies over the city, it sees the rich enjoying in their houses while the baggers begging at their gates. The swallow even sees two little-wretched boys lying in each other’s arms to keep themselves warm. In this way, the swallow sees the stark contrast between prosperity and poverty.

The swallow was a nice bird. He wanted to go to Egypt with his friends. At first, when he rests between the feet of the Happy Prince, he had no feeling of helping others. His quality becomes obvious when we notice tears in his eyes on seeing the Happy Prince’s heart aching. He discharges his duty with full loyalty and obedience. When he starts living with the Prince, he becomes more sympathetic towards others. He has a deep sense of service. He helps the seamstress by bringing her a ruby and fanned the sick boy with his wings. He helps the playwright and the match girl too. He rejected his idea to go to Egypt when the Happy Prince became blind. In the end, he died and fell down at his feet.

Q. Why did the swallow not leave the prince and go to Egypt?

Ans. The Happy Prince had become totally blind. The swallow was impressed with his charity and kindness. He had sacrificed everything for the good cause of helping the poor and downtrodden in their needs. He sacrificed even the two sapphires of his eyes thereby making it hard for anybody to prove more generous than himself. These unusual traits of the Happy Prince had a deep impact o amarn the heart of swallow. The swallow loved the prince now much that he could not leave him in that state. He decided not to go to Egypt. He remained there till his last breath.

Q.Why is the statue of the Prince described as looking like a beggar and being no longer useful? Ans. The statue of the prince had lost all that had made it great and resplendent. It had lost all it gold, sapphires and the ruby. It looked worn out like a beggar.

Q.What proclamation does the mayor make about the death of the birds?

Ans. The proclamation made by the Mayor was that no birds should be allowed to die in the city

Q.What impression do you gather of his personality form this?

Ans. From the Mayor’s remarks, we gather that he was an irrational and censorious person. Instead of thinking about the disappearance of the prince assets and what has made the statue so shabby above how has the bird died, he makes proclamations without any rationale. He just looks at the external appearance of things instead of thinking about the essence of things.

Q. What were the two precious things the angel brought to God? In what way were they precious?

The two most precious things mentioned in the story are the leaden heart of the happy prince and the dead swallow. The happy prince had sacrificed these to serve the suffering humanity and help the poor. The swallow fulfilled the wishes of the happy prince. He sacrificed his self-interest in going to Egypt. He carried gold and jewels to the suffering people. He remained with the prince in the bad weather also. He died at the prince’s feet. So, the angel was right when it took the leaden heart of the prince and the dead swallow to Heaven.

Q. What happened to the prince ’s heart? What feelings does the end of the story arouse in you? Ans. The prince’s heart broke into two halves when the bird fell dead at its feet. When the leaden heart was put into the furnace, it does not melt. So, it was thrown away. Therefore, the dead bird and the leaden heart met even after death. The end the story arouses in us deep sympathy for the two. The angels considered the leaden heart the most precious thing in the city. They took it to heaven.

SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS

Q. What made the statue so beautiful? Ans. The statue was covered all over with the fine leaves of gold. Two bright sapphires were fixed in place of eyes, and the heart was made of lead. A large ruby was fixed in his sword hilt.

Q. Why did now the Happy Prince what the tears were?

Ans. When the Prince was alive, he lived in a palace. The prince lived happily and knew no sorrow. Even the courtiers called him the happy prince. So, he did not know what tears were.

Q. How did God reward the Happy Prince and the Swallow for their sacrifice? Ans. God rewarded the happy prince and the swallow by giving them a place in heaven. The swallow will sing forever in the garden of paradise and the happy prince will live in the city of gold.

VALUE BASED LONG ANSWER TYPE OF QUESTIONS

Q. What obligations does the story teach us towards society? Ans. Society is where the protection of all individuals is the primary concern. We find people in society who suffer from all manner of ills such as poverty, hunger, diseases and natural disasters. Students can play an active part in social protection. Students can take on tasks such as educating poor children and adults. The fundamentals of learning can be taught to those without education. Students can play a major role in promoting concepts like hygiene and sanitary treatment. The importance of cleanliness should be taught to people. Moral values can be conveyed in addition to this. Short stories based on honesty, the discipline of truth, and so on can be popularized. This allows students to be a great bridge between the haves and have-nots. Students can create a society without sorrow or misery.

Q.What is the conclusion of ‘The Happy Prince?

The story concludes that goodness is everlasting and ever- rewarding. The Happy Prince was good for everyone. The widespread poverty and misery of people moved him. He gave his eyes, gold and jewellery to the needy. His heart was divided into two halves when the swallow died at his feet. The Gappy Prince’s statue was not useful anymore. It was dull and useless. The heart of the statue did not melt in a furnace as goodness could never be destroyed. The prince and swallow were both recompensed by God and gave them a place in Heaven.

Thus, good deeds are ever rewarding. In other words, good deeds always pay in one’s life. It is true that mortal life is meant to decay and death and good deeds make one immortal. In life, we get the utmost contentment and inner pleasure by doing some charitable act or by helping others. In the story ‘The Happy Prince’, both the happy prince and the swallow were rewarded for their good deeds by God. They found a permanent place in heaven. The swallow will sing forever in the garden of paradise and the happy prince will live in the city of gold. Thus the story teaches us to live a meaningful life by helping those who are in need.

Q. Do you agree that happiness from making others happy is far greater and deeper than any other happiness?

There are fun, happiness and thrill in buying things for ourselves and enjoying life on your own but the happiness got from making others happy is far greater and deeper than any happiness. We can get them by doing things just for ourselves. There is a Chinese proverb, “Fragrance clings to the hand that gives roses”. The fragrance of happiness clings to the heart that spread happiness to others. In the story, the Happy Prince could not see the misery of people. He lived a comfortable life inside the palace and never saw the misery and ugliness of the people around him but in the form of the statue when he witnessed the pathetic condition of the poor he sacrificed all to serve the suffering humanity and got everlasting happiness in heaven.

Q. The story presents a shocking contrast between external appearance and the essence of things. How?

This is a strange world. It presents a shocking contrast. Nothing succeeds like success here. So long you are powerful and strong you are respected and obeyed. In this dazzling world of wealth and riches, human feelings have no relevance. The statue of the Happy Prince was installed at the highest column in the most important square of the city. It was gilded all over with fine gold. His eyes had two bright sapphires and a large red ruby glowed on his sword hilt. He was a symbol of power, beauty and grandeur. The moment he lost his gold, sapphires and the grand ruby, he became very ordinary, ugly and useless. He was to be pulled down and melted in a furnace. The Mayor and the Town Counsellors were cruel and selfish.

Q. What is the moral lesson of “The Happy Prince”? Ans. The moral lesson of “The Happy Prince” is that the worst aspects of modern society can be overcome by righteousness Righteousness always plays an important in role bringing prosperity. The case might be of a person, a family, a country or a nation. Of course, wealth and power can provide luxury and comfort. But mental satisfaction and spiritual peace cannot be brought. Every spiritual and religious leader recommend that people take the right path and avoid the way of vice. It is possible to take care of the old, weak and downtrodden sections of society when you are virtuous. When you go the right way, the nation rises to great heights. Righteousness blesses a man with great satisfaction and happiness. In the story, the Happy Prince reached the highest level with his fellow swallows through righteousness.

Read Also: Exta Questions

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• What is the theme of The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde?
• What is the moral of the Happy Prince?
• What is the conclusion of the Happy Prince?
• Who is swallow in Happy Prince?
• What is the genre of the Happy Prince?
• Why is the prince called happily was he really happy Why?
• What is the conflict of the story The Happy Prince?
• Why was the Happy Prince crying?
• What is the climax of the Happy Prince?
• Where was the statue of Happy Prince?
• How did the statue of the Happy Prince look?
• What is the theme of the story The Happy Prince?
• What kind of life did the happy prince lead when he was alive
• What are the precious things mentioned in the story The Happy Prince?
• Why is the prince called happy? Was he really happy? Why?

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