Abstract：Oscar Wilde pursues the perfect things only in his works， for there is the distance of reality and art. Surely love is a wonderful thing. Wilde expresses this perfect love in his fairy tale---The Nightingale and The Rose. Nobody knows why the Student weeps for a red rose. “Be happy，” cried the Nightingale， “be happy; you shall have your red rose…” To help achieve the Student's happiness is to realize the Nightingale's dream. Who's the protagonist and what’s the Nightingale for in this fairy tale Is every true lover the Nightingale must sacrifice her life for Even though the Rose-tree’s secret for the Nightingale makes her to be his， the Nightingale’s love for the Student is firm and constant. That is self-giving love， selfless love， great love， the love for the Student and the love for Douglas.

Key words:true love，sacrifice，cost，red rose，reality，blood，heart

【中圖分類號】I106 【文獻(xiàn)標(biāo)識碼】A【文章編號】1002-2139（2009）04-0043-02

Oscar Wilde is outstanding for his aestheticism on literature， “art for art’s sake” i.e. art is dissociated from life and is above life; life imitates art far more than art imitates life; art never expresses anything but itself. We learn that Wilde is not satisfied with life， the reality， and for him there is a contradictory between art and life. He pursues the perfect things， which he cannot find in life， through some created figures by his fantasy in the fairy tales. One of his well-known fairy tales The Nightingale and The Rose， criticizes the romantic connection between love and death.

The plot of The Nightingale and The Rose is easy to summarize. A young Student is infatuated by the daughter of a Professor. She promises to dance with him till dawn at the Prince's ball if the Student will bring her a red rose. But in his garden there is no red rose. The Nightingale， who night after night romantically sings of such love as she now sees demonstrated， is moved to provide the red rose so as to facilitate the love between the Student and the young woman. Following the typical pattern of threes， she goes to three rose trees asking for a red rose. The first bears only white roses; the second only yellow ones. The third is indeed a red rose tree， but because of a harsh winter it cannot bear roses. In the \"finale，\" the bird can obtain the red rose just do as what the Tree tells her. At last， the rose， which the Nightingale sacrificed herself to get with all of her blood， is thrown into the street by the Student， where it falls into the gutter and gets run over by a cartwheel. The beauty is ruined by the reality. The young woman rejects the rose because it won't go with her dress---she is a sort of negative female dandy， concerned only with appearances and status.

Wilde himself commented in a letter to Thomas Hutchinson (May 1888): “The Nightingale is the true lover， if there is one. She， at least， is Romance， and the Student and the girl are， like most of us， unworthy of Romance.” The Nightingale and The Rose is a simple allegory of the destruction of love and beauty by a materialistic civilization.

Who's the protagonist and what’s the Nightingale for in this fairy tale? Why she must give up her life for the Student? How does she get the enough courage to do it?

\"Here at least is a true lover，\" said the Nightingale. \"Night after night have I sung of him， though I knew him not: night after night have I told his story to the stars，…”

What a simple reason! What makes her to help him as much as she can is all because he's a true lover. A true lover is for whom? Is he the only true lover in the world? Is it every true lover for whom the Nightingale must sacrifice her life? Of course not， the Nightingale said: \"Night after night have I sung of him， though I knew him not: night after night have I told his story to the stars， …\" and she did that without any deliberation， and hesitation. All of that seems reasonable and does not need any time to think. The Nightingale does not think about the outcome and consequence. Even if using up the last drop of blood of her body， she does not regret either. In the Nightingale's mind， it is worth spending everything to exchange an embrace for the true lover， because the true love is as precious as the life. So she takes love as her highest objective and principle， and before it never give in， never regret even devoting her life. What inspires the Nightingale to do all of that? The love， the marvelous power of love. The Nightingale's love for the Student is marvelous indeed， and it impels her to do everything she can.

\"Here indeed is the true lover，\" said the Nightingale. \"What I sing of he suffers: what is joy to me， to him is pain. Surely love is a wonderful thing. It is more precious than emerald， and dearer than fine opals. Pearls and pomegranates cannot buy it， nor is it set forth in the market place. It may not be purchased of the merchants， nor can it be weighed out in the balance for gold.\" That is the Nightingale's views of Love——love is sovereign. “Death is a great price to pay for a red rose，\" cried the Nightingale， “and life is very dear to all.…Yet love is better than life，…”.

\"Here at last is a true lover，\"...\"Here indeed is the true lover，\" the repeated sentence reflects that it's no doubt the Nightingale understands love and she feels she finds a person who can also understand love and they have reached an agreement about love. They can communicate with each other by heart and share secrets or worries by heart.

\"Why is he weeping?\" asked a little Green Lizard， as he ran past him with his tail in the air.

\"Why， indeed?\" said a Butterfly， who was fluttering about after a sunbeam.

\"Why， indeed?\" whispered a Daisy to his neighbor， in a soft， low voice.

\"He is weeping for a red rose，\" said the Nightingale.

\"For a red rose!\" they cried; \"how very ridiculous!\" and the little Lizard， who was something of a cynic， laughed outright.

But the Nightingale understood the secret of the Student's sorrow， and she sat silent in the oak-tree， and thought about the mystery of love.

Nobody knows the reason why the Student weeps for a red rose. They laugh at him and feel it's unworthy doing like that. They all cannot understand the love. But only the Nightingale and her love for the Student is a kind of devotion---with no result， no return.

\"Be happy，\" cried the Nightingale， \"be happy; you shall have your red rose. I will build it out of music by moonlight， and stain it with my own heart's blood. All that I ask of you in return is that you will be a true lover， for love is wiser than Philosophy， though she is wise， and mightier than Power， though he is mighty....\" The only wish of the Nightingale is to live up to her love. To help achieve the Student's happiness is to realize the Nightingale's dream. Lover's happiness is her happiness.

Some critics said， in a sense， the Nightingale is extremely like Oscar Wilde himself.

In the summer of 1891， Oscar met Lord Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas， the third son of the Marquis of Queensberry. Bosie was well acquainted with Oscar's novel “Dorian Gray” and was an undergraduate at Oxford. They soon became lovers and were inseparable until Wilde's in prison four years later. In April 1895， Oscar sued Bosie's father for libel as the Marquis had accused him of homosexuality. Oscar withdrew his case but he was arrested and convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to two-year hard labor. After his experiences in prison， he and Bosie reunited briefly， but Oscar mostly spent the last three years of his life wandering Europe， staying with friends and living in cheap hotels. Sadly， he was unable to rekindle his creative fires. When a recurrent ear infection became serious several years later， meningitis set in， and Oscar Wilde died on November 30， 1900. Oscar Wilde’s misery is the price of his pay for love.

The process of searching red rose is incredibly difficult. The cost is painfully enormous. How can the Rose-tree make such a rapacious plan? Is there any other method? What does the Rose-tree think at that time? Barbara Seward observes that Wilde’s used the Persian legend in which ”the Nightingale fell in love with the white Rose and sang to it until he collapsed exhausted on its thorns， thereby staining it red with his life’s blood”.

\"If you want a red rose... you must build it out of music by moonlight， and stain it with your own heart's blood. You must sing to me with your breast against a thorn. All night long you must sing to me， and the thorn must pierce your heart， and your life-blood must flow into my veins， and become mine.\"

The sexual， vampiric imagery is obvious and the Nightingale here is struck by the mystery of love for the Student. There is a kind of desire， the Rose-tree’s secret for the Nightingale， but the Nightingale’s love is only for the Student， not for the Rose-tree.

… But the Tree cried to the Nightingale to press closer against the thorn. “Press closer， little Nightingale，” cried the Rose-tree，… these sentences repeated several times show that for the Rose-tree， his desire is stronger and stronger. Here desire is more than love to the Nightingale. But the Nightingale is willing to exhaust her last drop of blood of body to obtain the happiness for the Student. That is really great love.

Blood， red， desire， The Nightingale and The Rose， also can say Love and Desire. The Rose， the Nightingale and the Student， their relationship is similar to Oscar’s wife， Oscar and his homosexual Douglas. Of course there is also difference among their relationship， but here I want to emphasize the part of similarities. That is self-giving love， selfless love， great love， the love for the Student and the love for Douglas.

Bibliograpghy：

Ellmann， Richard. Oscar Wilde.New York: Knopf， 1987.

Fido， Martin.Oscar Wilde: An Illustrated Biography. New York: Peter Bedrick， 1973.

Hardwick， Michael.The Osprey Guide to Oscar Wilde. Reading， England: Osprey， 1973.

Hyde， H. Montgomery.Oscar Wilde : A Biography. New York: Farrar， 1975.

Miller， Robert Keith.Oscar Wilde.New York: Frederick Ungar， 1982.

Nassaar， Christopher S.Into the Demon Universe: A Literary Exploration of Oscar Wilde.New Haven: Yale UP， 1974.

Seward， Barbara.The Symbolic Rose.Dallas: Spring， 1989.

Wilde， Oscar.The Happy Prince And Other Tales. Illustrated by Walter Crane and Jacomb Hood.London， 1888.

——. The Letters of Oscar Wilde. Ed. Rupert Hart-Davis.New York: Harcourt， 1962.

http://www.online-literature.com/wilde/178/

http://www.literaturecollection.com/a/wilde/