Oscar Wilde and his fairytales Oscar Fingal OFlahertie

Oscar Wilde and his fairytales

Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde (1854 – 1900) • • • 16 October 1854 Writer, dramatist, poet 21 Westland Row, Dublin The second of three children Sir William Wilde and Jane Francesca Wilde

Jane Francesca Wilde • Speranza • Young Irelanders • Irish nationalist

William Wilde • Eminent eye doctor • Surgeon Occulist to the Queen • Books about Irish archaeology and peasant folklore • Children from wedlock before his marriage

Trinity College in Dublin

• Moved to London in 1879 • In 1881 collected poems were published • In 1882 accepted the lecture tour in America which was a huge success • Worked prolifically as a journalist

• In 1884 married Constance Lloyd

• They had two sons, Cyrill and Vyvyan

• In 1895 he was sentenced to two years imprisonment for violating the moral laws • Bankruptcy • Left prison on 19 May 1897 • Left England for France • Died a broken man on 30 November 1900 in Paris under the name of Sebastian Melmont

Fairy-tales • Social overtones • Criticism • Parallels between the imagination and real-life • Unfairness • Rarely have a truly happy ending

“The Happy Prince and Other Tales” • Sometimes called “The Happy Prince and Other Stories” • A collection of stories for children • “The Happy Prince” – a short tale of a metal statue who befriends a migratory bird. • Happiness to others, in life as well as in death

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