Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2018
Abstract
Oscar Wilde's 'The Happy Prince', in its moral imperative, seems to raise bigger issues than it is capable of solving. It is argued that Wilde lets his ethical preoccupations disturb his aesthetic ones, because he cannot account adequately with the problem of ugliness and suffering - which makes his aestheticism appear somewhat fragile as a result.
To further explain the symbolic vulnerability of the tale, a relation with George Bataille's The Accursed Share will be established.