The Nightingale and the Rose

“The Nightingale and the Rose,” like many stories in The Happy Prince and Other Tales, is a melancholy fable about a protagonist who sacrifices herself for love. Initially, the story appears to follow a structure and character arrangement typical of fairy tales. The lovelorn young Student appears to be the typical hero-figure who must fulfill a trial to win his love’s hand. Such “tests” of love are a common narrative device in fairy tales, from “Aladdin” to “Cinderella.” The Professor’s daughter is the maiden-figure whose love is the object of the hero’s desire. When the Nightingale determines to undertake the trial on behalf of the helpless Student, she assumes the role of the helper-figure, like the genie of “Aladdin” or fairy godmother of “Cinderella,” and becomes essential to the hero’s success. The Nightingale then approaches three trees in order to complete the trial—a structural parallel to traditional fairy tales, which frequently feature events or items occurring in threes.

The Nightingale’s sympathy for the Student and idealization of love is the central force moving the story. She has long anticipated an ideal lover, remarking toward the beginning of the story that she sings of such a person “night after night […] [telling] his story to the stars” (58).