“The Fisherman and His Soul” is a short story that Wilde wrote during the literary movement known as Aestheticism. This movement was centered on the slogan “art for art’s sake” because, according to those involved, literature did not need to have deep moral or political messages to be meaningful, sometimes beauty was enough. While Wilde’s story certainly contains moral takeaways, there are also sections of the story that are primarily geared toward capturing beauty. This comes across in the ornate language that Wilde uses to describe the Mermaid’s stunning appearance as well as the adventures that the Soul takes in the three years he is separate from the Fisherman.
This story is also an adaptation of a fairy tale—Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Little Mermaid” published in 1837. The story contains many fairy-tale elements, such as magical beings (like mermaids and witches), anthropomorphized characters (like the Soul), and a moral lesson for readers to consider (that all-consuming romantic love can come with a cost). While there are many magical elements in the story, Wilde also includes true-to-life elements, such as the judgmental nature of the Church in his particular late 19th century English setting. Perhaps because his story is not a “pure” fairy tale and contains certain types of social critique, Wilde advised that it was not appropriate for children.
