A large portion of the middle of the story consists of the Soul telling vivid stories to the Fisherman of his explorations out in the world. The following passage demonstrates how the Soul uses imagery in order to try to tempt the Fisherman to join him on his adventures rather than staying in the ocean with the Mermaid:
“So I breathed with my breath upon his hand, and it became whole again, and he trembled and led me into the second chamber, and I saw an idol standing on a lotus of jade hung with great emeralds. It was carved out of ivory, and in stature was twice the stature of a man. On its forehead was a chrysolite, and its breasts were smeared with myrrh and cinnamon. In one hand it held a crooked sceptre of jade, and in the other a round crystal. It wore buskins of brass, and its thick neck was circled with a circle of selenites.”
At this point in his story, the Soul is describing the very mystical experience of a priest he met on his travels taking him to see an ornate statue of a deity. The imagery here engages several different senses—readers can feel the Soul’s breath on the priest’s hand (as well as how the priest “trembled” when leading the Soul to meet the god), can see the splendor of the statue (such as the “lotus of jade hung with great emeralds” at its base, the yellowish-green forehead, and the brass shoes), and can smell the myrrh and cinnamon on the statue’s chest.
All of this imagery combines to bring readers more closely into the scene, helping them understand just how alluring the Soul’s stories are. Of course, this story does little to sway the Fisherman, who simply tells the Soul when he’s done speaking that love matters more to him than anything else and that he will be staying with the Mermaid in the ocean. This is one of the ways that Wilde demonstrates the all-consuming power of romantic love.
