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Summary
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Nightingale and the Rose, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Love and Sacrifice
Art and Idealism
Materialism, Intellectualism, and Emotion
Summary
Analysis
As a Nightingale sits in her nest in an Oak-tree, she overhears a Student speaking mournfully about his sweetheart, who has said she will not dance with him unless he brings her a red rose. While the Nightingale watches, the Student begins to cry, lamenting the fact that all his learning is useless since it can't win him the girl's love. His beauty and sorrow, however, impress the Nightingale, who has spent all her life singing about an idealized "true lover."
The Student's first appearance in the story relies heavily on fairy-tale conventions that Wilde will later upend. His physical attractiveness and tearful declarations of love suggest that he is a quintessential romantic hero, so it is not hard to see why the Nightingale considers him the answer to her songs. In fact, it's almost as if her art has actually conjured an ideal lover into being. It is significant, however, that the Student also draws attention to his intellectualism, since this will ultimately prove to be more important to him than his feelings for the girl.
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The Student continues to bemoan his unrequited love, imagining in great detail how the girl will pass him by at the Prince's ball unless he finds a rose for her. Meanwhile, the Nightingale reflects on how powerful and priceless a force love is. The other animals and plants in the vicinity, however, do not understand why the Student is crying over a rose.
In retrospect, the Student's lavish descriptions of how heartbroken he will be at the ball seem over-the-top. The Nightingale, however, sees the Student's self-absorption as an indication of how deep his feelings run, contrasting his "real" love with her happy songs. She also suggests that love is wonderful mostly because it has no material value, which is an idea Wilde will play with throughout the story; the girl's affections most definitely can be bought, but it is not clear that those affections are what the Nightingale (or Wilde) means by "love."
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The Nightingale decides to help the Student, and flies to the center of the garden to speak to the White Rose-tree. She asks him for a red rose, but he tells her that he has none, and directs her to his brother by the sun-dial. Accordingly, the Nightingale visits the Yellow Rose-tree, but he also disappoints her, advising her to try the Rose-tree underneath the Student's window.
When the Nightingale states her case to the Red Rose-tree, he confirms that his roses are red, but says that he cannot grow one in winter. The Nightingale presses him, however, and he eventually admits that there is a possible solution: by singing as she impales herself on one of his thorns, the Nightingale can bring a rose into bloom and dye it with her own blood. Although it pains the Nightingale to sacrifice the joys of life, she agrees to the Rose-tree's plan.
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Her mind made up, the Nightingale flies back to the Student and tells him the good news, asking simply that he honor her sacrifice by being a true lover. The Student cannot understand what she is saying, but the Oak-tree asks her to sing one more song before she dies
After the Nightingale sings, the Student criticizes her performance, saying that it is stylistically impressive but emotionally shallow. He then returns to his home, where he falls into romantic reveries and, eventually, sleep.
When evening falls, the Nightingale flies to the Rose-tree and perches against the thorn. As the Moon listens, she begins to sing about young love, causing a few indistinct petals to appear on the Tree.
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Warning that day is fast approaching, the Rose-tree tells the Nightingale to press herself further onto the thorn. The Nightingale continues to sing, this time about mature, romantic love, and the rose begins to turn pink.
The Rose-tree encourages the Nightingale to press closer one last time. Although rapidly weakening, she sings about sacrificial and undying love as all of nature listens on. The rose reddens, and the Rose-tree tries to tell the Nightingale that she has succeeded. Sadly, however, she is already dead.
Hours later, the Student looks outside his window and sees the rose. Delighted, he says that it is the most beautiful flower he has ever seen, and that it must therefore have a complicated scientific name.
The Student plucks the rose and takes it to the girl at her father's (the Professor's) house. When he arrives, the girl is sitting outside spinning silk, and the Student presents her with the flower, saying she will wear it that evening at the ball. The girl, however, objects that the rose does not match her dress, and that she in any case prefers the jewels she recently received from the Chamberlain's nephew.
In response, the Student huffs that the girl is "ungrateful," and throws the rose into the street to be run over by a cart. The girl retorts that the Student is "rude," making fun of his relative poverty before storming into her house.
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As the Student walks away, he thinks about how irrational and impractical love is and concludes that he would be better off devoting his time to studying philosophy. He therefore returns to his room and begins to read from an old book.
