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Symbols
Red roses are traditionally associated with romance, so it is not surprising that Wilde uses one to symbolize true love in "The Nightingale and the Rose." Its significance, however, shifts over the context of the story. At first, the rose appears to represent the Student's love for the girl, since her refusal to dance with him unless he brings her the flower makes the flower into a piece of evidence that his feelings are genuine. By sacrificing her life to bring the Student a rose, the Nightingale further underscores this idea that the flower is an expression of true love; in fact, the Rose quite literally comes from the Nightingale's heart, because she uses her blood to stain it red. In the end, however, neither the Student nor the girl is able to appreciate the rose's symbolic significance. The girl, for instance, compares the rose unfavorably to the jewels she has received from another suitor, while the Student reacts angrily when the girl goes back on her promise to dance with him. This suggests that neither character ever truly saw the rose as a symbol of love, but rather as a kind of currency to buy someone's affection.
The Red Rose Quotes in The Nightingale and the Rose
The The Nightingale and the Rose quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Red Rose. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The Nightingale and the Rose Quotes
Here at last is a true lover…Night after night have I sung of him, though I knew him not: night after night have I told his story to the stars, and now I see him. His hair is as dark as the hyacinth-blossom, and his lips are as red as the rose of his desire.
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When the Nightingale first overhears the Student talking about his need for a red rose, she sees him as the embodiment of everything she sings about. Her remark that she sang about him even before meeting him even suggests that her songs have created this real-world manifestation of idealized love. In the end, of course, the Student will prove to be anything but a perfect lover, but this idea that art can make the ideal real is vindicated in the Nightingale's creation of the rose. Her physical description of the Student, meanwhile, further emphasizes her affinity with the world of Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperia
Surely Love is a wonderful thing. It is more precious than emeralds, and dearer than fine opals. Pearls and pomegranates cannot buy it, nor is it set forth in the market-place. It may not be purchased of the merchants, nor can it be weighed out in the balance for gold.
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In light of the story's ending, the Nightingale's claim that love cannot be bought seems almost painfully ironic. In fact, the girl will eventually reject the red rose—a symbol of love—in favor of one of the very objects the Nightingale lists in this passage: jewels. What's more, the girl defends her choice in explicitly monetary terms, saying that jewels are better than flowers because they cost more. That said, the capitalization in this passage implies that the Nightingale is thinking about love more as an abstract ideal rather than love as it is actually practiced in the world. In that Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi
"He is weeping for a red rose," said the Nightingale.
"For a red rose?" they cried; "how very ridiculous!" and the little Lizard, who was something of a cynic, laughed outright.
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The Nightingale is not the only observer who notices the Student's unhappiness, but the Lizard—along with a butterfly and a flower—can't understand why anyone would cry over a rose. Wilde attributes this confusion to "cynicism"; because the Lizard sees the rose simply as a physical (and not very useful) object, he finds the Student's emotion absurd. In this sense, however, he actually resembles the equally "rational" and "practical" Student, who ultimately proves incapable of understanding the rose's meaning as a symbol of love and sacrifice. Instead, he views the rose as a tool, tossing it aside when he discovers that Dolorem et quae. Exercitatione
If you want a red rose…you must build it out of music by moonlight, and stain it with your own heart's-blood. You must sing to me with your breast against a thorn. All night long you must sing to me, and the thorn must pierce your heart, and your life-blood must flow into my veins, and become mine.
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Although the Nightingale eventually succeeds in finding a tree who can provide her with a red rose, she quickly learns that creating the rose will require sacrificing her life. The passage, then, underscores the idea that true love is selfless—primarily in the sense that it is centered on the happiness of another, even at considerable cost to oneself. The Rose-tree's description of taking the Nightingale's blood into his own "veins," however, implies another way of thinking about love and self-sacrifice; if romantic love is a union or merging of two people, the emotion itself necessarily involves losing or giving up Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam
The Student looked up from the grass and listened, but he could not understand what the Nightingale was saying to him, for he only knew the things that are written down in books.
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When the Nightingale explains how she intends to get the Student his rose, the Student responds with literal incomprehension. Interestingly, Wilde attributes this to the Student's learning, suggesting that his knowledge and rationality are preventing him from grasping deeper emotional truths—most notably, the love that the Nightingale has just been extolling. The Student's intellectualism, in other words, is actually hindering his ability to understand the world around him (and especially the motivations of others). Relatedly, it is also impacting his ability to experience life fully and richly: one of the things the Student can't understand is the Nightingale telling him Dolorem et quae
Bitter, bitter was the pain, and wilder and wilder grew her song, for she sang of the Love that is perfected by Death, of the Love that dies not in the tomb.
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As she sings the rose into existence, the Nightingale describes several different types or stages of love, culminating in the sacrificial love mentioned here. This process gives the symbolism of the rose an added layer: while red roses in general are popularly associated with romance, this particular rose is imbued with (and created by) all the kinds of love the Nightingale celebrates in her songs. That's nowhere clearer than in this passage, where the subject of the Nightingale's song mirrors, in real time, the sacrifice she herself is making. The Nightingale's love is therefore "perfected by Death" partly in the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Po
What a wonderful piece of luck…here is a red rose! I have never seen any rose like it in all my life. It is so beautiful that I am sure it has a long Latin name.
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The morning after the Nightingale's death, the Student wakes up to find the rose she has created on a branch outside his window. His response is disappointing. Juxtaposed with the Nightingale's death, the Student's words seem shallow and self-centered; given how miserable he had claimed to be just a day earlier, he ought to be overjoyed to find the rose, but he instead seems to take it as a mildly pleasant surprise. He also, of course, mistakenly attributes the appearance of the flower to "luck," further underscoring his inability to read the world around him. Most frustratingly of all, he Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecat
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The Red Rose Symbol Timeline in The Nightingale and the Rose
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Red Rose appears in The Nightingale and the Rose. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Nightingale and the Rose
...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...
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...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....
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...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...
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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,...
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...the thorn. The Nightingale continues to sing, this time about mature, romantic love, and the rose begins to turn pink.
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...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,...
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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...
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The Student plucks the rose and takes it to the girl at her father's (the Professor's) house. When he arrives,...
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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...
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