The stages of development of the plot in "The Nightingale and the Rose" by Oscar Wilde

 

      “The Nightingale and the Rose” is a short story by the Victorian writer Oscar Wilde. A typical plot has five stages: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and denouement or resolution. In the exposition most of the characters in the story are introduced. In addition, the reader/viewer is introduced to the spatiotemporal setting and some of the main themes. The next stage of a story is the rising action in which the reader/viewer comes across a series of external and/or internal conflicts. The high point of the story is the climax. Falling action is the next stage of the plot. This leads to the denouement or the resolution.

      In the exposition of “The Nightingale and the Rose”, the reader/viewer is introduced to the main characters, the Student and the Nightingale. In addition we are also introduced to the spatiotemporal location: the story takes place at an accommodation for students at a university. The time is not specified but from the fact that the student was not well off and the fact that he had not understood the purpose behind the professor’s daughter’s challenge point to the fact that he was from the Victorian middle class. Oscar Wild often criticized the lack of heroic spirit in the younger generation of his time. The themes of male-female relations, love, education system and its practicality, the relationship between man and nature and lack of heroic spirit in men are introduced.

       In rising action, the student finds himself unable to find a red rose and gives into despondency. Instead of taking positive actions he flung “himself down on the grass, buried his face in his hand, and wept” to the amazement of the minor characters like the Green Lizard, the Daisy and the Butterfly. It falls upon the Nightingale to face a series of challenges and find him a red rose so he could dance with the Professor’s Daughter. In the climax, the Nightingale dies and the heart of the rose becomes red. In the falling action, the Student discovers the rose and takes it to the ball to secure a dance with the Professor’s Daughter only to learn that she has been given jewels by the Chamberlain’s Nephew and that she would not dance with him. In the denouement the Student throws away the rose and declares that he would concentrate only on his studies from then onward. The writer illustrate the lack of heroic spirit and pettiness of men of his time and the utilitarianism of Victorian society which makes finer human emotions like love secondary to social security. He also point out the yawning abyss between man and nature that made it impossible for people of his time to understand, respect and relate to nature. In conclusion, the short story “The Nightingale and the Rose” fits quite comfortably to the classical structure of a short story.