Hearts Are Made To Be Broken-On The Aesthetic Sufferings In Oscar Wilde's Fairy Tales

Despite the increasing scholarly interest in Oscar Wilde, his fairy tales are overlooked to a large extent. However, the fairy tale genre was treated with much earnestness in Wilde's day and Wilde himself attached much importance to his fairy tales, too. Wilde's nine fairy tales are a reflection of his Aesthetic thought. One of the distinct features of Wilde's tales is his focus on various sufferings, which is closely related to his Aestheticism. Therefore in this thesis I try to explore Wilde's fairy tales and focus on the Aesthetic sufferings depicted in them.This thesis will discuss the Aesthetic sufferings in Wilde's fairy tales in three chapters:Chapter One focuses on the Aesthetic sufferings of Wilde's fairy tale heroes. Through close reading and analysis we find that Wilde has Aesthetic intentions in mind when writing his tales. Suffering is not new in traditional fairy tales, but Wilde's fairy tale protagonists' sufferings are unusually vivid, prolonged and described in detail. Moreover, there is no traditional villain in Wilde's fairy tales, and the heroes subversively cause their own sufferings. All these are a reflection of Wilde's Aesthetic ideas and show the importance of suffering in Wilde's Aestheticism. This chapter also analyzes the importance of suffering and broken heart for Wilde.Chapter Two discusses Wilde's Aesthetic treatment of Christ as a suffering hero in his tales. Wilde was intensely attracted by the life-story of Christ, but he had his own interpretation of Christ to suit his aesthetics. He sees Christ as a perfect individualist, an ideal artist or a compassionate loving god according to his Aesthetic purposes or his needs in different life periods. Christ is a recurring theme in Wilde's fairy tales. Wilde treats Christ as a suffering model and interweaving Christ's life story in his tales.Chapter Three focuses on the aspects of class and gender, exploring the sufferings of the downtrodden and the male characters in Wilde's fairy tales. Wilde's treatment of class subverts the fairy tale convention and pushes forward the limit of the fairy tale genre to some degree. Some of the remarks and viewpoints are obviously socialistic, which indicates that the Aesthetic movement and socialism were linked. In the other aspect, the female characters in Wilde's tales are mostly heartless, material and impossible to be an ideal mate for the male. However, most of the male character's sufferings for their unrequited love are caused by their own unrealistic heterosexual desire rather than the intention of the female. Through the analysis of "The Happy Prince", "The Selfish Giant" and "The Fisherman and His Soul", we notice that the author implies another form of relationship—the male/male pairing to replace the male/female one. This preference is also related to Wilde's Aestheticism.