On Oscar Wilde Fairy Tale Characteristics And Creative Motivation

This article aims to analyze the characteristics of Oscar Wilde's fairy tales from two aspects: ideological contents and artistic techniques. Firstly, Wilde's fairy tales are different from traditional ones in ideological contents. He always favored death theme, challenged the standards of morality and took multiple stands when telling the stories. Secondly, Wilde not only carried forward the traditional story-telling techniques of folklore, but also developed his own way of setting the scene and rearranging time and space. Finally, there are two driving forces behind these characteristics. Wilde's fairy tales were influenced by both the traditional folklore and literary aestheticism. Folklore provided tradition which constituted a source for his tales while literary aestheticism showcased his strong personal preference. The two forces complemented each other to give the fairy tales their distinguishing characteristics.