What Is Ironic About the Happy Prince “Filled with Tears” and His Palace of Sans Souci with Its Lofty Walls? How Important Are the Key Words -Human Heart, Tears and Sorrow?
4. What is ironic about the Happy Prince “filled with tears” and his Palace of Sans Souci with its lofty walls? How important are the key words -HUMAN HEART, TEARS AND SORROW?
During 19th century, privilege and aristocratic corruption emerged as a serious issue for the society. Living in that period of time, the author showed the injustice of life via many ironic situations in the Happy Prince. Among them is the irony of Happy Prince “filled with tears” and his Palace of Sans Souci with its lofty wall.
When the prince is dead, his spirit can only observe the city through the eyes of the statue. This is when he is moved by the misery of his people. Then, the prince “filled with tears”; he cried because of his miserable people. The happy prince now does not belong to the upper class anymore; he represents his sorrow people who are the main working forces of the society and who are in despair and crying. Ironically, the upper class which is symbolized by the Palace of Sans Souci shut themselves in their palace away from those who really need their help. Although they gain the fruits from the hardship of their people, they never cared about what misery their people were suffering. It is the lofty wall that is the sign of the gap between the poor and the upper class.
In order to emphasize this irony, the author perhaps deliberately places the 3 words “HUMAN HEART, TEARS AND SORROW” in one sentence. “When I was alive and had a human heart, I did not know what tears were, for I lived in the Palace of Sans- Souci, where sorrow is not allowed to enter.” The sentence carries the meaning that he lived in pleasure for his all life, and his HUMAN HEART never possesses TEARS SORROW, which is abnormal as we human have to deal with up and down of the life how could our heart be isolated from TEARS and SORROW forever? Therefore, these 3 words also shows a paradoxical fact that the prince when he was alive, he represented those who are from the upper class, and who have
During 19th century, privilege and aristocratic corruption emerged as a serious issue for the society. Living in that period of time, the author showed the injustice of life via many ironic situations in the Happy Prince. Among them is the irony of Happy Prince “filled with tears” and his Palace of Sans Souci with its lofty wall.
When the prince is dead, his spirit can only observe the city through the eyes of the statue. This is when he is moved by the misery of his people. Then, the prince “filled with tears”; he cried because of his miserable people. The happy prince now does not belong to the upper class anymore; he represents his sorrow people who are the main working forces of the society and who are in despair and crying. Ironically, the upper class which is symbolized by the Palace of Sans Souci shut themselves in their palace away from those who really need their help. Although they gain the fruits from the hardship of their people, they never cared about what misery their people were suffering. It is the lofty wall that is the sign of the gap between the poor and the upper class.
In order to emphasize this irony, the author perhaps deliberately places the 3 words “HUMAN HEART, TEARS AND SORROW” in one sentence. “When I was alive and had a human heart, I did not know what tears were, for I lived in the Palace of Sans- Souci, where sorrow is not allowed to enter.” The sentence carries the meaning that he lived in pleasure for his all life, and his HUMAN HEART never possesses TEARS SORROW, which is abnormal as we human have to deal with up and down of the life how could our heart be isolated from TEARS and SORROW forever? Therefore, these 3 words also shows a paradoxical fact that the prince when he was alive, he represented those who are from the upper class, and who have