Published Paper Details:

Fairy tales have a pivotal part to play in a child�s psyche. The ethos and notions created by these tales remain entrenched in a person�s mind eternally. This paper attempts an analysis of Oscar Wilde�s collection The Happy Prince and other Stories to establish Wilde�s fairy tales as a protest against Utilitarianism rampant during the Victorian eon. The protagonists in the short stories are not perfect; they have all sinned by choosing �happiness� over �sacrifice�. Their journey from ignorance to redemption through the discovery of selfless love and sacrifice conveys the message that being a sinner is part of being human. If sins can lead to redemption, then there is goodness in sin after all. Wilde was pointing out the flaws in the moral temperament of the Victorian age that chose to remain �happy� by being ignorant of the needs of the poor and the needy. The objective of the paper is to reveal the morals entrenched in the fairy tales with a view to developing the idea that though superficially Wilde disliked acknowledging his fairy tales to be moralistic, his aim was mainly targeted at the reading public during his time, pointing out their iniquities and ways to correct it- all captured within innocent fairy tales for children. The fairy tales of Oscar Wilde that have been taken into consideration are �The Happy Prince�, �The Nightingale and The Rose�, �The Selfish Giant�, �The Devoted Friend� and �The Remarkable Rocket.