“HIGH above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of the Happy Prince. He was gilded all over with thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he had two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby glowed on his sword-hilt.

He was very much admired indeed. ‘He is as beautiful as a weathercock,’ remarked one of the Town Councillors who wished to gain a reputation for having artistic tastes; ‘only not quite so useful,’ he added, fearing lest people should think him unpractical, which he really was not.

‘Why can’t you be like the Happy Prince?’ asked a sensible mother of her little boy who was crying for the moon. ‘The Happy Prince never dreams of crying for anything.’

‘I am glad there is some one in the world who is quite happy,’ muttered a disappointed man as he gazed at the wonderful statue.

‘He looks just like an angel,’ said the Charity Children as they came out of the cathedral in their bright scarlet cloaks, and their clean white pinafores.

‘How do you know?’ said the Mathematical Master, ‘you have never seen one.’

‘Ah! but we have, in our dreams,’ answered the children; and the Mathematical Master frowned and looked very severe, for he did not approve of children dreaming.” (Wilde, 4)

****Here, at the first opening paragraph of the fairytale, we see the author attempting to establish the mood, as well as setting. He opens up the story as a typical fairytale, including a Prince and extravagant objects. He describes the statue of the Prince on a colom that we imagine looks similar to the image above.

**** As a town councillor, this man had a significant amount of power as a local government official. In these days, being a man of power was very prestigious and desired by many. It usually was a sign of wealth, that was also deemed as a positive. Here, we see a man with being somewhat fake and attempting to appear as something he is not, such as artistic.

**** In this part, Oscar Wilde is using irony, as the Happy Prince is not actually happy, but in a deep depression for seeing the city as it truly is for the first time. The mother asks her child why he isn’t as happy as the Happy Prince, not knowing the hell he is actually going through. The mother is attempting to make an example out of the Prince, not knowing her huge failure. However, as the readers, we are the only ones that truly know.

**** Again, we see a repetition of irony being used, as a sad man is relieved to find that at least one person is happy. Yet, we know that the Prince is not happy at all. The Prince then becomes a sort of idol to him, in a way that if the Prince is happy, maybe he can also find some happiness, himself. However, the Prince never truly finds happiness at the end, only redemption at the ultimate cost. It makes me think that the disappointed man is destined to stay that way.

**** Towards the end, we see innocent verses reason, someone of high intelligence, looking down on naive children for dreaming of angels. Here, we see complete opposites, a man who lives his life based on facts, and children who have their heads in the clouds. It is nice to see that the two characters are on complete opposite spectrums. As they should be, where one is a grown man who has seen the harshness of the city, while the other is a child living in complete ignorance for the moment.