Then they melted the statue in a furnace, and the Mayor held a meeting of the Corporation to decide what was to be done with the metal. “We must have another statue, of course,” he said, “and it shall be a statue of myself.” …

“What a strange thing!” said the overseer of the workmen at the foundry. “This broken lead heart will not melt in the furnace. We must throw it away.” So they threw it on a dust-heap where the dead Swallow was also lying.

“Bring me the two most precious things in the city,” said God to one of His Angels; and the Angel brought Him the leaden heart and the dead bird.

“You have rightly chosen,” said God, “for in my garden of Paradise this little bird shall sing for evermore, and in my city of gold the Happy Prince shall praise me.”

This passage from Wilde’s story showed how the love between the Swallow and the Prince allowed them to not only change in character, from selfish to loving and caring, but also how it is almost as though they were absolved from their sins by performing their acts of good. At first I questioned why the Swallow and the Prince’s lead heart were the, “two most precious things in the city.” Then I realized that the acts of the two reminded me very much of a Saint. In the Catholic religion, a Saint is one who is acknowledged as holy, being declared to be worthy of special honor, and being sent to heaven after death with no questions asked. Saints, while alive, would typically do everything good, such as charity work, like how the Prince offered his jewels and gold, and the Swallow helped distribute them throughout the city.

I found it really sad to see how the workmen at the foundry treated the Prince’s heart. Although his leaden heart was broken, when it was thrown in the furnace, it would not melt like the rest of the statue. Rather than seeing an importance in keeping the heart and praising it, just as they praised the statue before it turned “ugly” like the truth of the city, the workmen threw it in a dust-heap, along with the dead Swallow. Personally, I found this as an act of true disrespect and dishonor, and unlike the Happy Prince and the Swallow, those involved in the dirty works (I guess that’s what we can call the corruption of the mayor and his workers) will most likely not be sent off to be in peace after their death.