Oscar Wilde’s Short Stories: Summaries & Analysis
Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime
Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime is a short story by Oscar Wilde. It is the first story in the collection, and it is about Lord Arthur’s predicament after a seer tells him his future.
Lord Arthur Savile is a young man with a promising future who has decided to get married. However, an obstacle delays his project when a cheiromantist confesses that he sees a murder in his future. From that moment, Lord Arthur decides to take the reins of his destiny in order to get married as soon as possible and continue with his peaceful and orderly life. But the young man’s intense efforts to change his fate fail again and again.
My favorite character is the protagonist because he never gives up; he prefers to kill a person before seeing his future wife suffer.
I recommend this story because I think it teaches us to value things every day because you never know what can happen in your life.
The Model Millionaire
The Model Millionaire is a short story by Irish author Oscar Wilde. It was the second story of his published book. The story is about a poor man who needs a certain amount of money to get married.
There was a very good-looking young man named Hughie Erskine. He was very popular and kind; however, he was not very clever and had no money. He was always looking for work, but nobody wanted him. He fell in love with a girl called Laura Merton. The girl’s father would only allow the wedding if Hughie had ten thousand pounds of his own. One day, Hughie visited his friend Alan Trevor, who was a painter. His friend was painting a beggar-man. Hughie felt sorry for the model and gave him money, although he had practically nothing. A few days later, Alan explained to him that the model was actually a millionaire called Baron Hausberg. Hughie felt so sad.
The next morning, a messenger from Baron Hausberg came and brought him a letter. Inside the letter was ten thousand pounds so that Laura and Hughie could get married. On the day of the marriage, Alan was the best man, and the Baron made a speech.
My favorite character is the protagonist, Hughie Erskine, because even if he is not a man with money, he behaves generously with others. My favorite part of the story is when Alan tells him the truth because you do not expect it.
I recommend this story because it is entertaining and teaches you some values, such as generosity.
The Canterville Ghost
The Canterville Ghost is a novella by Oscar Wilde. It was the first of Wilde’s stories to be published. The story is about an American family who wanted to live in a haunted castle where a nobleman’s ghost killed his wife and was scaring the people who lived there.
When the family arrived at the house, they were informed that a ghost was living there, but they didn’t mind because they didn’t believe in ghosts. The ghost realized that he could not scare the new residents, the Otis family. After the first night, he realized that they were the ones that scared him. The Otis family were constantly removing the bloodstain that the ghost put on the floor each time with a cleaning product. The Otis twins were the ones that tried to make jokes on the ghost. He gets angry because no one has ever laughed at him, but the youngest girl of the family, Virginia, sympathizes with him and talks with him. He tells her that he wants to die, but he also said that he needed her help to get into the Garden of Death. She accepted to help him.
In the end, Virginia is sad because the ghost finally dies, but she also thinks that it was his decision. The trees from the garden blossom, and that means that the ghost has been forgiven.
The Otis family was formed by: Mr. Hiram B. Otis (the father), Lord Canterville (house owner), Miss Lucretia Tappan (the mother), Washington (eldest son), Miss Virginia E. Otis (middle daughter), the twins (the two little children), Mrs. Umney (the housekeeper), and Sir Simon de Canterville (the Canterville ghost).
The part of the story that I liked the most is when Virginia, even though she was a girl, wasn’t afraid of the ghost, and that is the reason why they get along, and she helps him to leave life in peace.
I recommend this novella because I think that it is very educational, and also Virginia’s attitude with the ghost is a good example which shows that the values of people and helping others is very important.