Everyone has probably at least once heard of the name “Oscar Wilde”. The following story from him presents an important message and can be interpreted differently depending on how you view it.

Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O’Fflahertie Wills Wilde was born on the 16th of October 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. Until he was nine years old he was educated from home and learned French and German from his nursemaid and a governess. In 1871 Wilde started attending Trinity College in Dublin and studied there until 1874. The following four years he was enrolled at Magdalen College in Oxford. Ever since the beginning of his college years, he was publishing his work for example in the Dublin University Magazine. In 1881, at only 27 years old, he published his first book “Poems” which received rather harsh criticism. Wilde later got married to Constance Lloyd in 1884 in London. He spent the 1880s writing different forms of literature and in the early 1890s, he became a famous playwright in London. In 1895 Wilde was imprisoned for his affair with Lord Alfred Douglas because of “gross indecency” and was jailed for two years. Oscar Wilde died on November 30th 1900 in Paris, France at the age of 46.

Summary
The story is about a group of kids that play in a beautiful garden of the Giant. It has fruit trees and soft grass and they spent every afternoon there. After seven years of living with a friend, the Giant came back and forbid the kids to play in his garden. He even put up a wall to keep them out. Over time the garden turned into a dark and cold place while spring came to everything around it. Not even the birds wanted to sing without the kids being there. One day the Giant heard a bird singing and felt the cold wind stopping. That’s when he noticed that the kids dug a small hole and entered his garden without his permission. In one corner it was still winter though and the Giant noticed a little boy. He felt sympathetic and decided to open his garden again for all the kids to play in it. He spent the next years playing with the kids every day but he never saw that little boy again. He grew old and weak and one day he saw a big tree with white blossoms in his garden and underneath it stood the little boy. The Giant noticed that he had wounds on his hands and became angry but the boy said that they are wounds of love. He then asked the Giant to come to his garden with him. The story ends as the kids find the Giant dead, under the white blossoms tree.

For the original story, click here! https://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/SelGia.shtml

Analysis
“The Selfish Giant” is mainly a Christian fairy tale. The Giant’s garden can be understood as the Garden of Eden and God banning Adam and Eve is like the Giant banning the kids. The little boy is symbolic of Jesus Christ. When he reappears with marks on his hands and calls them “Wounds of love” it refers to the wounds from the nails that Jesus suffered under at the cross and because he died out of love for “God’s children”. When the Giant dies in the end the little boy, or Jesus, takes him to “his garden” referring to Heaven. On the other hand, he doesn’t only connect to Christianity but to Humanity in general. He represents the possibility of helping or not helping our fellow humans by either being kind or selfish.

However you interpret this story by Oscar Wilde, it contains a beautiful message that everyone, despite age or background, can learn from. I hope you enjoyed this article and maybe are interested to find out more about Oscar Wilde’s work!