Publisher Description
"El Príncipe Feliz" es un cuento corto escrito por Oscar Wilde, publicado por primera vez en 1888. Esta conmovedora historia combina elementos de la fábula y el cuento de hadas para transmitir un mensaje profundo sobre la compasión, el sacrificio y la belleza interior.
La trama gira en torno a una estatua cubierta de oro que representa a un príncipe joven y feliz. Después de su muerte, su espíritu queda atrapado en la estatua y puede ver la tristeza y la pobreza que afligen a su ciudad. A través de los ojos de una golondrina, que se queda a vivir bajo su estatua, el príncipe aprende sobre las dificultades de los menos afortunados.
Movido por compasión, el príncipe persuade a la golondrina para que distribuya sus joyas y el oro de su estatua entre los pobres. Cada noche, la golondrina despoja la estatua del oro y de sus gemas preciosas para ayudar a los necesitados. Este acto de generosidad, aunque despoja a la estatua de su belleza exterior, revela la verdadera belleza del alma del príncipe.
La historia concluye con un final agridulce que toca el corazón del lector, resaltando la importancia de la empatía y la caridad por encima del materialismo y la vanidad. La prosa poética de Wilde y su habilidad para capturar la esencia de los temas universales como el amor, la compasión y el sacrificio hacen de "El Príncipe Feliz" un cuento atemporal que continúa resonando con los lectores hasta el día de hoy.
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About Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was born in Dublin. He won scholarships to both Trinity College, Dublin, and Magdalen College, Oxford. In 1875, he began publishing poetry in literary magazines, and in 1878, he won the coveted Newdigate Prize for English poetry. He had a reputation as a flamboyant wit and man-about-town. After his marriage to Constance Lloyd in 1884, he tried to establish himself as a writer, but with little initial success. However, his three volumes of short fiction, The Happy Prince, Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime, and A House of Pomegranates, together with his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, gradually won him a reputation as a modern writer with an original talent. That reputation was confirmed and enhanced by the phenomenal success of his society comedies: Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, and The Importance of Being Earnest, all performed on London’s West End stage between 1892 and 1895. In 1895, he was convicted of engaging in homosexual acts, which were then illegal, and sentenced to two years imprisonment with hard labor. He soon declared bankruptcy, and his property was auctioned off. In 1896, he lost legal custody of his children. When his mother died that same year, his wife Constance visited him at the jail to bring him the news. It was the last time they saw each other. In the years after his release, his health deteriorated. In November 1900, he died in Paris at the age of forty-six.