The Frog And The Nightingale

498 Words2 Pages
Oscar Wilde once said “You just have to do your own thing, no matter what anyone says. It's your life.” In this poemthe poet directs his three pronged satire at the performers who blindly follow their masters, the so called ‘gurus’ who are actually jealous of the performers and mislead them to their destruction. The poet also satirises the audience who have unquenchable thirst for new and sensational performances. The essence of the poet’s message is that one should not surrender one’s own judgement to cunning and irresponsible critics. The poem also satirises gullible upper class people who lack judgement and fall prey to clever people who exploit them in the name of art. The aim of this poem is to make the readers realise and value one’s own individuality. If one follows somebody blindly he loses self-respect and confidence. This results in death and decay. The nightingale was proud of her art till she met the frog and, trying to imitate him lost her individuality which ultimately resulted in her death. The poem tells us that one must know one’s own capabilities, potential and even limitations so that nobody else can take undue advantage of one one. In the poem the nightingale had no confidence in her own capability and was taken advantage of the frog. It also projects the modern industrialised society where greed, fame and competion override ethics and values. The frog, symbolic of the modern world, realizes that he cannot compete with the nightingale in singing, so he plans to destroy her. The innocent and the gullible are sacrificed at the altar of ambition and envy. The poem also satirizes the idle rich upper class of society who are identified with birds and animals. A few dignitaries were the Owl of Sandwich(Earl of Sandwich), Duck of kent(Duke of kent), Mallard and Milady Trent(My Lord and My Lady Trent), Martin Cardinal Mephisto and the Coot of Monte
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