Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von Ein Granatapfelhaus
Für wen es gedacht ist
For readers who love fairy tales with a shadow, lush description, and short stories that leave a lasting image. It also suits anyone curious about Wilde beyond his comedies.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
Four fairy tales. A House of Pomegranates, published by Oscar Wilde in 1891, follows his earlier book for young readers but grows darker and richer. The first edition was decorated by Charles Ricketts and Charles Shannon. Inside are a young king, a Spanish princess, a fisherman and a child who believes he comes from a star. Each tale is a small moral drama dressed in silk and gold. First, a boy who has just learned that he is a king.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1A shepherd boy learns what beauty costsFree
- 2A princess watches a dwarf dance
- 3A fisherman trades his soul for love
- 4A star falls and a child grows proud
- 5What the four tales share beneath the gold
- 6How Wilde tells these tales
Punkt 1 von 6
A shepherd boy learns what beauty costs
The Young King opens on the night before a coronation. The king is only sixteen. A goatherd raised him in the forest, and now he has been brought to the palace as the old king's grandson.
The boy is wild for beauty. He touches velvet, handles jewels and orders a golden robe, a ruby crown and a pearl sceptre. The court smiles and thinks him harmless.
Then he dreams. He sees sick weavers making his robe, slaves diving for his pearl, and men digging for his rubies while Death and Avarice bargain. He wakes shaken, and what he decides to do about his coronation carries the story to its close.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- The Young King
- Raised by a goatherd, this royal grandson loves beautiful things but begins questioning their human cost.
- The Infanta
- A twelve-year-old Spanish princess, she enjoys birthday entertainments while her grieving father remains absorbed in court ceremony.
- The Dwarf
- Brought from the forest to entertain the Infanta, he hopes that the princess cares for him.
- The Fisherman
- A young fisherman loves a mermaid and considers surrendering his soul so that they can live together.
- The Soul
- The Fisherman's separated soul returns each year, tempting its former master with experiences of the wider world.
- The Star-Child
- Found by a poor woodcutter after a falling star, this beautiful child grows proud and treats others cruelly.
- The Mermaid
- Caught in the Fisherman's net, she wins his love but cannot accept a lover who possesses a soul.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 34,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 2 h 15 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 14 other languages
Questions about Ein Granatapfelhaus
What is A House of Pomegranates about?
It is a book of four literary fairy tales by Oscar Wilde. They deal with beauty, pride, cruelty and love, and follow a young king, a Spanish princess and a dwarf, a fisherman and his soul, and a star-child.
What are the four stories in A House of Pomegranates?
They are The Young King, The Birthday of the Infanta, The Fisherman and His Soul, and The Star-Child. The book was published in 1891 and was the second of Wilde's fairy tale collections.
Is A House of Pomegranates for children?
The stories use fairy tale forms, but they are ornate, sad and morally complex.
What does the title A House of Pomegranates mean?
The pomegranate is a rich red fruit full of seeds, long linked to abundance, beauty and death. Wilde does not explain the title, so it works as a symbol of the book's jewelled, shadowed mood.
What is the main message of the stories?
Beauty matters, but it is empty or harmful without compassion. Wilde shows that luxury has a human cost, and that pride, desire and vanity can blind people to the suffering of others.