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The Young King

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El éxito de Wilde se basaba en el ingenio punzante y epigramático que derrochaba en sus obras, dedicadas casi siempre a fustigar las hipocresías de sus contemporáneos. Sus cuentos son una muestra de su singular ingenio. "El joven Rey" es un relato del autor Oscar Wilde narrado en tercera persona y en el cual usa un lenguaje descriptivo. En esta obra Wilde cual intenta hacernos reflexionar sobre el cómo actuamos con todas las personas. Al principio de la obra en donde menciona una breve historia de cómo un joven que había sido desheredado vuelve a retomar el trono después de que el viejo rey lo había estado buscando, lo cual es una manera de ejemplificar que en alguna situación necesitaremos de alguien y a pesar del orgullo. Por un lado, un día anterior a su coronación el “joven rey” tuvo tres sueños que cambiarían su manera de pensar.

41 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 19, 2019

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About the author

Oscar Wilde

5,516 books38.9k followers
Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his criminal conviction for gross indecency for homosexual acts.
Wilde's parents were Anglo-Irish intellectuals in Dublin. In his youth, Wilde learned to speak fluent French and German. At university, he read Greats; he demonstrated himself to be an exceptional classicist, first at Trinity College Dublin, then at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the emerging philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles.
Wilde tried his hand at various literary activities: he wrote a play, published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on "The English Renaissance" in art and interior decoration, and then returned to London where he lectured on his American travels and wrote reviews for various periodicals. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversational skill, Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day. At the turn of the 1890s, he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays, and incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity, and beauty into what would be his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). Wilde returned to drama, writing Salome (1891) in French while in Paris, but it was refused a licence for England due to an absolute prohibition on the portrayal of Biblical subjects on the English stage. Undiscouraged, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late-Victorian London.
At the height of his fame and success, while An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) were still being performed in London, Wilde issued a civil writ against John Sholto Douglas, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry for criminal libel. The Marquess was the father of Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. The libel hearings unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and criminal prosecution for gross indecency with other males. The jury was unable to reach a verdict and so a retrial was ordered. In the second trial Wilde was convicted and sentenced to two years' hard labour, the maximum penalty, and was jailed from 1895 to 1897. During his last year in prison he wrote De Profundis (published posthumously in abridged form in 1905), a long letter that discusses his spiritual journey through his trials and is a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. On the day of his release, he caught the overnight steamer to France, never to return to Britain or Ireland. In France and Italy, he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life.

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169 (37%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
Profile Image for Exina.
1,276 reviews417 followers
September 8, 2021
The Young King deals with very serious and deep issues. The story is permeated by hopelessness and helplessness. There’s no redemption, maybe only symbolic.
„… as for thy dreams, think no more of them. The burden of this world is too great for one man to bear, and the world's sorrow too heavy for one heart to suffer.”
Profile Image for George Ilsley.
Author 12 books317 followers
December 22, 2021
Hidden from the danger of the royal court, the king's grandson, raised by a family of shepherds, has only just learned he is to be king.

Beauty, like Wisdom, loves the lonely worshipper.

At first, the boy (he is sixteen) is enchanted by jewels and rich fabrics. And it seems that from the very first moment of his recognition he had shown signs of that strange passion for beauty that was destined to have so great an influence over his life.

He pursued beauty and art, sparing no expense preparing for his luxurious coronation — until he has an awakening. His awakening was prompted by a series of dreams, and he became aware of how much the luxuries he worshiped were constructed from the labour and sacrifice of poor people.

I won't spoil the ending. Wilde here has conflated and expanded fairy tales from various cultures, as well as incorporating a series of Biblical references.

Wilde's short fiction is often dismissed as fairy tales or stories for children, but in The Young King there are rich layers of meaning and metaphor, and the result is rewarding. At this time of year, it is perhaps rewarding to consider the true meaning of "the Glory of God." This story provides one interpretation, mystical and inspiring.
Profile Image for Fabiola Castillo Autora.
263 reviews59 followers
May 12, 2023
Es otro cuento corto de #oscarwilde en sus obras completas. Me recordó mucho al Príncipe Feliz, más o menos una metáfora similar, aunque menos afectiva que ese otro cuento. Si bien el elemento paranormal está presente en varias obras de Wilde, aquí parece un poco más espiritual que sobrenatural. Es raro porque Dios no suele tener protagonismo en sus creaciones, si no es como crítica a la moral cristiana de la época. Se trata de un relato bellísimo, con una increíble evolución del personaje principal en escasas páginas. No digo más para no hacer spoiler. El mensaje, para mí, es que uno puede trascender su rol si logra percibir más allá. La empatía depende del acceso a ver. Simplemente precioso!!! #eljovenrey
Profile Image for Jason Koivu.
Author 7 books1,408 followers
April 3, 2018
Seeing in a dream all the toil and degradation the common man must go through on his behalf, a young king has an existential breakdown and tries to eschew all royal trappings. The common man does not thank him for it and the noblemen think him mad. Neither wants him as a ruler unless he's willing to play by the old rules. The moral seems to be that you shouldn't bother trying to change the heinous ways of man. Just give up and go with it.
Profile Image for Paola.
916 reviews40 followers
June 18, 2019
Éste es un cuento corto que me encantó por los valores que enseña y cómo refleja el hecho de que la gente resiste al cambio y trata de dañar al gobernante que intenta gobernar de forma más justa y presentando innovaciones a las costumbres, señalando que una persona no puede cambiar el mundo.
Además ese final inesperado, fue épico.
Éste cuento da lugar a que el lector efectúe un amplio análisis.
Profile Image for Mithun Sarker.
358 reviews3 followers
October 8, 2024
"In war, answered the weaver, the strong make slaves of the weak, and in peace the rich make slaves of the poor. We must work to live, and they give us such mean wages that we die. We toil for them all day Jong, and they heap up gold in their coffers, and our children fade away before their time, and the faces of those we love become hard and evil We tread out the grapes, and another drinks the wine. We sow the corn, and our own board is empty. We have chains, though no eye beholds them; and are slaves, though men call us free.

Is it so with all?' he asked.

It is so with all,' answered the weaver, 'with the young as well as with the old, with the women as well as with the men, with the little children as well as with those who are stricken in years. The merchants grind us down, and we must needs do their bidding. The priest rides by and tells his beads, and no man has care of us. Through our sunless lanes creeps Poverty with her hungry eyes, and Sin with his sodden face follows close behind her. Misery wakes us in the morning, and Shame sits with us at night. But what are these things to thee? Thou art not one of us. Thy face is too happy.' And he turned away scowling, and threw the shuttle across the loom, and the young King saw that it was threaded with a thread of gold.

And a great terror seized upon him, and he said to the weaver, "What robe is this that thou art weaving?'

"It is the robe for the coronation of the young King,"
Profile Image for Nathaniel.
159 reviews10 followers
February 28, 2020
The Young King Review in 10 words or less
Everything The Happy Prince should've been class conscious and pessimistic
Profile Image for Vaishali.
1,178 reviews314 followers
February 28, 2021
“In war,” answered the weaver, “the strong make slaves of the weak, and in peace the rich make slaves of the poor.”

Not Wilde’s best fairytale, but not his worst either :)


.
Profile Image for Belen Sanchez.
245 reviews15 followers
December 29, 2024
3.75⭐️
Me sentí un poco tonta leyendolo pero me encantó el mensaje final.
Profile Image for Daniy ♠.
761 reviews3 followers
August 11, 2023
Book 15 of 30 days Challenge (2)

Trying to read every Oscar Wilde out there, this was nice, I didnt get the ending but still
Profile Image for Finn.
24 reviews
September 27, 2024
Oscar Wilde never misses. It's a fairy tale so it's simple thematically, it just works because it only tells us what it's trying to say about class inequality right at the end. I'll continue binging Oscar Wilde short stories...
Profile Image for Halina Hetman.
1,229 reviews23 followers
December 20, 2023
Дуже сильна і красива казка. Не для дітей. Знов про Бога, якого автор все ж бачив не тільки в вірі, але й в релігії. Вайльд не втомлює дивувати.
Profile Image for jb-rand.
118 reviews
April 20, 2025
oh wow it turns out someone with good values is actually really good!!!
Profile Image for Ana Cabrera.
4 reviews
May 14, 2025
Me gustó mucho cómo el cuento ofrece una mirada profunda sobre la felicidad, la justicia y el deber.

Desde mi experiencia, estos son conceptos difíciles de explicar sin caer en juicios o extremos, y la forma en que Oscar Wilde lo logra es hermosa. Confieso que no lo entendí del todo en una primera lectura, pero al volver a él y reflexionar, su mensaje me quedó muy claro.

Me dejó pensando en la importancia de estar realmente presente en todas las realidades que nos rodean —ver el lado lujoso, el pobre, el crudo— y empatizar con honestidad. Solo así, creo, podemos acercarnos a una felicidad más genuina y con sentido
Profile Image for ABEER.
223 reviews1 follower
May 17, 2025
“الكدح لأجل سيد قاس أمر مرير، ولكن الأكثر مرارة هو ألّا نجد سيدًا نكدح لأجله".
يقول الفقير ذلك عندما يُدمِنُ العوز للدرجة التي تجعله عاجزًا عن العيش دونه، إنه فقير من سلالة فقراء، فقيرٌ في الهوية، فقيرٌ في تصوره عن ذاته، فقيرٌ في فكرته عن نفسه، يشعر بقيمته إذ يُلبي حاجاتِ الطبقات المُتراكِبةِ من فوق فقره، ويفقد فيمته إن لم يكون لهم حاجة عنده، وإن كان في تلك الحاجة هلاكه.
إلى ذلك الحد تتعقد نفوس البشر، وإلى تلك الدرجة يألفون ويعتادون حتى الشقاء، أُبصِرُ ذلك إذ يضعني أوسكار وايلد أمام نموذجٍ بشريٍ لا ينقصه المال وحسب، إنما ينقصه المعنى والجدوى، وينقصه أيضًا موقعه كإنسانٍ على خريطة هذا الكوكب.

ثم يأتي رجل الكنيسة ليتحايل عن الألم ونزعة الإنسان لنجدة أخيه الإنسان فيقول:
“مآسي هذا العالم أكبر من أن يتحملها رجل واحد، وأحزان العالم أثقل من أن يكابدها قلب واحد".
بينما وإن لم يتمكن أحدنا من إنقاذ هذا العالم فهو قادرٌ بالتأكيد على إنقاذ نفسه من تحجر القلب بالمحاولة، إذ أن الرحمة كصفة بشرية لن تكون كاملة ولا كافية بأي حال وتلك حقيقة لا تجعل العالم في عنًا عنها.
Profile Image for Sarah.
1,375 reviews16 followers
December 31, 2020
An interesting look at how quickly we tend to dismiss disturbing inequality and how telling others about them often isn't enough to effect change.

I can't help but question when in Wilde's career this was written because at points it feels like Botticelli going from works depicting Roman mythology to works that were more church approved.
Profile Image for Victoria Ramírez.
218 reviews2 followers
June 18, 2017
La manera de escribir de este hombre y la crítica que hace a la sociedad es excelsa, él era tan avanzado a su época que hoy en día tiene muchísimo más sentido lo que dice que en ninguna época anterior.
Profile Image for tete &#x1f407;.
42 reviews1 follower
February 22, 2024
◟⤥★ 4.5

˚‧⁺. we cannot carry the weight of the world on our backs nor can we fix everything wrong with it, but we cannot be indifferent to what is happening outside and contribute a grain of sand that will soon become a desert if it is done from the heart and people take the example.
1 review
March 7, 2011
A mystical children's book that made me want to stand strong for justice and equality for all peoples. If only our leaders had this good conscience.
Profile Image for Elle.
110 reviews10 followers
May 4, 2017
another lovely short story. rated it a 3 as I much prefer some of Wilde's other works, however this story does have lovely writing style and imagery along with a deep and scarily relevant message.
Profile Image for Amanda ♡.
79 reviews2 followers
January 7, 2020
"We have chains, though no eye beholds them; and are slaves, though men call us free."
74 reviews
April 6, 2025
Oscar Wilde made up half of my childhood.

I did not realise how spiritual his stories were till I ran into De Profundis after conversion.

Spiritual links as follows:
1. The carefree shepherd boy transformed into the good shepherd of the ppl.
2. Brier of throns was what Christ wore when he was tormented.
3. Flowers (possibly roses) blosoming from the brier, is a great link to mother Mary, who is believed to receive a ring of roses every time we complete a rosary prayer, each rose being a Hail Mary.
4. Lilies blossoming from the shepherd staf is another clear sign of Mary, who is said to have roses blooming from her grave where she assended.
5. Ppl wanting to slaughter the king before the corrination, just like Christ was persicuted.
6. The noblemen wanted tradition rather than even listening the truth, just as the pharasees refusing to give up their tradition even if it means going to extremes to follow scriptures.


The young king was a 'sinful' bastard son, but God treats him based on his action not his birth.
Ppl do not want to hear the truth, they do not want change, but just like the young king, we do it for the sake of doing the right thing.


Amazing story for primary kids.


'... as for thy dreams, think no more of them. The burden of this world is too great for one man to bear, and the world's sorrow too heavy for one heart to suffer.'
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Naomi.
15 reviews
March 19, 2025
Este cuento me pareció interesante. Al principio, el joven rey, a pesar de haber crecido sin riquezas en el bosque, se deslumbró con la opulencia y parecía que se convertiría en un gobernante derrochador, como María Antonieta. Sin embargo, sus sueños le hicieron darse cuenta del daño que podía causar, y decidió cambiar su forma de ser.

Me gustó cómo, a pesar de que el pueblo no lo aceptó, su pureza de corazón fue reconocida de manera divina. Aunque sigo reflexionando sobre lo que dijeron los ciudadanos, que "el rico de alguna manera alimenta al pobre", porque tiene cierta lógica.

La frase que más me marcó fue: "El peso de este mundo es demasiado grande para que pueda soportarlo un hombre. Y el dolor del mundo es demasiado pesado para que pueda sufrirlo un corazón." Me recordó que no tengo que cargar con todo el sufrimiento del mundo, que puedo filtrarlo y dosificarlo, y que tengo el privilegio de elegir alejarme del dolor cuando lo necesite.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Rohit Tandekar.
221 reviews2 followers
September 29, 2024
This one felt like straight out of a fairy tale. Or for Indian readers, it will feel a story out of Akbar & Birbal.

Another short story, here Oscar Wilde's prowess to explain something profound through a plotline that's almost piffling is on full display. A young king, who was born out of an illegitimate marriage, was first abandoned as an infant, later brought back to the kingdom by the dying king (grandfather of the princess who birthed the child) and then made to plan his own coronation. His initial plans for the grand coronation, followed by the three unpleasant dreams and his change of heart is all what the story is about.

A good read to be included in textbooks at school too. I wonder how much of such literary wealth has been buried due to unfair judgements passed by an orthodox society on the author's life.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for nicole.
68 reviews
August 12, 2024
"En la guerra los fuertes hacen esclavos a los débiles, y en la paz los ricos hacen esclavos a los pobres. Tenemos que trabajar para vivir y nos dan salario tan escasos que nos morimos. Trabajamos para ellos todo el dia y ellos amontonan oro en sus cofres, mientras nuestros hijos se marchitan antes de tiempo y las caras de los que aman se vuelven duras y malas. Nosotros pisamos las uvas y otros se beben el vino, Sembramos el trigo y nuestra mesa esta vacía. Estamos con cadenas, aunque nadie las ve, y somos esclavos, aunque los hombres nos llamen libres."

Un cuento cortito, sencillo y con un mensaje muy claro. Me gusto bastante.

Otra cita porque si:
"La carga de este mundo es demasiado grande para que la soporte un solo hombre, y el dolor del mundo es demasiado para que lo sufra un sólo corazón"
Profile Image for Bek Gv.
37 reviews
April 15, 2025
Tiene vibras de capítulo de la biblia, a parte que es descriptivo en exceso para mi gusto.
Mi interpretación sobre esta historia se inclina un poco a problemas sociales que se siguen viendo hoy en día; división de clases sociales, capitalismo y avaricia.
En este relato nos tratan de dar a entender que para comenzar un cambio radical, hay que mantenernos fieles a nuestras ideologías hasta el final, no importa lo que cueste.
Simplemente debemos encontrar el problema principal y hacer algo al respecto mientras inspiramos a los demás.

O no sé, es lo que yo interpreté. Tiene mucho sentido para mí.

It was fine tho, can’t complain.

Final rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews

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