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Social Space In Wilde's Fairy Tales

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3. The representations of the multiple spaces in Wilde’s fairy tales
3.1 Introduction
This section will introduce the presentations of the physical space, social space and psychological space in Wilde’s fairy tales. Each of the three spaces has its distinguished features. These features will be introduced with an example of Wilde’s nine stories.
3.2 The physical space with horizontally contradictory layers
The physical space is composed of physical representations, including geographical indicators which can be both static and dynamic. In Wilde’s fairy tales, the most frequently appeared element in the physical space tends to be the majestic and luxurious places like a palace, a garden, and a plaza, as well as the plain and unattractive …show more content…

Take “The Young King” for example. In this story, there are three tiers in its social space. The first tier is the religious power represented by “the old Bishop” (Wilde, 1888). In addition, the second tier is the high-class social space constituted by “the young King”, “his courtiers”, “Professor of Etiquette”, and “the master of the galley” (Wilde, 1888). What is more, the third tier is the low-class social space made up by the “hunters in the forest”, “the poor goatherd”, “pale and sickly-looking children”, and “a hundred slaves” (Wilde, 1888). These figures are representative of the three tiers in the social hierarchical structure — the class with the holy power, the class with political power and wealth, and the class under exploitation. Religious power is higher than political power, and the lower-class poor people are at the bottom of the whole social structure. The young King’s decline of the crown given by the bishop is an implication of the conflicts between the first tier and the second tier. Also, the three dreams of the young king indicate how the people in the second tier exert exploitation on the third-class

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