The Devoted Friend

Chapter Overview

"The Devoted Friend" by Oscar Wilde is a masterfully crafted satirical fairy tale embedded within a frame story told by a Green Linnet to a self-absorbed Water-rat. The narrative focuses on honest, simple-hearted little Hans, who tends a beautiful garden and derives joy from sharing its blossoms, and Hugh the rich Miller, who repeatedly brags about the sacred nature of friendship while practicing ruthless exploitation.

During the bountiful spring and summer months, the Miller frequently visits Hans, helping himself to large bunches of fresh flowers, sweet herbs, and ripe fruit, paying Hans only with grand, eloquent lectures on friendship. However, when winter arrives and Hans suffers from bitter cold and extreme starvation, the Miller callously refuses to visit him, sanctimoniously claiming that visiting friends during hardships would only arouse jealousy and spoil their ideal relationship.

When spring returns, the Miller promises to give Hans an old, broken wheelbarrow that is entirely useless to himself. Under the guise of this unfulfilled promise, the Miller manipulates naive Hans into performing grueling unpaid labor-mending the Miller's barn roof, driving his sheep to the mountain, carrying heavy sacks of flour to the market, and neglecting his own garden.The tragedy culminates when the Miller sends Hans through a terrifying midnight storm to summon a doctor for his injured son without even lending him a lantern, leading to Hans drowning in the marsh.The story exposes Hypocrisy and Moral Blindness, teaching students to discern between authentic compassion and deceptive, self- serving rhetoric.