"The Happy Prince" is a short story by Oscar Wilde. It is a children's fantasy story that is like a fable. In the short story genre, the ending or "conclusion" is called the denouement and the resolution. To find the denouement, which simply means the falling action, find the climax, or the high point of the action or point of highest tension. Everything after that point is considered falling action, so you might consider...
"The Happy Prince" is a short story by Oscar Wilde. It is a children's fantasy story that is like a fable. In the short story genre, the ending or "conclusion" is called the denouement and the resolution. To find the denouement, which simply means the falling action, find the climax, or the high point of the action or point of highest tension. Everything after that point is considered falling action, so you might consider that part the conclusion. The resolution of a story refers to the part of the story in which the conflict is resolved.The climax sets up a decision or action that results in the resolution of the conflict. When you speak of the conclusion of the story, you may mean the resolution of the conflict at or near the story's end. Fables are a specific type of story that feature talking animals and end with a moral. The moral provides a strong conclusion to the fable, often conveying a statement of advice or judgment.
In "The Happy Prince," the conflict is that the prince--that is, the statue--is not happy because he sees so much suffering in the world that he cannot help. The swallow assists him in his desire to ease the suffering of others. The climax occurs when the swallow dies and the heart of the Happy Prince cracks; both of them have given everything they have to help others. Everything that happens after that, including the bickering and decisions of the Councillors and Mayor, can be considered the conclusion of the story. Specifically, the resolution occurs in the last line, where God grants eternal happiness to the bird and the Happy Prince. If you are considering the story as a fable, then the moral, which is the conclusion of a fable, occurs in the final two paragraphs with the idea that to God the two most precious things in the city are the dead bird and the leaden heart of the Happy Prince. Although it is not stated overtly, the moral is that self-sacrifice to relieve the suffering of others is precious to God and brings eternal joy.
There are three ways of looking at the conclusion of this story: the denouement, the resolution, or the moral.
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