Setting

The setting of the short story “The Happy Prince” by Oscar Wilde is an unnamed city in the north of Europe, where the statue of a prince stands on a tall column. The statue is an important landmark in the city, as the Swallow notices it right on arrival. 

When the Prince was alive, he lived in “the Palace of Sans-Souci, where sorrow is not allowed to enter”. There are two famous palaces by that name, one in Haiti and one in Germany. It is, possible, then, that the Prince might have lived in Germany., however the name of the palace could also be allegorical. It is meant to suggest that the Happy Prince lived in a place without concerns, or worries, carefree, isolated from the suffering in the outside world. Apart from the symbolic name of the pala...