THE MODEL MILLIONAIRE – OSCAR WILDE SUMMARY

 

THE MODEL MILLIONAIRE – OSCAR WILDE

SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION:

The short story ‘The Model Millionaire’ was written by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900). He was a famous Irish writer. In this story Oscar Wilde describe about a boy Hughie Erskine who was a young man of good profile. His financial status was very low as he had no profession. He tried his hand in different profession to earn money but was not successful. So the author referred him as “a delightful, ineffectual young man with a perfect profile and no profession”

 

CONTENT:

Hughie Erskine was a poor young man who was good looking with crisp brown hair and gray eyes. He was not only popular among men but also among women. He failed to build a career although he kept changing everything. He had gone on the Stock Exchange for six months, he had been a tea-merchant for a little longer, then he had tried selling a dry sherry. He was in love with a girl named Laura Merton,  daughter of a retired Colonel. The Colonel was against the engagement and would only allow them to get married if Hughie had ten thousand pounds of his own.

One day, Hughie visited his friend named Alan Trevor who was a painter. When Hughie came in, he found Trevor painting the finishing touches to a wonderful life size picture of a beggar man. The beggar himself was standing on a platform in a corner of the studio. He was a wizened old man with a face like wrinkled parchment and a most piteous expression. And then, at that night, Hughie went to the Palette Club about eleven o’clock, and found Alan in the smocking room. They had a talk about the model of a beggar-man which was painted by Alan Trevor. On the conversation, Alan said that the model of his picture was not a beggar, but a millionaire. Hughie was surprised and he did not believe about what he heard from Alan. The name of the millionaire was Baron Hausberg. Hughie went home unhappily, whereas Alan laughed loudly. Hughie had mistaken the Baron for a beggar and offered him a sovereign. He felt very bad for treating a rich man in that manner and feared that the Baron would have taken his act as an insult.

 

The next morning, a messenger from Baron Hausberg came and brought a letter to Hughie. The letter contained a cheque for ten thousand pounds which was a wedding present to Hugh Erskine and Laura Merton from Baron Hausberg. On the day of the marriage, Alan Trevor was the best man and the Baron made a speech at the wedding breakfast. Alan said, “Millionaire models are rare enough, but model millionaires are rarer still!”

CONCLUSION:

In The Model Millionaire, Oscar Wilde portrayed beautifully the theme of appearance, generosity, friendship, gratitude, love, compassion, charity, commitment, connection, struggle and happiness.  In this story Hughie was fooled into thinking that the Baron was a beggar solely based on how the Baron was dressed and on what Alan Trevor has told him. It was for this reason that Hughie hands the Baron a sovereign. Hughie’s act of generosity is the fact that Hughie gives the Baron more than he can really afford. The Kindness of Hughie repaid him with kindness of Baron in the way of ten thousand pounds as wedding present.