Owing to its shadow of sorrow, death was once shared as acquiescent taboo subject in general children's literature。 Usually, simple words and easy-understanding educational philosophy are considered more suitable for young children。 However, sometimes, tragic details and heartbreaking plots can arouse readers' empathy and resonance better。 There is no doubt that Oscar Wilde is successful。 

It is necessary to review the researches which have been done on Wilde's fairy tales so as to find the reference frame, and clarify the intention of this paper。

Although the amount of researches of fairy tales is still less than that of his plays and novels, there are a lot of valuable research works。 Mary Shine Thompson summarizes that Oscar Wilde is dismissive of contemporary approaches to education and of Victorian constructions of childhood。 In creating his hybrid form of the fairy tale, he elides boundaries drawn between adult and young readers and also between the forms of the literary fairy tale, the popular folk tale and contemporary literary styles。 His fairy tales insistently attend to surface reality and reject psychological realism。(2001) Jeremy Barris sets his sights on nonsensical aesthetic, pointing out the paradoxical coordination。(2005) Besides, some abstract problems concerned about Wilde's creative ideas have also been discussed。 Daniel M。 Haybron has argued about hedonistic theories of happiness that hedonism is too inclusive, yet many pleasures cannot plausibly be construed as constitutive of happiness and sadness, for instance, can sometimes be pleasant。(2001)

In China, researches have been done on Oscar Wilde and his fantasy stories since Wilde's two volume were first introduced by Chou Zuoren in last century。 The study of Wilde's fairy tales in the domestic academic field is gradually expanding, but still not bountiful, especially on the theme of death and sacrifice。 In earnest, I've read several valuable articles and they inspire me very much。 Zhu Chuanfang talks about several different types of death and connotations of the aesthetic deaths from the perspectives both of children and adults in her thesis。(2001) Cai Xiaoyu states her point of view that Wilde always favors death theme and analyze the ideological contents in separately four aspects and driving forces of his writing。(2006) Besides, many scholars devote to do studies on Wilde's consciousness of death。 Han Jing puts forward that death in Wilde's fairy tales is a way to rebel with aesthetic features and death discards the bound of utilitarianism and completes the aesthetic transcendence。(2012) From perse perspectives and the theoretical position, researchers try to find something new。

These studies of death theme have laid a good foundation for better understanding of Wilde's fairy tales, but no one has yet picked sacrifice in death theme out to do specific research。As a result, there exists a blank。 Therefore, in my thesis, I will dig deeper in this topic。

In his the writing of fairy tales, Wilde expresses unconsciously that he expects children to understand what the real world is like by showing death and sacrifice rather than to indulge them in the innocent paradise。 At the same time, it displays his new conception of creating fairy tales。 Breaking the absolute idea that the positive roles always have worldly happy ending in traditional fairy tales, Wilde's stories arouse children's curiousness, a wonderful power to ask why the world is like this, and why good people suffer。 Children will have their own tendency to judge the plots and have sympathy while reading something different from their exceptions。文献综述

The description of death and sacrifice not only meets the psychological needs of children,a natural curiosity for the unknown and the hidden, but also touches adults who have experience sorrow and more complex feelings when confronting deceases of their beloved。 He regards children as little thinkers who are innocent and pure rather than ignorant。 Children's mentality should be taken meticulous care of but never in a slipshod way such as always telling them the white lie that the good go to paradise, and they are supposed to develop their proper awareness of death and sacrifice through questioning, contemplating after reading。 Thus, with respect, I can not agree with the view mentioned in Pall Mall Gazette that Wilde-style fairy tales are not suitable for children。 There is no doubt that death and sacrifice in Wilde's fairy works are not easy to accepted by children, especially at the first reading。 But they are worthy appreciating once and once again along the whole life, and every time readers can get different aesthetic experience as they grow older and ponder deeper about life。 If the mix of curiosity and fear of the unknown can be guided properly, it will be much beneficial for growing kids。 To some degree, I uphold that good children's literature can also be enjoyed by grownups and arouse empathy in every reader despite of varying age。