The Model Millionaire: Summary

There was a very good-looking young man, named Hughie Erskine. He was popular and kind. However, he was not very clever and had no money. He kept changing his job but always failed. Finally he stopped working and lived on money given to him by an old aunt. He loved a girl named Laura Merton, the daughter of a retired Colonel. The Colonel would only allow them to get married if Hughie had ten thousand pounds of his own. 

One day, Hughie visited his friend, Alan Trevor, who was a painter. When Hughie came, Alan was painting a model. The model was a beggar-man. Hughie felt sorry for the model, so he gave him a sovereign. Later that night, Hughie met Alan at Palette Club. They had a talk. Hughie found out from Alan that the model was actually not a beggar-man, but a millionaire, named Baron Hausberg. Hughie went home unhappily, whereas Alan laughed loudly. 

The next morning, a messenger from Baron Hausberg came and brought him a letter. 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!" 

The Model Millionaire: Narration

The Model Millionaire: Analysis

Firstly, this short story emphasises the materialistic aspects of life. The protagonist of this story Hughie is a misfit in a mercantile world. He is at a loss in the world of bulls and bears. In spite of his charming appearance, he has failed in every attempts to make money. He cannot understand the ways of the world and ends up miserably whenever he tries to be successful materially. His affair with Laura is at a stake as he has failed to raise a fund of ten thousand pounds as demanded by Laura's father who welcomes Hughie as a person but is not ready to accept him as his son-in-law. Hence the second sentence of the story becomes significant:"Romance is the privilege of the rich, not the profession of the unemployed." In the end, had Baron not provided Hughie the money, the latter's marriage with Laura would not have materialised. So, making both ends meet becomes more important than the melody of love. When the stomach burns with hunger, the whole world becomes prosaic and the beautiful full moon looks like a hot flour cake. Every lover and beloved should keep it in mind.

Secondly, one must have the kindness of heart as well. Kindness shown to others pays in the end. There is no doubt that had Hughie not offered the sovereign to Baron, the latter would not have shown his generosity to sponsor the money Hughie required. Tender qualities are not to be totally dispensed with even in a thoroughly materialistic world.

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. Today he is remembered for hisepigrams and plays, and the circumstances of his imprisonment which was followed by his early death.

Wilde's parents were successful Dublin intellectuals. Their son became fluent in French and German early in life. At university Wilde read Greats; he proved himself to be an outstanding classicist, first at Dublin, then at Oxford. He became known for his involvement in the rising philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles. 

As a spokesman for aestheticism, he tried his hand at various literary activities: he published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on the new "English Renaissance in Art", and then returned to London where he worked prolifically as a journalist. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress, and glittering conversation, Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day.

The Model Millionaire: Preface

By Oscar Wilde

The story took place in England in about 1900, in a real world. You can feel a sort of an atmosphere in the story. The main character, Hughie Erskine, lived in a poor place and his friend, Alan Trevor, lived in a middleclass-place. Not in a rich place but neither in a poor place. Hughie Erskine had a girlfriend, Laura Merton, who lived with her father in a “rich” place. You can feel the difference between the 3 persons and their 3 places. 

The Characters that take place in the Story: 

• Hughie Erskine: Hughie is the main character in the story. Hughie didn’t have a job, but he was a lovely man with charm and a big heart. Example: Hughie gives the beggar (Hausberg) a sovereign because he thought that Hausberg was poor. 

• Alan Trevor: Alan was Hughie’s best friend. Alan was one of the few painters at that time. 

The Model Millionaire: Prose

A Note of Admiration
By Oscar Wilde 

PART: 01

Unless one is wealthy there is no use in being a charming fellow. Romance is the privilege of the rich, not the profession of the unemployed. The poor should be practical and prosaic. It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating. These are the great truths of modern life which Hughie Erskine never realised. Poor Hughie! Intellectually, we must admit, he was not of much importance. He never said a brilliant or even an ill-natured thing in his life. But then he was wonderfully good-looking, with his crisp brown hair, his clear-cut profile, and his grey eyes. He was as popular with men as he was with women, and he had every accomplishment except that of making money. His father had bequeathed him his cavalry sword, and a History of the Peninsular War in fifteen volumes. Hughie hung the first over his looking-glass, put the second on a shelf between Ruff's Guide and Bailey'sMagazine, and lived on two hundred a year that an old aunt allowed him. He had tried everything. He had gone on the Stock Exchange for six months; but what was a butterfly to do among bulls and bears? He had been a tea-merchant for a little longer, but had soon tired of pekoe and souchong. Then he had tried selling dry sherry. That did not answer; the sherry was a little too dry. Ultimately he became nothing, a delightful, ineffectual young man with a perfect profile and no profession.

To make matters worse, he was in love. The girl he loved was Laura Merton, the daughter of a retired Colonel who had lost his temper and his digestion in India, and had never found either of them again. Laura adored him, and he was ready to kiss her shoe-strings. They were the handsomest couple in London, and had not a penny-piece between them. The Colonel was very fond of Hughie, but would not hear of any engagement.