My courtiers called me the Happy Prince, and happy indeed I was, if pleasure be happiness."
Why didn't the author say "and I was happy indeed"?
"If pleasure be happiness," as I see it, should be "If pleasure was happiness." However,I am wondering if it is a subjunctive use, and should has been omitted here.
The full sentence may be like the following.
If pleasure should be happiness, I was happy indeed.
I am not sure about it. Am I right?
Wilde tried to put focus again on 'happy' because that is what is important. Try thinking a pause after happy. Your variant is much fluffier and looser in power.
yes it is a subjunctive - without the periphrastic auxilliary verb. As for the meaning (with this extra component), 'should' has no place in it. But 'would' could have.
Oscar Wilde wrote the sentence they way he did for poetic effect. The sentence might be paraphrased as:
My courtiers called me the Happy Prince, and I actually was happy- as long as you can say that pleasure and happiness are the same thing.
