Final answer:
The 'red rose among thorns' symbolizes love or beauty within hardship, related to Oscar Wilde's 'The Nightingale and the Rose' or can be a metaphor for finding hope in difficult situations, as in Gallaccio's 'Red on Green'.
Step-by-step explanation:
The phrase 'who was the red rose among thorns' evokes a literary and metaphorical exploration. In literature, a red rose often symbolizes love, beauty, and passion, whereas thorns are associated with adversity, challenges, and pain. The imagery of a red rose among thorns suggests a narrative where love and beauty emerge amidst hardship or difficulty, which can be related to the themes present in The Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde. In this story, the nightingale goes to great lengths, even sacrificing her life, to provide the Student with a red rose his heart desires. However, the phrase could also be a metaphor for finding hope or beauty in tough circumstances. Gallaccio's installation Red on Green might be another representation where the red roses signify beauty and transience within a stark reality represented by the thorns.