The Lady or the Tiger

The Lady or the Tiger The lady or the tiger is a story of a semi-barbaric king who has come up with a unique way of punishing criminals (Stockton, 1882). Criminals are brought in an arena which has two doors where they have to choose their fate. In one of the doors there is a tiger ready to devour whoever opens, on the other door is a beautiful woman who is given to the prisoner for marriage.

The princess is in love with a young man who does not please her dad because he does not think he is good enough for his daughter’s status. The young man’s love for the princess has him put to trial. In the arena the young man looks at the princess because he knows that she is aware of what is behind each door (eastoftheweb, 2018). When the princess looks towards her right and motions, her lover opens that door.

The audience however are not made aware of which door he opened thus leaving room for the question. Even though the princess has an opportunity to liberate her man she chooses doom for him. The princess chose the door with the tiger behind it. As much as she was in love with the young man she did not want him to marry the woman behind the other door. It would be easier for the princess to live with the fact that her lover was dead than imagine him with a woman she hated. From the story, we can gather that even though the princess loved the young man, she was described as a white heat beneath the combined fires of despair and jealousy (Stockton, 1882).

When she points towards the door her face is pale and anxious and the young man is becomes aware that she knows what is behind the door but he has to understand her nature thus my conclusion of her decision.

References

• eastoftheweb. (2018). Short Stories: The Lady or the Tiger? By Frank Stockton. Retrieved from http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/LadyTige.shtml Stockton, F. (1882). The Lady, or the Tiger?

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