ipl-logo

The Lady, Or The Tiger? By Frank R. Stockton

1888 Words8 Pages

In Frank R. Stockton’s short story “The Lady, or the Tiger?” a semi-barbaric princess in a semi-barbaric kingdom must decide the fate of her accused lover - shall he be rewarded with a new bride or killed by a vicious tiger? In this kingdom is a system of justice in which any accused man must open one of two doors. Behind one door is a beautiful lady, and behind the other is a fierce tiger. The princess in this kingdom is discovered with her lover, and the youth is thrown into prison, for “never before had a subject dared to love the daughter of the king. (9)” Scared for her lover, the princess proceeds to discover the secret of the doors; which one had the lady, and which had the tiger? The author explores the “grievous reveries (22)” and “days and nights of anguished deliberation (25)” in which the princess has to choose which door to tell her lover to choose. Should she let him …show more content…

Three of those reasons include the unique setting created by the author, the entertaining and meaningful theme, and the intense internal conflict suffered by the princess. There are not many stories that successfully accomplish what “The Lady, or the Tiger?” has done in allowing the reader to reflect more on human nature. One of the main reasons the story exists is to make the reader consider all that they know about mankind and the choices many humans make. If the reader believed it was the tiger that came out of the door, then they probably see humanity as cruel and selfish beings. The reverse is true, that if the lady came out the door, then humanity is compassionate and self-sacrificing. It is crucial to consider the author’s final question at the end of the story, and for you to ask yourself, which do you believe came out of the door. Was it the lady, or the tiger? The answer to that can only come from deep consideration and

Show More
Related

Tears Of A Tiger By Sharon Mraper Sparknotes

550 Words | 3 Pages

Sharon M. Draper, in the book Tears of a Tiger, writes about four teenage boys from Hazelwood High School and how the tragedy of one of the boy’s death ends another… After a big basketball game the boys go out and share a cold pack of beer with each other; only one of them didn’t drink, they were being reckless boys, And because the driver was drinking and driving they had a serious accident; crashing into a wall the car caught on fire, and one of the boy’s (Rob) died that night because he became stuck in the car, Andy, Rob’s best friend tried to help him out of the car but B.J didn’t let him, he saw that the car was going to catch on fire. (9).

Read More

Tiger's Life In My Louisiana Sky By Kimberly Willis Holt

778 Words | 4 Pages

Out of grief, Tiger’s mother stays in her room and cries while her sister Dorie Kay seems to resort to keeping busy to deal with her sadness. Nevertheless, life moves on in Saitter, and although it pains her, Tiger must move on too, but she will never forget the memories she has had with her beloved

Read More

Semibarbaric Futurity Quotes

166 Words | 1 Pages

It is most likely that the Tiger came out of the door because the Princess was too jealous of the Lady that the Criminal/Lover might’ve married. After the princess had bribed the guards who ran the Tiger/Lady arena, she found out what each door had behind it. She didn’t share this information with the Lover, so that she could choose what was best. She wouldn’t want him to live with the lady, as she thought, “Would it not be better for him to die at once, and go to wait for her in the blessed regions of semibarbaric futurity?” (Stockton 36).

Read More

Short Story: Old Pillow Pets

267 Words | 2 Pages

The door stands for comfort, shutting out the world to be alone in her own shelter to be confined with love. Fairy lights surround the ceiling making the whole room light up so she can see everything around her so clear to her naked eye. Old pillow pets and Jonas Brother blankets that her friends had given her hang in the closet not touched for years. Clothing items appear

Read More

The Husband's Secret Short Story

2322 Words | 10 Pages

The story has a concealed tale of sensitivity and forgiveness and yet also talks about the aftermath of the actions and decisions taken without knowledge. The book draws us in from the starting with the mystery of the letter as we all would want to know what is written inside. Once the letter was opened and the secret was revealed, the story took a much unexpected turn of events. The author has an enormous eye for detail, and nothing is wasted in the complexity of the story.

Read More

Ryiah Short Stories

1602 Words | 7 Pages

Now, Ryiah is all alone, no one and nothing to protect her, not even a knife. Ryiah wandered endlessly through the trees and shrubs when a phoenix launched out of the bushes nearby taking Ryiah to the ground. Ryiah, terrified, struggles to escape but no luck, at this point Ryiah gives up and accepts death. Just as the phoenix was about to take a bite out of her neck and she was accepting death, a tiger, not any tiger, but a saber tooth tiger leaped over the bushes surrounding and dove into

Read More

Life Of Pi And The Tyger Comparison Essay

1007 Words | 5 Pages

Did you know that you could compare any two entities and they will always have some similar traits? You could examine two completely opposite things and find similarities between them. For instance, Heaven and Hell are considered to be completely opposite, but one could say that a similarity between the two is that they are worlds which exist in the afterlife. Deliberately or not, Martel's novel, Life of Pi, and Blake's poem, The Tyger, have countless similarities and differences to each other. Similarities among the two consist of the element of ferocity through the tigers and the involvement of the supernatural, while the differences include the perspective of the tigers.

Read More

The Lady Or The Tiger

126 Words | 1 Pages

Who do you think the princess chose? The Lady or the Tiger? The story “The Lady or the Tiger?” by Frank R. Stockton is a short story about a princess who makes a very important decision. The princess is dating a man for the first time, and because of this the King gets nervous and as soon as he found this out he put the man on trial. During the trial the man has a choice between a door with a lady and a door with a fierce, hungry tiger.

Read More

Lady Or The Tiger

493 Words | 2 Pages

Have you ever read a story, in where, it never explicitly answers a question? That is the case in the short story “The Lady or the Tiger?” by Frank R. Stockton. In the short story, the author introduces us to a semi-barbaric king who has a system of both entertainment and “justice” (crime). The way the system works is, the criminal chooses between two doors. In one doors lies a tiger and in the other a fair maiden, waiting to be wed to the criminal in her “social class”.

Read More

Grief In Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

568 Words | 3 Pages

The way out of grief is through it. The loss of Pi’s family is big for him to go through and it is important to him that he makes himself not think about it too much. In the book Life of Pi, by Yann Martel gives the reader two stories of how Pi survives in the sea. Despite the two stories told by Pi in the book the reader can assume that one of the stories is true and one is not. Pi explains that the story with animals makes him feel better, since Pi went through this gruesome shipwreck and the death of his family.

Read More

Cinderella Alternate Ending

786 Words | 4 Pages

The door was flung open to reveal the secret that it had been holding. The anxious onlookers within the arena leaned in their seats, trying to catch a better glimpse of the consequence, as the princess’s face was white with nervousness. Even the king was fidgeting in his seat with excitement, although he did not care of what was to come. Either way, this man would be released from his life. His barbaric side was happy with his past decisions and he was to live with his daughter forevermore.

Read More

The Lady Or The Tiger Analysis

717 Words | 3 Pages

The story “ The Lady, or the Tiger” is by Frank R. Stockton. This story takes places in the medieval when king and queen mostly rule, however in this story they don 't have a queen. They have a princess who is about to endure a whole lot of thinking and heartbreaking. Even though, the princess loved her lover she might have sent him to the tiger’s cage. How the trail worked is the accused person will enter an arena on x date and choose between two doors one with have a tiger or woman; The lady means the accused is innocent and is married at once, however, if the accused picks the tiger that means he/she is guilty and will be torn apart.

Read More

What Does Kipling Mean By 'A Female Of The Species'?

1247 Words | 5 Pages

Rudyard Kipling’s poem The Female of the Species has had a great cultural impact, with the title and refrain “The female of the species is more deadly than the male” being seen widely throughout popular culture since its first publication in the Morning Post in 1911. Whilst the poem has been lauded for the presentation of women having “A greater adventurous spirit and more courage than the man,” [1] when one looks deeper Kipling’s distinctly Victorian views of the female of the species are brought to light. The Female of the Species portrays a world where women remain the property of men.

Read More

The Princess's Choice In 'The Lady Or The Tiger'

760 Words | 4 Pages

Being semi-barbaric the princess could watch the death of her lover and his death would not affect her as much as it affected others; she would be used to seeing blood and. Also, if she was like her father in the way of being fair and the fact that her lover is guilty of the crime, it would is more likely that the princess would choose the tiger. If her love was true, she would have already made up her mind. The time she took, making her decision shows that her love was not as strong or as true as we imagined it to be. Therefore, she would be more likely to choose the tiger because she was semi-barbaric like her

Read More

Argumentative Essay: The Lady And The Tiger

599 Words | 3 Pages

Lady and the Tiger Argumentative Essay “She knew in which of the two rooms that lay behind those doors stood the cage of the tiger, and which waited the lady.” Which did she choose? In Frank Stockton's short story, the Lady and the Tiger, the lovely princess loves deeply for a man, but now that her father has found out she is with a man in a lower social class, she had to witness her soul mate be sentenced to her father’s coliseum. The princess loves this man greatly, but she is scared that she would have to watch her lover being mauled by a tiger or fall in love with a woman that she deeply despises.

Read More

More about The Lady, Or The Tiger? By Frank R. Stockton

Related Topics

Open Document