The Lady Of The Tiger Character Analysis

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Which would be the lesser evil: being mauled to death by a ferocious tiger or being forcibly married to a stranger? In the short story “The Lady of the Tiger” by Frank R. Stockton, a semi-barbaric king rules a kingdom in which the citizens are judged of their innocence in a trial where they would, by chance, be immediately rewarded with marriage to a beautiful damsel or punished with death by a tiger. When the king 's daughter is caught in a love affair with a young man, the king sentences her lover to a trial and the princess, armed with the knowledge of which door leads to each option, must make a decision as to which way she will point him towards on the fateful day. Through the character traits of being lovestruck and determined, the princess highlights the way love muddles one 's judgement. To begin, the princess is madly in love with the young man. However, the princess suspects that one of the damsels in the court having some sort of relationship with her lover. It is said that “[the princess] had seen, or imagined she had seen, [the lady] throwing glances of admiration upon the person of her lover, and sometimes she thought those glances were perceived, even returned” (Stockton 4). Clearly, the princess feels suspicious of the lady because of her love for the man. She wants her lover to be only hers, so when she sees her lover interacting with another woman, naturally, she cautious around the lady, as she thinks there is something going on between the two of