Imagine a society with a semi-barbaric ruler who envisions cruel, horrific ideas that come true and where chance is more prominent than the law. The short story “The Lady or the Tiger?”, written by Frank R. Stockton, describes a semi-barbaric ruler whose visions become reality, and his daughter, the princess, faces a troublesome situation between losing her lover to the woman she hates or being eaten by the tiger. The author, Frank R. Stockton creates the central idea that love doesn't always bring happiness so he can establish the writing strategy of conflict. Love cannot always achieve happiness. Frank R. Stockton uses conflict throughout the story to describe the dilemma the princess is facing. For example, “But how much …show more content…
In other words, she couldn't imagine her lover being in a serious relationship with another woman if he picked the door with the beautiful woman. This textual evidence implies how much the princess struggles to choose to lead her lover to a door that leads to regret and happiness or relief and jealousy. She couldn’t imagine her man with another woman yet didn’t want him to die by being eaten by the lion. The princess is furious and indecisive as she faces this external conflict. This shows how being in love truly can’t bring happiness. The princess and man are truly in love, but since her father caught them, the man has to face the consequences provided by the arena. This detail overall causes the princess and her lover not to be in a happy relationship anymore. Another example from the text is, “Her decision had been indicated in an instant, but it had been made after days and nights of anguished deliberation” (Paragraph 25). In other words, the princess put a lot of thought and effort into her decision to help her lover. This detail emphasizes how much the princess was