The Lady Or The Tiger Analysis

Love and jealousy are two of the absolute strongest emotions. The power that these feelings behold is of immense value, often engendering us to make decisions that would not be made from a neutral standpoint. In the brilliant short story, "The Lady, or the Tiger," Frank R. Stockton tells the tale of a "semibarbaric king" (p. 12), his magnanimous arena, and his daughter, the princess, just as zealous as he. Nonetheless, this grandiose arena is not one built "to give the people an opportunity of hearing the rhapsodies of dying gladiators, nor to enable them to view the inevitable conclusion of a conflict between religious opinions," but to do what is even greater: to determine justice in front of many. Within the arena, there were two doors, one of which a ferocious tiger would come

out of, devouring the victim who dared approach him, and the latter of which a beautiful lady would come out of, wedding the victim at first sight. A strange method it was, one that wasn't of much importance to anyone but those who the King tried until the discovery of his daughter's lover. A man of supreme looks and class was this lover, but that was of no value to the king, and without even the slightest thought, the man was sent to be tried in the arena. The princess knew what was located behind each of the doors but directs him to the right. She knew the young man could be either devoured, ending his life, or wed to a lovely lady, creating a couple with the potential for incredible chemistry, conceivably even higher than that of the princess and the man. The princess was a woman of semi-brutal nature like her father, despised the lady behind the door, and clearly wasn’t experiencing the true love that would coerce her to choose the door that the woman was behind. Accordingly, it is only feasible that the tiger came out of the door. Envy has the ability to manipulate a conflict like the one at stake. With such context, however, jealousy indubitably influenced the King's daughter, persuading her to make the dismaying aforementioned choice. 

The "winning reputation" that love is often given attributes to the themes that mankind is looking for within their literature and film; this is not exactly akin to what the reality of the situation would be. The princess of "The Lady, or the Tiger?" Is explicitly described by Stockton on p.14 as "a daughter as blooming as his most florid fancies, and with a soul as fervent and imperious as his own." She too was semibarbaric, sprouting with ideas that could certainly be cruel. With such peculiar hereditary traits, having the effrontery to direct her lover to the door of which a voracious tiger is behind would not be out of the realm of possibilities for this young princess. Indeed, it would be a rather likely decision for the king's daughter to make––for the above reasons and many more. And Stockton does insinuate on p. 18, "think of it (the decision), fair reader, not as if the decision of the question depended upon yourself, but upon that hot-blooded, semibarbaric princess, her soul at a white heat beneath the combined fires of despair and jealousy..." The decision that was made was undeniably one out of an amplified expression of envy.

"And not only did she know in which room stood the lady ready to emerge, all blushing and radiant, should her door be opened, but she knew who the lady was," the author indicates on p. 17. "It was one of the fairest and loveliest of the damsels of the court who had been selected as the reward of the accused youth, should he be proved innocent of the crime of aspiring to one so far above him; and the princess hated her." If one is heavily disliked to the point where they are hated––where they are absolutely loathed, it would only make sense that they would want nothing to do with them, nor want their significant other to have anything to do with them, especially in the foregoing scenario–one of love. The princess did love the young man, but he and the fair lady behind the door had a budding romance yearning to blossom into something more. The text confirms this on p. 17, reading: "Often had she seen, or imagined that she had seen, this fair creature throwing glances of admiration upon the person of her lover, and sometimes she thought these glances were perceived and even returned. For a princess who is entranced by her partner but despises the lady whom he may become attached to, jealousy is a rather sensible response. Moreover, the King’s daughter’s eventual reaction to the situation, her direction of the young man to the door of the tiger, aligns well with her personality traits as well as her vehement feelings. Thus her aforesaid fear, not of losing the man but of the thought of him in another relationship, will never occur, for she opened the door of which the tiger was behind.

True love is an intense concept that many still have yet to grasp.

There are factors upon factors that make true love purer and more romantic than any other form of love, and they are not to be taken lightly. Simply stated, the young man and princess’ relationship was not true love, but experimentation and discovery. If the princess unconditionally loved this man, she would feel the need to intervene during his trial. She would not experience a desire, particularly a forceful desire, to be envious and suspicious on the young man’s behalf, but she was. “With all the intensity of the savage blood transmitted to her through long lines of wholly barbaric ancestors,” Stockton notes on p.17, “she hated the woman who blushed and trembled behind the silent door,” and the princess absolutely did, but she still attended the sadistic trial. The author further explains the princess’ harsh temperament on page 17, remarking that “had it not been for the moiety of barbarism in her nature it is probable that lady would not have been there.” Notwithstanding the ardor the King’s daughter felt around her lover, their relationship was merely a short-lived infatuation due to the statements above and

further.

It is fair to say that love and jealousy are these complex, intangible ideas that we may never truly understand. Nevertheless, a point that can be grasped is that the princess’ jealousy surpassed her “love” on that conflicting day, and the King’s daughter purposely directed her incognizant lover to the tiger. He was devoured, but the two would’ve eventually been able to live together “in the blessed regions of semibarbaric futurity,” the author namely states on page 18. All of the many contributing factors put together just lead to say that the young man’s life was not worth sparing for another woman. The decision was inhumane but it was the decision that was surely made.