The Lady Or The Tiger Comparison

Sybesma, Chacey

07 March 2017

Dr.Chesnut

World Lit II, MW 8am Frank Stockton’s “The Lady or the Tiger”

In Frank Stockton's "The Lady or the Tiger?" a young man, the forbidden lover of a princess, is sentenced to a trial by ordeal: in front of thousands of onlookers, he must choose between two doors. Behind one waits a tiger, behind the other waits a lovely maiden. Only the princess herself possesses the knowledge that will save her lover's life, though in doing so, she will send him into the arms of another woman. Stockton leaves whether or not she saves her beau to the reader's imagination. The movie Gladiator also revolves around public spectacle and matters of justice and injustice. The main character, Maximus, a respected general

However, the short story and the movie also have some significant differences. In "The Lady or the Tiger?" the justice in the arena is harsh but fair. Every man has a 50-50 chance, no matter how the king might feel personally about the allegations or the accused criminal. As the king watches his daughter's lover entering the arena, for instance, Stockton tells us his thoughts: "No matter how the affair turned out, the youth would be disposed of [through marriage or death]; and the king would take an aesthetic pleasure in watching the course of events, which would determine whether or not the young man had done wrong in allowing himself to love the princess" (71). In Gladiator, however, Emperor Commodus does his best to preclude any chance of Maximus winning in the arena. For instance, he deliberately pits Maximus against a retired champion and, unbeknownst to Maximus, arranges for a tiger to be placed in the arena as well. Through great skill, Maximus wins that battle. Commodus decides to fight Maximus himself, however before the fight, he stabs Maximus in the chest and orders the guards to hide the wound the mob. He only wants to give the appearance of a fair fight. Maximus actually winning is an outcome that is unacceptable to

"The Lady or the Tiger?" is deliberately ambiguous, not just in its famous ending but also in more mundane details such as time period, character names, and locations (Golemba 144). Stockton clearly bridled at the idea of providing the reader with too much information, in essence doing the reader's work for him or her. When hundreds of frustrated readers wrote to Stockton demanding to know whether the princess had saved her lover or sent him to his death, Stockton replied patiently, "If you decide which it was-the lady or the tiger-you find out what kind of person you are yourself" (qtd. in Golemba 40). Thus, "The Lady or the Tiger?" is a kind of Rorschach (i.e., inkblot) test. It sets the scene, addresses the possibility, and then invites the reader to discover his or her own motives. A young boy who was once over-controlled grew into a writer who refused to control his readers. Gladiator, on the other hand, leaves little to the viewer's imagination. The viewer is carefully informed of every plot twist, every motive, and every outcome. Even the traditional veil of mystery surrounding life after death is breached. The viewer sees Maximus in the afterlife, returning to his beloved home and family. In other words, Gladiator tells the viewer exactly what to think; whereas "The Lady or the Tiger?" forces the reader to rely on his or her own beliefs and