The Lady, or the Tiger? | Frank R. Stockton: A Critical Biography
In the following excerpt, Martin I. J. Griffin provides a plot synopsis of "The Lady, or the Tiger?" and an analysis of its central theme of choices and consequences.
The essence of the popularity of "The Lady, or the Tiger?" lay solely in the unanswered, perhaps unanswerable, human problem which Stockton propounded. In a semi-barbaric kingdom, in an unspecified olden time, a monarch of quixotic humor tries offenders against the royal dignity, or against the law, by chance. In a great arena, behind different doors through which no sound can travel, are placed a beautiful woman and a ferocious tiger. The offender is thrust alone into the arena, and permitted to choose which door he shall open. If, happily, the accused man chooses the door behind which...
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