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1. 
   lit24 Teacher
   Doctorate

   eNotes Editor

   The impartiality in the method of meting out the punishment reveals that the king is fair and honest.  However, the fact that no witnesses are examined  nor is the criminal  given a chance to prove his innocence indicate the barbaric and sadist side of his character. Moreover, falling in love with the king's daughter is not a crime and subjecting the handsome  young lover of the princess to the same cruel method of criminal justice indicates that the king is barbaric. Further, even the method of rewarding the 'innocent' person by forcing him to marry another  woman even if he were already married or if he were in love with another woman  is certainly not a civilsed method of rewarding an 'innocent' person. Most significantly, the entire process is purely a matter of chance, because by the king's method, even innocent persons can be killled when that person mistakenly opens the door of the chamber in which the tiger is kept or guilty persons rewarded if they opened the door of the room in which the beautiful woman whom they could marry was waiting: "crime was punished, or virtue rewarded, by the decrees of an impartial and incorruptible chance."  Lastly, the king's barbaric nature is revealed by the fact that he shows no mercy to any of the prisoners:"there was no escape from the judgments of the king's arena."

    

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   Posted by lit24 on Sunday January 25, 2009 at 5:29 AM
   
   

2. 
   cartoon Student
   High School - 9th Grade

   he is gulity

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   Posted by cartoon on Thursday October 15, 2009 at 6:05 PM