Since Stockton's story "The Lady, or the Tiger?" was published in 1882, society may not have been ready to think of a woman in such a violent situation. However, if one were to analyze the king in the story, it might be discovered that the king probably would treat women just the same in this situation. The king is described as semi-barbaric and exuberant. He also never changed his mind when someone was thrown into the arena; hence, if a woman were to fall into the king's hands, she too would face the option of marrying a man she didn't know or dying under a tiger's claws.