Discussion Topic
Summary and main events of "The Lady, or the Tiger?"
Summary:
"The Lady, or the Tiger?" is a short story about a semi-barbaric king who uses a unique form of justice. A young man falls in love with the king’s daughter and is sentenced to choose between two doors: one hides a tiger, the other a lady. The princess, knowing which door hides what, signals to her lover, but the story ends ambiguously, leaving readers to wonder which fate he meets.
What are the main events in "The Lady, or the Tiger?"
In a fictional kingdom in a past time period (probably the middle ages or earlier), a king has an arena built for criminals. Being only half-barbarian, the king allows criminals sentenced to the arena two doors to pick from: behind one is a beautiful maiden the criminal must marry and behind the other is a ferocious tiger. Essentially, they have to pick between marriage and death. The king views this as rather progressive.
The king's daughter takes a commoner as her lover, which is illegal, so the king sentences the commoner to the arena. The commoner looks to the princess during his sentence, hoping she will give him a clue as to which door to pick. The princess is characterized as being both merciful and jealous. She wants her lover to live, but she also thinks she'd rather see him dead than in another woman's arms (especially the woman behind...
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the door, who is someone the princess hates since she believes she, too, wants her lover). She signals to one door, but the reader never finds out which fate befell the commoner.
What are the main ideas and supporting details of "The Lady, or the Tiger?"
This sounds like a loaded question. I suppose what you (or your teacher) are driving at is that the story line itself is supporting evidence for the hypothesis that anybody can commit a violent act if driven to it. "The catalyst" in this story triggering an act of violence would of course be jealousy, tempting the princess to sacrifice her lover in the arena rather than see him "taken" by another woman.
Whether she actually did it or not is left to the reader's speculation and contemplation.
How does "The Lady, or the Tiger?" begin?
In the exposition of Frank Stockton's short story, "The Lady or the Tiger," the original third person narrator (it would change to first person at the end) informs the reader that this story is set in a "very olden time" in a supposedly mythical kingdom, although he does mention that the kingdom had "Latin neighbors" which suggests it was somewhere either near Italy or Greece and Turkey (the Latin Empire was set up around the city of Constantinople by Crusaders in the 13th century), though it is impossible to identify the reference exactly. In any case, this kingdom is ruled by a "semi-barbaric" king who has complete control ("authority so irresistible"). This semi-barbarism seems to refer to the fact that the king has ideas which are partly civilized but also contain savage elements. It plays itself out in the king's arena of justice. The arena is described as a "vast amphitheater" with "encircling galleries" and "mysterious vaults." Men who stand accused of some crime are taken to the arena where they are given the choice of two doors. Behind one door is a tiger which leaps forward and kills the man. Behind the other door is a lady who quickly becomes the man's wife, whether he already has a wife or not. The trial by arena is popular with the king's subjects and is considered both fair and "incorruptible." Soon, however, the king's daughter is introduced and the story moves forward.