two doorways with an elegant woman standing in one and a large tiger head in the other

The Lady, or the Tiger?

by Francis Richard Stockton

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"The Lady, or the Tiger?" Analysis of Plot, Setting, Characters, and Conflicts

Summary:

"The Lady, or the Tiger?" is set in a semi-barbaric kingdom ruled by a tyrannical king who administers justice through a choice between two doors: one hides a tiger, the other a maiden. The main conflict revolves around the king's daughter, who must decide whether to direct her lover to the door with the tiger or the maiden. The princess's internal struggle between jealousy and love is central, leaving the story unresolved as the lover's fate remains unknown. The king, courtier, and lady are static characters, while the princess is potentially dynamic, influenced by her emotions and decisions.

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What is the setting, conflict, and sequence of events in "The Lady, or the Tiger?" Who are the main and supporting characters?

The setting of the story is an unnamed, imaginary kingdom of ancient times, ruled by what the narrator calls tongue-in-cheek, a "semi-barbaric" king. In fact, the king, as the narrator's exposition of him shows, is fully a barbaric tyrant, ready to impose his will no matter what the cost or how irrational his idea. More specifically, most of the story is set in the arena in which "justice" is meted out in his kingdom before a huge audience.

The story's main conflict rages within the king's daughter's heart. Her beloved has been accused of the crime of being in love with her, which is potentially deserving of death because she is so above his station. This means he will have to face the king's system of "poetic" justice. He has to choose between two doors. Behind one is a ravenous tiger who will eat him alive. Behind the other is...

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a beautiful maiden who he will marry to great fanfare if he chooses it. The princess has discovered what will lurk behind each door. She will signal to her beloved what door to pick. However, we never know if it is the door with the tiger or the door with the beautiful maiden. Is she willing to sacrifice herself to save him by watching him marry another woman, or would she prefer he be ripped to shreds?

The sequence of the story goes as follows: We first learn about the king and his system of justice. Then the story zooms into the specifics of the beautiful daughter, her beloved, and the trial that faces him. After that, a great deal of detail is offered about the suspenseful day of the trial, with the huge crowd assembled to watch what door the lover picks. We see him look anxiously at the princess for guidance. We see her indicate that he should pick the right door, and we follow him as he moves without hesitation and opens the door.

Then, suddenly, the action stops. The narrator breaks in and without telling us the outcome, describes the princess's anguish over her decision, then ends without a conclusion:

The question of her decision is one not to be lightly considered, and it is not for me to presume to set myself up as the one person able to answer it. And so I leave it with all of you: Which came out of the opened door,—the lady, or the tiger?

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Who are the static and dynamic characters in "The Lady, or the Tiger?"

The king, the lady, and the young, handsome courtier are depicted as static characters. Their personalities and perspectives do not change throughout the story, and they do not undergo a significant internal change like a dynamic character. One could argue that the princess is the only dynamic character in Stockton's celebrated short story. The princess is portrayed as being semi-barbaric, like her father, and is initially in love with the young courtier. Her father eventually learns about their relationship and orders the courtier to stand trial in his infamous amphitheater, where the courtier will have to decide what door to choose. Behind one door is a ferocious tiger, and behind the other door is a lovely maiden. When the princess learns the identity of the beautiful maiden, she recalls her lover sharing glances with the maiden and becomes overwhelmed with jealousy and hatred. The princess's change in character and perspective is what makes her a dynamic character. Given Stockton's vivid description of the jealous, resentful princess, many readers believe that she directed the courtier to open the door with the tiger behind it at the end of the story. If this is the case, the princess is certainly a dynamic character, whose opinion and feelings of the young courtier dramatically change from love to hate.

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What are the direct and indirect characterizations of the Courtier and the king in "The Lady, or the Tiger"?

In "The Lady, or the Tiger?" there really are only three major characters.  The princess is the primary character, of course, but she and her actions are clearly influenced by the two characters you mention in your question--the king (her father) and the courtier (her lover).  Each of them is clearly characterized by both the description of the narrator (direct) as well as their actions (indirect).

The king is, indeed, semi-barbaric.  We know that because the narrator describes him this way in direct characterization:

He was a man of exuberant fancy, and, withal, of an authority so irresistible that, at his will, he turned his varied fancies into facts.... When every member of his domestic and political systems moved smoothly in its appointed course, his nature was bland and genial; but, whenever there was a little hitch, and some of his orbs got out of their orbits, he was blander and more genial still, for nothing pleased him so much as to make the crooked straight and crush down uneven places.

Indirectly, we know he is semi-barbaric because he creates this spectacularly unjust and vicious form of "justice," because he blandly sentences the man his daughter loves to this court of justice, and because he is able to sit and watch without feeling the consequences of his actions.

The courtier is, the narrator says in direct characterization, a perfect example of a classic romantic hero; and it's not surprising the princess falls for him.

[He] was a young man of that fineness of blood and lowness of station common to the conventional heroes of romance who love royal maidens. This royal maiden was well satisfied with her lover, for he was handsome and brave to a degree unsurpassed in all this kingdom....

Indirectly, we know that he dared to love a princess and that he was not surprised to get caught and be placed in the arena for justice.  The best indicator of his character (which comes through indirect characterization) is the fact that he knew the princess would find out which door held the tiger and which held the fairest maiden in the land--and was willing to allow her to decide his fate.  That is a stunning display of trust; and, given the princess's semi-barbaric tendencies, he has to know it's possible this will be his last act on earth.  

The reason the reader truly does not know which door he will open is due to the courtier as much as the princess.  We know the war which is raging in her between despair at losing her lover and awful jealousy at the thought of losing him to another woman.  What is going though the courtier's mind is hidden from us except for one clear fact--he knows she will have the secret of the doors.  It's his decisive move to the door she indicates (again, indirect characterization) which leaves us in such suspense.   

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What are the direct and indirect characterizations of the main characters in "The Lady, or the Tiger?"

An author uses direct characterization to tell his/her readers what a certain character is like. For example, an author can state that the hero in his novel is fearless, stubborn, or even meticulous. In direct characterization, the author directly reveals to us the personality of the character by using adjectives and other descriptive words and phrases.

For example, we are told that the king in the story is "semi-barbaric" or "barbaric" in nature. He is also said to be a man of "exuberant fancy," with "an authority so irresistible that, at his will, he turned his varied fancies into facts." He is introspective, a man "greatly given to self-communing."

Similarly, his daughter is directly characterized as having the same barbaric nature; she is also "intense and fervid" (passionate) in temperament.

In indirect characterization, an author reveals what a character is like through an account of his/her thoughts, actions, speech, facial expressions, and effect on others. In the story, the king commissions a special amphitheater to be built. According to the text, the king's arena is to be "an agent of poetic justice, in which crime was punished, or virtue rewarded, by the decrees of an impartial and incorruptible chance."

On any given day, an accused lawbreaker must choose between two doors to open in the king's arena. A beautiful maiden stands behind one door and a fearsome tiger behind the other. Here, the king's actions show that he is primarily focused on fulfilling the dictates of his "barbaric idealism." Through the king's actions, the author indirectly shows us that the king is iron-willed and imperious in nature.

In indirect characterization, authors may also reveal to us the thoughts of certain characters. In the story, we are told what the princess thinks of the beautiful maiden who stands behind one of the doors and what she thinks about her lover possibly meeting a violent end. Here are some quotes that reveal to us the princess' thoughts. They tell us much about the kind of person she is:

Often had she seen, or imagined that she had seen, this fair creature throwing glances of admiration upon the person of her lover, and sometimes she thought these glances were perceived, and even returned. 

...with all the intensity of the savage blood transmitted to her through long lines of wholly barbaric ancestors, she hated the woman who blushed and trembled behind that silent door.

How in her grievous reveries had she gnashed her teeth, and torn her hair, when she saw his start of rapturous delight as he opened the door of the lady!

Through her thoughts, we can see that the princess has a jealous and possessive nature. The author ends the story ambiguously; we are left to decide for ourselves whether the princess will succumb to the dictates of her possessive nature or whether she will yield to compassion. The beauty of indirect characterization is that it allows the reader to come to his/her own conclusions about a particular character.

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What is each character's conflict and resolution in "The Lady, or the Tiger?"

Each of the three main characters in “The Lady, or the Tiger?” is faced with a particularly nasty conflict, yet readers never find out exactly how these conflicts are resolved.

The king has the problem of his daughter falling in love with a man of lower birth. This will never do in the king's eyes, so he immediately uses his system of “justice” to resolve the conflict. The princess's lover is forced into the arena, where he must choose between two doors. Behind one door is a tiger, who will devour him at once. Behind the other is a lovely lady, whom he will marry at once. His “guilt” or “innocence” is determined only by the “fate” of his choice. For the king, the problem is solved either way. The princess's lover will be dead or married.

The princess faces a rather different conflict. She has found out which door is which. She knows exactly where the lady is and where the tiger is, and now the life of her beloved is in her hands. She has agonized over which would be worse, seeing him dead or seeing him married. When her lover looks at her for the answer of which door to open, she slightly raises her right hand.

The princess's lover is, of course, in the worst spot of all when it comes to conflict. He is about to get eaten or get married, and he doesn't know which. He knows that the princess is well aware of what is behind those doors, and he trusts her to tell him.

The princess does tell her lover which door to choose, but the story is left unresolved. The narrator asks readers to decide which door really holds the lady and which really holds the tiger. Whether the lover lives or dies, we never know.

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What are the introduction, conflict, climax, and resolution in "The Lady, or the Tiger?"

"The Lady or the Tiger?" by Francis Richard Stockton is a short story, not a business document with clearly demarcated divisions. Such literary terms as introduction, conflict, climax and resolution are not intended to be precise, but rather are ways critics help readers think through a general structure of action or narrative. Since these terms are taken from Aristotle's account of classical Greek tragedy, they cannot really be applied with any precision to a modern short story.

The central conflict in the story has to do with the choice that the princess must make. She loves the young man and can choose for him to be eaten by the tiger or to be married to a beautiful young woman. The end of the introduction is the moment at which the young man enters the arena. The climax of the story is the moment when the princess indicates which door the young man should choose and the young man opens the door. Since the reader is never told whether the lady or the tiger appears, there is no resolution.

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