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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What is an example of personification in "The Lady, or the Tiger?" by Frank R. Stockton?

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An example of personification in "The Lady, or the Tiger?" is the amphitheater, described as an "agent of poetic justice," suggesting it can exercise judgment. This personification shifts responsibility from the king to the amphitheater itself, highlighting how the king absolves himself of responsibility for the justice system. Other instances include the "doleful iron bells" and "gay brass bells," which are attributed emotions, and the heart leading its possessor through "devious mazes of passion."

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As the previous educator answer states, the amphitheater which the king builds in this story is personified as an "agent" which delivers justice. More than this, even the king's own "exuberant and barbaric fancy" is personified as something so powerful as to be almost separate from the king himself, capable of "asserting itself."

Later in the text, we can find other examples. The "doleful iron bells" which ring out in the arena, for example, are personified in that they themselves are not literally "doleful"—they are not capable of feeling this kind of emotion—but the writer ascribes that emotion to them, rather than to the person hearing their sound. The same applies later to the "gay brass bells" which elicit an opposite emotion in the listener.

Towards the end of the story, the human heart is also personified, imagined as something which can lead its possessor "through devious mazes of passion."...

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In this example, the heart represents the whole person, making it an example of synecdoche also. Synecdoche is when one part of something is used to represent the whole thing.

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One example of personification in "The Lady, or the Tiger?" by Frank R. Stockton is the following:

This vast amphitheater. . . was an agent of poetic justice, in which crime was punished, or virtue rewarded, by the decrees of an impartial and incorruptible chance.

The amphitheater itself is described as a person who can exercise judgment and bring about justice, so an inanimate object is personified (that is, made into a living being). In this example, the amphitheater becomes the agent of justice, rather than the king, which suggests the king does not really accept responsibility for the terrible system of justice he established. Instead, the building itself, with its constantly changing doors containing a maiden on one side and a tiger on the other, becomes the instrument of justice. The personification in this story is a deliberate choice the author makes to emphasize the way in which the king absolves himself of blame for the barbaric system he has established.

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What is an example of a metaphor in "The Lady, or the Tiger?" by Frank Stockton?

Stockton uses the semi-extended metaphor of heat and fire to describe the princess in "The Lady, or the Tiger?":

Think of it, fair reader, not as if the decision of the question depended upon yourself, but upon that hot-blooded, semi-barbaric princess, her soul at a white heat beneath the combined fires of despair and jealousy.

The princess burns metaphorically as she watches her lover in the arena and imagines the outcome behind either door. She fears the claws and teeth of the tiger gnashing at the beautiful youth beneath her. She also fears the look upon his face should a fair and lovely lady emerge instead—joyous. Her despair and jealousy raise her naturally hot-blooded temperament to a white heat, which is a term used to describe something that has attained a tremendously high temperature, or a tremendously intense state of passion.

The cruel will of “fairness” compels the condemned to a game of chance. She, however, has lifted the veil of “fairness” and learned which door guards which terror. Her lover knows she has, because he knows her nature, and it assures him. She knows that he knows and that he will follow her subtle instruction. He does so without hesitation. The reader is left to decide whether she's chosen despair or jealousy.

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One metaphor used in "The Lady or the Tiger?" by Frank Stockton is the following:

"The vast amphitheater, with its encircling galleries, its mysterious vaults, and its unseen passages, was an agent of poetic justice, in which crime was punished, or virtue rewarded, by the decree of an impartial and incorruptible chance" (Stockton 2).

Here, the arena is compared to "an agent of poetic justice." Men are punished or rewarded not because they are guilty or innocent, but because of the door they choose in the arena. It's somewhat reminiscent of the Salem Witch Trials, when suspected witches were held under water. If they drowned, they were innocent, and if they didn't, they were burned at the stake. Nobody survived, innocent or not. Of course, in "The Lady or the Tiger?" the accused have a 50/50 chance of getting out alive, but if they do, they are forced to marry a woman they may not love. Some poetic justice!  The king thought his system perfect, and what semi-barbarian doesn't love celebrating a wedding or watching a man get torn limb to limb by a tiger?  Yikes!  

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