king's daughter).

With the jealousy of the princess who has seen her lover talking with another maiden conflicting with her "ardor that had enough of barbarism in it to make it exceedingly warm and strong," there is much ambiguity regarding to which door she will point.  So, when Stockton abruptly ends the narrative and "leaves" the "question of her decision" to the reader, the reader becomes not only passively, but actively, involved in the story.  This involvement, then, opens discussion upon not only the ending, but Stockton's more subtle intentions in writing such a story.  For instance, some critics, such as Henry Golomba believed that Stockton made use of "cosmic metaphors" in the story:  the young man represents an everyman and the arena is a figure of life itself (enotes).  

At any rate, not only is the narrative exciting with the semi-barbarism of the king and princess giving an ironic edge to the traditional fairy tale, but there are enjoyable opportunities for much debate and discussion on Stockton's tale. 

Did you find the story "The Lady or the Tiger?" appealing?  If so, what did you most enjoy about it?  Only you can answer why you found it an enjoyable story to read. On a more universal note, this is a story which has been read and re-read for over a century.  That means there's something there worth reading.  Most people do like this story because it's so unbelievable and barbaric--and yet it's kind of a mesmerizing idea.  There's suspense--which door will he open and what will be behind it?  There's forbidden love--a semi-barbaric princess in love with a lowly chauffeur.   There's a fairy tale element--kings and princesses and kingdoms.  There's a scary element--a voracious tiger waiting to devour a hapless victim.  There's jealousy and the potential of death behind every door--literally.  There's a chance to write your own ending to the story. And more.  What's not to love?

This kind of question is always difficult to answer as we can never get inside an author's mind. But in the case of Frank Stockton and "The Lady or the Tiger?" we can reasonably surmise that he wanted to surprise, delight, and entertain his audience.

The way he chose to do that was through writing a deliberately ambiguous ending, which somewhat backfired given that many readers felt cheated by the lack of resolution. But at the very least, he set his readers an almighty puzzle, one that successive generations have been trying to solve ever since.

Ask yourself this question: would the story have garnered quite as much critical attention and debate had its ending been conventional? Surely not. What Stockton, as with all authors, wanted was for his writing to be disseminated to as wide an audience as possible. And what better way to do that than to tease the reader with a deliberately ambiguous ending to one of his best stories?

"The Lady or the Tiger" is a perennial favorite in classrooms across the world. Part of its popularity is because of Stockton's ambiguous ending; even fifty years later each reader can reach a different conclusion as the finish the short story. However, look into the story's themes and you will find timeless themes the continue to confront the modern reader.

• Betrayal and jealousy.

The princess could have betrayed her love because she doesn't want to see him with another woman. True, this would have resulted in her lover being killed by the tiger, but do we not continue to see movies where one lover kills another to prevent them from moving on to another?  The woman selected to be the bride was described as "one of the fairest and loveliest of the damsels of the court..." perhaps the princess would not want her lover to leave her for such a beautiful woman? Before their affair was discovered, the princess deeply loved the man.  It is plausible to believe that she would have been jealous of the courtier.