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| Neb English Notes |
The Lady, or the Tiger? by Frank R. Stockton
Short Story Full Plot Summary
Neb English Notes
The Lady, or the Tiger?
ABOUT THE STORY
The Lady, or the Tiger? by Frank R. Stockton
This short story "The Lady, or the Tiger?" was written by Frank R. Stockton, an American author. This short story was first published in the November issue of The Century Magazine in 1882. This story presents a young man and his trial in the amphitheatre. He is forced to select between two doors: one contains a beautiful woman he will marry and the other contains a tiger who will kill him. He is forced to this trial as a punishment for indulging in a love affair with the king's daughter. There are various themes in the story such as actions and their consequences, the limits of love, the randomness of life, barbarism vs. civilization, justice, and human assumption.
FULL PLOT SUMMARY
The Lady, or the Tiger? by Frank R. Stockton
The story starts with the description of a king who ruled a very long time ago. The king ruled in a very barbaric way. But he was also very calm and friendly to his people. Unlike the Romans who ruled nearby, he didn't have violent events like gladiator fights or killing religious prisoners to entertain his subjects in his kingdom. Instead of that, he held criminal trials in his amphitheatre in a very unique way. These trials were quite popular among his subjects in his kingdom.
The amphitheatre of the king had two separate doors. There was a tiger behind one door and a lady behind the other door. If someone in the kingdom was accused of a crime, they had to go into the amphitheatre. They had to make their selection of one of the doors in front. If they selected the door with the tiger, they would face a terrible death. The king declared them guilty. But if they selected the door with the lady, they were declared innocent. They had to get married right away by a waiting priest. It didn't matter if they were already married. The king wanted his own kind of reward without thinking much about the situation of the newly innocent people.
Once, the king learned about a scandal of his own daughter, the princess. The king became quite furious because the princess had a love affair with a man with lower social status. For the king, it was a big crime. He wanted the young man (the lover) to be on trial in the usual fashion. In that trail, the fiercest tiger was put behind one door and the most beautiful lady in the kingdom behind the other. The amphitheatre was packed with many people. They attended the amphitheatre to see what would happen during the trial.
The princess loved the young man so much. She got the idea regarding the doors. She knew which door had the tiger and which one had the lady. She was quite aware of that beautiful lady. The lady was someone from the king's court. The princess disliked her because the lady was romantically fascinated by the princess's lover. The princess became quite jealous thinking about the lady who was eagerly waiting to marry her young lover.
At the time of trial, the young man moved into the amphitheatre. He bowed to the king as usual. While bowing, he looked at the princess with the hope that she would provide him with a signal which door he should pick. He suspected that she knew which door led to what. The princess quickly pointed to the right, and the young man opened the door on the right. However, it's not very clear what fate the princess had picked for both of them. On one hand, she might have saved his life but would have to endure the pain of seeing him happily married to another lady with whom she was envious. On the other hand, she might have chosen his cruel death and they would both suffer. But eventually, they might reunite in the afterlife.
The story ends here without telling what was behind the door on the right. The audience of the story is left with a question: Did the princess select life or death for her lover?
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