THE LADY OR THE TIGER? Short story summary

 THE LADY OR THE TIGER?

'The Lady, or the Tiger?' by Frank R. Stockton was first published in The Century magazine in 1882. The story begins by introducing a king in an unnamed kingdom who was considered fairly barbaric, but loved to live an exuberant lifestyle, throwing lavish parties and spending tons of money. He belonged to the seventeenth century. His arena contained two doors. A terrible tiger was behind one door and a charming lady awaited behind the other door. If the man opened the first door, he would be invariably killed by the tiger. If he was fortunate enough to open the other door, the woman waiting behind it would be married to him .

The king is impartial. When an ordinary courtier falls in love with the king's daughter, he is also subjected to the routine punishment. On an appointed day, he has to open one of the two doors in the arena.

The princess is most possessive. She cannot tolerate her lover being looked at or talked to by any other woman. She has seen the lady in the court eyeing her lover amorously and even daring to talk to him. The princess is biding for an opportunity to get rid of her rival. She bribes the officer in charge of the doors and finds out where the tiger and the lady are stationed. The lover looks at the princess, expecting her to give him a clue as to which door is safe for him to open. The princess does raise her hand by way of a signal. But is it intended to help him escape from the lion and marry the lady or is it the other way about?

The author leaves it to the reader to guess. The princess being monstrously possessive, her signal is certainly meant to get the unsuspecting lover killed by the tiger. She would rather have him die than live with her rival. She is much more ferocious than the tiger.The overall story is an allegory for the reader's definitions of justice and fate. The door represents fate, while the tiger represents punishment and even death. The lady represents reward and innocence.


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