About “The Lady, or the Tiger?”
The plot of the story:“The Lady, or the Tiger?” takes place around a great semi-barbaric king who takes pride in making the ‘crooked straight.” This great king owns a large public arena in which he uses not to for the joys of gladiators or religious fights, but to create justice among his ordinary subjects. The purpose of this arena was not to settle disputes, but refine and culture the subject in question. The king called it an “agent of poetic justice, in which crime was punished, or virtue was rewarded, by the decrees of an impartial and incorruptible chance.”
If one of the king’s subjects was found accused of a worthy crime, they would be notified by the court. On the specified day they would appear in the King’s arena. Standing in the center of the arena, there would be two doors in front of the accused criminal. Out of one door, out would come a fierce tiger that would take the subject’s life. Out of the other door, there would be the most beautiful bride in all of the land and they would be wed on the spot. It would not matter if the man was already married or not, nothing would interfere with the king’s justice. The fairness in the game is that no one, not the criminal or the crowd, ever knows which one will come out of either door. It is all left to chance.
The semi-barbaric king also has a beautiful daughter who is similar in his semi-barbaric and imperious ways. This makes her his pride and joy. One day, she falls in love with one of the King’s courtiers who handsome, the bravest man in the kingdom, and unfortunately a commoner. They held an affair for many months until the king discovered it and banished her lover to the prison; in which he would later be sent to the arena to discover his fate.
Possessed with the semi-barbaric ways and her own power, the princess arrived and sat next to her father the day of her lover’s conviction. As he stood in the arena, he looked to her instead of her father, as was custom. Secretly, the princess knew who stood behind each of those fateful doors that her lover was about to open. Not only did she know which door was the tiger and which was the lady, she knew the lady. It was one of the most beautiful ladies of the court, whom the princess hated. Often, she had seen the lady throwing glances at and talking to her lover; jealousy was evident in the princess’s eyes.
When her lover looked upon her eyes and her pale face, he could see that she knew what was behind each door. His look asked her, “Which?” His life was in her right hand. In an instant, she pointed to the right door without anyone seeing.
Her lover turned back to the doors and opened the right one.
So who did the princess lead him to? The lady, or the tiger?
The author asks you to put yourself in the princess’s shoes and follow your heart and your passions. Imagine being a semi-barbaric princess engulfed in jealousy and despair.
The princess spent countless nights dreaming of her lover being torn apart by a gruesome tiger. She also imagined the joy crossing his face as he saw his new bride as he opened the other door. The pain it would bring her to witness their happy marriage. So would she be happier seeing him only love her and die happy? She decided only as he glanced at her, but it was after nights of tormenting dreams.
So the author leaves you with the question:“Which came out of the opened door- the lady, or the tiger?”