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The Lady or the Tiger?

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A Summary and Analysis of Frank R. Stockton’s ‘The Lady, or the Tiger?’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Lady, or the Tiger?’ is a widely studied short story by the American writer Frank R. Stockton (1834-1902). This classic short story, which was first published in The Century magazine in 1882, began life as a story Stockton told at a party; he published it when it received a strong response from his friends.

In ‘The Lady, or the Tiger?’, we are presented with an ancient system of justice whereby a suspected criminal has to choose one of two doors. Behind one is a lady, whom he will marry; behind the other is a tiger, which will devour him.

Plot summary

Some time in the past, a ‘semi-barbaric’ king has an arena built, in which justice is administered. Any man arrested on suspicion of committing a crime has to choose one of two doors in the amphitheatre, without knowing what is concealed behind the two doors. All he knows is that behind one door is a lady, and behind the other door, a tiger.

Behind one door is a lady, who has been handpicked from the population as a suitable bride for the man. If he chooses this door, he will be married to the lady immediately in a wedding ceremony performed in front of the crowd. Even if he already has a wife, he must marry this new bride and be with her.

The alternative is far worse. For behind the other door is a tiger, which – if he chooses this door – will leap upon him and devour him in front of the audience. This is the king’s way of serving justice in his realm: effectively, he places responsibility for their fate into the criminal’s own hands, although of course it is purely a matter of chance as to which ‘prize’ they get.

One day, the king learns that his daughter, the princess, has fallen in love with a young courtier. He is horrified that a princess could have been led astray by a commoner like this, and he has the young man arrested. It is announced that he will face his justice before the whole kingdom, in the arena, and men are immediately dispatched to find a suitable potential bride for him. Meanwhile, the fiercest tiger in the whole land is sought out.

The princess, who loves the young man, is at the arena on the day of her lover’s ‘sentencing’. When the young man sees the princess, he can tell that she has done as he expected her to do: that she has used money and her powerful status at court to discover which door hides the lady and which the tiger. When he makes eye contact with her, he asks her, ‘Which?’, and she gestures to her right.

So she has signalled which door he should choose. But at this point, the third-person narrator of the story tells us that he cannot tell us whether the princess directed her lover to choose the ‘lady’ door or the ‘tiger’ door. He tells us, though, that she knows the identity of the lady concealed behind one of the doors, and it’s a beautiful lady at court who is clearly attracted to the young man; what’s more, the princess has suspected for a while that her lover likes this lady, too.

So, did she help him to escape the fate of the tiger’s jaws, and effectively give the man she loves to another woman, with whom he will probably be perfectly happy? Or did her jealousy get the better of her, and she gestured to the door behind which the tiger waits to devour him? The narrator leaves this question unanswered, instead encouraging us to think for ourselves about which decision the princess would have made.

In many ways, ‘The Lady, or the Tiger?’ resembles a fable or fairy tale, and indeed the story’s author, Frank R. Stockton, wrote a number of fairy tales for children. But this is a fairy tale with a difference, since Stockton concludes the story without providing us with the final denouement. We are left wondering what the fate of the young man was: did he marry a beautiful woman (albeit not the princess), or was he eaten alive by a tiger?

But in subverting the reader’s expectations on the final page, Stockton is doing more than providing a nice talking-point for dinner-party conversations (to hark back to the supposed origins of the story). Instead, he is tacitly inviting us to pause and consider narrative conventions by taking a step back from the story itself and acknowledging that it is just that: story, narrative, fiction.

The princess, king, and youth who appear in the story never existed, and are merely products of an author’s imagination. So, too, then, are their fates, including the unspecified fate of the youth who loved the princess. Most stories are what the French literary theorist Roland Barthes calls readerly texts: they provide the reader with everything he or she needs to understand the story, and the reader can passively sit back and simply enjoy being entertained.

By contrast, writerly texts – to use Barthes’ term – are those fictions which engage the reader more actively in the events of the story or novel. In a writerly text, the reader will have to work harder to make sense of the narrative. For the most part, critics apply Barthes’ term ‘writerly’ to the works of those authors who deliberately make us work hard from page one: Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, and other modernists.

What is curious about ‘The Lady, or the Tiger?’ is that it begins, in Barthesian terms, as a readerly text, but then at the last moment Stockton subverts our readerly expectations and the story becomes a writerly text, throwing the onus on us to determine what we think happened to the young man.

If Stockton had simply told us that what door the man had opened, we would have been told what the princes had decided to do. But by withholding this crucial piece of narrative information from us, Stockton makes us examine the princess’s mental and emotional state more closely, based on the information we have been given, in order to deduce what she would be most likely to have done.

Of course, we still cannot answer the question posed in the story’s title, ‘The Lady, or the Tiger?’, for certain (and note how even the question mark in the story primes us for a more active role than we might otherwise be used to when reading, or even analysing, a short story). This is what makes the story such a perennial favourite in classrooms: readers are unlikely to reach a consensus on what the princess decided to do.

But in withholding this information, Stockton created, in ‘The Lady, or the Tiger?’, a forerunner to many twentieth-century modernist stories which would be similarly open-ended and ambiguous. Perhaps even without fully realising it himself, Stockton toppled the author from his godlike pedestal and made us , the readers of his story, the final ‘authors’ of the story’s conclusion.

In this, too, he anticipates Barthes, whose 1960s essay ‘ The Death of the Author ’ would argue that the godlike authority of the author must be resisted in favour of ‘the birth of the reader’.

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Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Literature › Analysis of Frank R. Stockton’s The Lady, or the Tiger?

Analysis of Frank R. Stockton’s The Lady, or the Tiger?

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on May 27, 2021

Frank R. Stockton (1834–1902) originally entitled this story “The King’s Arena,” and after its appearance in 1882, it became the most famous story ever published in Century Magazine. Related by a caustic first-person narrator  who clearly disagrees with the feudal nature of kings and courtiers who set themselves above commoners, the story takes place in an unnamed barbaric country. The king discovers that a handsome young man, a commoner, whose low social rank prohibits his marrying royalty, has fallen in love with the king’s daughter—a crime that, the author remarks wryly, became common enough in later years. The trial of the young man takes place in the king’s arena. He must choose to open one of two doors. Behind one waits a ferocious beast who will tear him to pieces; behind the other, is a beautiful maiden who will marry him immediately. If he chooses the beast, he is automatically guilty; if he chooses the maiden, he proves his innocence.

Frank R. Stockton/Wikimedia

Of all those in the arena—including the king— only the clever princess has discovered the secret of what lies behind each door. She has made her decision to send a signal to the young man, and she does so, indicating the door on the right. In reaching her decision, the princess has agonized between the dreadful images of the savage and bloody death, and of the young man married to the beautiful maiden of whom the princess is intensely jealous. The young man moves immediately to the door the princess has indicated, and the story ends with the narrator’s question to the reader: “Which came out of the door,—the lady, or the tiger?” (10). Although similar to a surprise ending, the final sentence differs in that it leaves the reader without a denouement. Five years later, Stockton followed with “The Discourager of Hesitancy” (1887), which promises to solve the puzzle, but in fact this story, too, leaves the question unanswered.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Stockton, Frank R. “The Lady, or the Tiger?” In The Lady, or the Tiger? And Other Stories. New York: Scribner, 1914.

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The Lady, or the Tiger? - Study Guide

Talk about a no-win situation: Frank Stockton 's The Lady, or the Tiger? (1882) is a fairy tale and fascinating allegory. We hope our study guide is particularly useful for teachers and students to fully appreciate the story's quandary and its themes. It's a great persuasive writing prompt.

Read the story: The Lady, or the Tiger? , Character Analysis & Summary , Genre & Themes , Literary Devices , Quotes , Discussion Questions , Paired Readings , Useful Links , and Notes/Teacher Comments

Character Analysis & Summary

The King - The semi-barbaric ruler, who enjoys administering justice by chance, in which the person on trial must blindly choose their fate, whether to die or live with a determined outcome.

The Princess - The King's daughter falls in love with a young man, who, once her father learns of their affair, subjects him to a perilous fate in which he must choose one of two doors. Behind one holds a tiger, who will eat him; the other hides a young maiden whom he must marry. The Princess, who is semi-barbaric as is her father, knows which door hides each creature, and signals the young man to pick the door on the right. Will she show her barbaric side (being impetuous and jeolous), or her humane side (allow her lover to live, but be with another). The reader is left to guess her decision.

The Lady - The lovely young maiden who waits behind one of the doors and would be the Young Man's bride if he chooses her door, is hated by the Princess.

Plot Summary : The story is set in a kingdom ruled by a semi-barbaric king, who rules calmly and wisely for certain things, but relishes public trials of chance to administer justice for things he cares about, primarly for his own pleasure.

Genre & Themes

The Lady, or the Tiger? is in the genre of fairy tale, rather than a short story, with the sub-genre of allegory. It has two levels of meaning: the first is the story itself, the second is its symbolic meaning and lessons it offers the reader.

Determinism versus Free Will (alternatively, Fate versus Choice) Since the King presents an out-of-their control, no-win "choice" for the Young Man (determinism), he and the Princess cannot pursue their love for eachother (free will). Ironically, the Princess can exercise free will deciding the fate of her lover, since she knows the secret of what's behind each door and can choose his fate.

Barbarism versus Progressiveness - Stockton emphatically described the King as "semi-barbaric" in his self-serving desires and "exuberant fancy" for public spectacles of cruelty (barbarism). Yet he has a "civilized" side in his commitment to administer justice in an impartial and incorruptible manner by chance, and "develop the mental energies of the people."

Trust versus Betrayal - Though the Princess seems to be deeply in love with the young man, and he trusts her with his life, she is faced with two opposing emotions: jealousy and hatred for the young maiden if her lover survives, or mortal anguish should he be devoured by a Tiger. We learn she has deliberated long and hard over both outcomes. The reader is given more clues that she's leaning towards the Tiger-door option (her barbaric half).

Covet versus True Love - If the reader is pulling for her civilized half, she might opt for the sentimental (butterfly) option: " If you love something, set it free." Wait, would this mean he's "free" to love the maiden? Clearly, it's an unsolvable problem for the Princess, consuming all her energy. Either result is a tragic loss for her. Ironically, the courtier has absolute trust in her decision, whichever it may be.

Literary Devices & Vocabulary

Literary devices.

Suppressed ending : Stockton uses the literary device of supressing the ending to create suspense for the reader, which creates more questions than answers. Just as the Princess deliberates on the "right" choice to guide her lover to his fate, the reader is left guessing, and wresting with terrible outcomes (particularly for the Princess). The problem described in his tale has become a literary expression meaning an unsolvable or impossible problem to solve. " Which will it be, the lady or the tiger? "

Symbols : Stockton writes an allegory, two levels of meaning, in which the deeper level is represented by symbols. The doors represent fate, the tiger represents death and punishment, the lady symbolizes innocence and reward (it's not her fault she's lovely and the Princess is jealous). "Doleful iron bells" represent mourning, while "gay brass bells" represent celebration and life. Stockton's symbols help readers broaden their appreciation for the deeper level of the story's meaning, and perhaps relate it to their own life lessons.

Interesting Vocabulary

Semi-barbaric : Half savage or uncivilized, brutal and cruel, the other half civilized or "not quite" barbaric. It's a confusing juxtaposition, which makes it a perfect adjective to describe the King and the Princess.

Barleycorn : While literally a grain of barley or unit of measurement based on the length of the grain, Stockton's description: "...every barleycorn a king, knew no tradition to which he owed more allegiance than pleased his fancy " may also be a reference to an ancient British folksong personifying the ill-fated: John Bar-Ley-Corn

Choristers : A member of a choir, or someone leading singing, used in the story to describe a "good" outcome: " Another door opened beneath the king, and a priest, followed by a band of choristers ' and dancing maidens blowing joyous airs on golden horns and treading an measure. "

Moiety : Each of two parts (another reference to semi-barbaric): " Had it not been for the moiety of barbarism in her nature, it is probable that lady would not have been there."

Explain what the following quotes mean and how they relate to the story:

"He was a man of exuberant fancy, and, withal, of an authority so irresistible that, at his will, he turned his varied fancies into facts. He was greatly given to self-communing; and, when he and himself agreed upon any thing, the thing was done."

"The arena of the king was built, not to give the people an opportunity of hearing the rhapsodies of dying gladiators, nor to enable them to view the inevitable conclusion of a conflict between religious opinions and hungry jaws, but for purposes far better adapted to widen and develop the mental energies of the people. This vast amphitheatre, 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 decrees of an impartial and incorruptible chance."

"The moment that the case of the criminal was thus decided, doleful iron bells were clanged, great wails went up from the hired mourners posted on the outer rim of the arena, and the vast audience, with bowed heads and downcast hearts, wended slowly their homeward way, mourning greatly that one so young and fair, or so old and respected, should have merited so dire a fate."

"The decisions of this tribunal were not only fair, they were positively determinate: the accused person was instantly punished if he found himself guilty; and, if innocent, he was rewarded on the spot, whether he liked it or not. There was no escape from the judgments or the king's arena."

"Among his courtiers was a young man of that fineness of blood and lowness of station common to the conventional heroes of romance who love royal maidens. This royal maiden was well satisfied with her lover, for he was handsome and brave to a degree unsurpassed in all this kingdom; and she loved him with an ardor that had enough of barbarism in it to make it exceedingly warm and strong."

"He had loved the Princess, and neither he, she, nor any one else thought of denying the fact; but the king would not think of allowing any fact of this kind to interfere with the workings of the tribunal, in which he took such great delight and satisfaction. "

"Possessed of more power, influence, and force of character than any one who had ever before been interested in such a case, she had done what no other person had done,--she had possessed herself of the secret of the doors."

"It was one of tile fairest and loveliest of the damsels of the court who had been selected as the reward of the accused youth, should he be proved innocent of the crime of aspiring to one so far above him; and the Princess hated her."

"She raised her hand, and made a slight, quick movement toward the right. No one but her lover saw her."

"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. She had lost him, but who should have him?"

Discussion Questions

1. Explain the meaning of " semi-barbaric " and why it's a perfect adjective to describe both the King and the Princess. How can someone be half cruel, brutal and uncivilized, and half not?

2. Stockton begs the question: " Which came out of the opened door,--the lady, or the tiger?" Write a persuasive argument for which choice the Princess ended up making, and why.

3. Explain why this situation poses an unsolvable problem.

4. Determinism versus Free Will is one of the story's themes. Explain both concepts as revealed in this tale. "

5. Think of this tale from the young man's point of view, if he could choose. If he was a Romantic , might he die rather than lose his true love? Or, is he a Realist , settling for survival with a fair maiden? Sure beats being dead.

6. Using the literary device of allegory, the story has two layers of meaning. Explain each layer and what the symbols represent.

7. Relate the concept of "fate" to a situation in your own life where a "choice" wasn't really up to you. Have you ever had to make a "lady or the tiger?" decision?

8. Read the sequel to this story, The Discourager of Hesitancy , and compare the King's "choice" offered to a visiting prince requesting a wife, with the young man's in this story.

9. Think of a story, book, or movie in which the ending was withheld, leaving the reader or audience to determine the ending, or guessing what happens next. (Can't think of one? Try the Harry Potter series). Discuss why this is an appealing technique to keep us coming back for more?

Paired Reading Suggestions

Compare The Lady, or the Tiger? themes and literary devices to these stories:

The Discourager of Hesitancy , the story's sequel, in which the reader eagerly hopes to discover which fate the Princess chose for her lover in the first story.

The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs , which shares the literary device of a dramatically suppressed ending, leaving the reader to figure it out.

Marjorie Daw by Thomas Bailey Aldrich , offers a dramatic surprise ending.

The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell , another story with an impossible "choice"-- both of deadly consequence.

The Travelling Companion by Hans Christian Andersen , compare the Princesses' character, motives, and "evilness."

The Cunning Little Tailor by The Brothers Grimm , compare the riddling Princess, and whether both stories share aspects of the fairy tale genre.

Choose one of these Morality Tales and compare its lesson to this story.

Useful Links

Biography and Works by Frank Stockton

Lesson Plans and Activities for The Lady, or the Tiger?

Barbarism and Civilization in The Lady, or the Tiger?

Storyboard That Differentiated Lesson Plan

Persuasive Writing Workshop

20 Great American Short Stories

Short Stories for High School

Short Stories for Middle School

Notes/Teacher Comments

Visit our Teacher Resources for recommended works, supporting literacy instruction across all grade levels

American Literature's Study Guides

The Lady or the Tiger?

by Frank Richard Stockton

The lady or the tiger themes, barbarism vs civilization.

The question of barbarism vs civilization is a major theme in "The Lady, or the Tiger?" Throughout the story, characters are described as "barbaric" to the extent that they are not easily controlled and are given to extreme emotional passion. In contrast, they are described as "civilized" insofar as their behavior is seen as educated and refined.

The king is equal parts barbaric and civilized. Thus, he is "semi-barbaric." In other words, neither force gains the power to determine his character completely. The civilized half of his character has been influenced by "distant Latin neighbors" who have helped to polish and sharpen his ideas (45). Additionally, he has adopted the idea of the public arena from his Latin neighbors. This method of judgment also reduces his barbarism. Despite this, the barbaric half of the king's character is obvious. His ideas are "large, florid, and untrammeled" and he is "a man of exuberant fancy" (45). Whatever the king decides on becomes a fact as a result of his great power.

The most immediate expression of the king's barbarism is how he uses the idea of the public arena in his kingdom. Rather than make it a place where the kingdom can enjoy a public celebration or the arts, he turns it into the kingdom's court of justice. In the public arena, prisoners must choose between two doors, leaving their fate up to chance. Should the prisoner choose the door hiding a tiger, the entire kingdom must then witness the prisoner's bloody death. This form of "justice" reflects the king's barbarism, as he greatly enjoys the spectacle of watching the prisoner be forced to unwittingly choose his own fate. The narrator explains how the arena works: "the fate of the accused person would be decided in the king's arena, a structure which well deserved its name, for, although its form and plan were borrowed from afar, its purpose emanated solely from the brain of this man, who, every barleycorn a king, knew no tradition to which he owed more allegiance than pleased his fancy, and who ingrafted on every adopted form of human thought and action the rich growth of his barbaric idealism" (46).

Like the king, the kingdom is "semi-barbaric" as well. The king's subjects greatly enjoy this system of justice, which appeals to their barbarism but which also "refine[s]" and "culture[s]" their minds (45).

The king's daughter, the princess, is also "semi-barbaric." The narrator describes her as a young woman "as blooming as [the king's] most florid fancies, and with a soul as fervent and imperious as his own" (47). The princess 's barbarism causes her to passionately love her lover: "she loved him with an ardor that had enough of barbarism in it to make it exceedingly warm and strong" (47). It is thanks to the princess's barbarism that she is in the arena watching her lover choose his fate: "had it not been for the moiety of barbarism in her nature it is probable that lady would not have been there, but her intense and fervid soul would not allow her to be absent from an occasion in which she was so terribly interested" (48). Additionally, the princess's barbarism is what causes her to hate the lady hiding behind the door whom her lover might wed: “The girl was lovely, but she had dared to raise her eyes to the loved one of the princess; and, with all the intensity of the savage blood transmitted to her through long lines of wholly barbaric ancestors, she hated the woman who blushed and trembled behind that silent door” (49).

Because "The Lady, or the Tiger?" ends on a question, we are not sure if the princess succumbed to the "barbaric" or "civilized" side of herself. The "barbaric" side would likely have influenced her to send her lover to his death over having to share him with a lady whom she hates. Her "civilized" side might have led her to save him, choosing her own heartbreak over her lover's death. Because these attributes are equally strong inside of the princess, as they are in her father, it is hard to tell which door she chose.

"The Lady, or the Tiger?" depicts a unique form of "justice" which we do not often see represented in contemporary society. What marks the form of justice in the king's arena is that it is completely up to chance. No one decides the fate of the prisoner; it depends on nothing but his own luck. In this way, it is also impartial: luck or chance does not care which door the prisoner chooses. In the story, the narrator refers to this kind of justice as a "poetic justice" in which the fate of the prisoner is decided by "an impartial and incorruptible chance" (45-6). That chance cannot be "corrupted" means that those in power do not have a say over the outcome of the trial and every prisoner is given an equal opportunity to save their own life—except, of course, when the princess gets involved.

According to the narrator of "The Lady, or the Tiger?" this form of justice is perfectly fair: "Its perfect fairness is obvious. The criminal could not know out of which door would come the lady: he opened either he pleased, without having the slightest idea whether, in the next instant, he was to be devoured or married. On some occasions, the tiger came out of one door, and on some out of the other" (47). The prisoner's fate is also immediately decided and set in stone, and therefore cannot be changed. He is married or murdered right there in front of the entire kingdom.

Thus, readers are left with an interesting question: is this form of justice truly "fair"? Is it fairer than the justice that we see in the modern world, where the fate of an accused person is decided by a judge or jury? In our current system of justice, there is the worry that the accused fate will be hindered by the jury's biases. Though there are often procedures in place to check that bias (e.g. screening a jury, choosing jury members that do not have personal stakes in the trial, etc), the court can never be certain that these procedures are 100% effective. In the end, those with more power are often given more of a say and different people receive different kinds of justice in the courtroom.

Is a justice that is based on chance any better? Obviously, it is not—innocent prisoners might be sent to their death simply because they had been accused of a crime. Similarly, guilty prisoners might be rewarded simply because they happen to choose the door that is hiding the princess. The only benefit to this kind of justice system seems to be the fact that it is "impartial" and "incorruptible"—but is it, really? The princess, thanks to her power, is able to corrupt the justice system and mold it to her own ends.

The princess's intrusion in the "perfect fairness" of this justice system also offers its own message. Because she is so powerful, she is able to use her power to discover what is behind each door. No one in the kingdom has ever done this before, not even her father. As a result, the fate of her lover is not left up to chance but is instead completely in her hands. She has the power to save him or send him to his death depending on her will. Perhaps the message of the princess's intrusion is that justice can never really be impartial as long as it is being dealt out by humans. Humans have a natural tendency to have biases, knowingly or unknowingly, and there will always be someone with enough power to tip the scales of justice in their favor.

Hand-in-hand with the theme of justice comes the theme of power. Because this story is about the workings of a kingdom, we are given a setting in which a few characters (i.e. the king and the princess) are given great power, and the rest of the characters (i.e. the subjects) have very little. The king has so much power, in fact, that the quality of life of his subjects is entirely dependent on his fancy. As the narrator tells us, the king is powerful enough that every single one of his whims can be converted into fact: "He was a man of exuberant fancy, and, withal, of an authority so irresistible that, at his will, he turned his varied fancies into facts. He was greatly given to self-communing; and, when he and himself agreed upon any thing, the thing was done" (45).

He has the power to decide whether or not his subjects will prosper or suffer. In fact, the kind of justice that each subject receives is dependent upon whether the king is interested in their case: "When a subject was accused of a crime of sufficient importance to interest the king, public notice was given that on an appointed day the fate of the accused person would be decided in the king's arena" (46). The king has the power to upend tradition as he pleases and make new traditions of his own. The narrator writes, the king "knew no tradition to which he owed more allegiance than pleased his fancy" (46). Additionally, because the king takes so much pleasure in his justice system, he does not allow anything to postpone the spectacle of the punishment or the reward: "It mattered not that [the prisoner] might already possess a wife and family, or that his affections might be engaged upon an object of his own selection; the king allowed no such subordinate arrangements to interfere with his great scheme" (46). For anyone who might be stepping into the king's arena, "there was no escape" (47).

There is only one character in the story whose power matches that of the king. That is his daughter, the princess, who is able to completely subvert the king's system according to her own interests. Because of her great power, she is able to figure out which door is hiding the princess and which door is hiding the tiger: "Possessed of more power, influence, and force of character than any one who had ever before been interested in such a case, she had done what no other person had done,—she had possessed herself of the secret of the doors. . . [G]old, and the power of a woman's will, had brought the secret to the princess" (48). Here, it is suggested that the princess's power is not only in her status but also in her gender: it is thanks to her "woman's will" that she is able to discover the secret.

The princess's discovery of the truth has given her a power that no one—not even the king—has before possessed in the kingdom. She now has the power to determine whether her lover lives or dies. Her lover goes confidently, without doubt, in the direction that the princess sends him: "Without the slightest hesitation, he went to the door on the right, and opened it" (50). In this way, the princess's power is absolute. She holds an entire life in her hands. This power is what makes the central question of "The Lady, or the Tiger?" so interesting. She has upended the "perfect justice" of the king's arena and has turned it instead into a matter of her own will. Very few people will ever hold that much power. It is hard to imagine what someone with that much power would choose.

Human Nature

Another theme of "The Lady, or the Tiger" is human nature. In fact, the story's question depends upon the reader's understanding of human nature more than anything else. The story does not give us a definite answer to the question of the young man's fate at the end of the story: that question is left for readers to interpret and judge for themselves. The reader's judgment about what happens at the end of the story depends entirely on what they think the princess will do.

As the narrator tells us, "the more we reflect upon this question, the harder it is to answer." Deciding whether the princess chooses her lover's death or her lover's marriage to another "involves a study of the human heart which leads us through devious mazes of passion, out of which it is difficult to find our way" (50). In fact, as the narrator tells us, we cannot think about this question in terms of what we would do ourselves; instead we must consider the character of "that hot-blooded, semi-barbaric princess, her soul at a white heat beneath the combined fires of despair and jealousy" (50). The princess, who is so powerful, nonetheless does not have the power to decide who she can love. Here, her power has failed. As the text asks, "she had lost him, but who should have him?" (50).

The fact that the princess gestures towards the door on the right without hesitation does not mean that she had not spent countless days thinking about the question of which door to choose. In fact, "she had known she would be asked" and prepared her decision accordingly (50). In order to answer this question, the reader must know the princess intimately—something that is impossible to do. The narrator himself does not know the answer. He writes, "[t]he question of her decision is not one to be lightly considered, and it is not for me to presume to set myself up as the one person able to answer it" (50). As a result, he leaves the question with us readers. We each will have our own interpretations of the princess's decision, depending upon how we have read her character.

The Lady or the Tiger? Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Lady or the Tiger? is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

"She could never see 'her' man married to another, what is the writer trying to tell us about the character of the princess by using inverted command for the word "her" in this sentence?

In context, she is possessive.

The King built a public arena where men accused of a crime must choose one of two doors. Behind one of the doors is a lady; behind the other is a tiger. If the prisoner chooses the door with the tiger, he is assumed to be guilty, and he will be...

Study Guide for The Lady or the Tiger?

The Lady or the Tiger? study guide contains a biography of F Stockton, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Lady or the Tiger?
• The Lady or the Tiger? Summary
• Character List

Essays for The Lady or the Tiger?

The Lady or the Tiger? essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Lady or the Tiger? by F Stockton.

• The Lady Or The Tiger?: An Analysis of Relationships Between Characters

Lesson Plan for The Lady or the Tiger?

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to The Lady or the Tiger?
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• The Lady or the Tiger? Bibliography

The Lady, or the Tiger?

25 pages • 50 minutes read

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Analysis: “The Lady, or the Tiger?”

Now considered a classic American short story, Frank R. Stockton’s “The Lady, or the Tiger?” exemplifies the effort of 19th-century authors to develop a distinctly American humor that, as Mark Twain explains, “depends for its effect upon the manner of the telling.” Although his contemporaries generally preferred to depict typical American life, Stockton instead attempted to subvert traditional fairy tales. By using a conventional narrative form, he turned readers’ expectations on their heads, thus creating surprise and entertainment that provokes critical reflection. Storytelling in Stockton’s writing is as much a performance as it is a literary endeavor: Through irony , exaggeration, and an emphatic narrator, the author offers a critique of systems of justice and power, themes that were particularly relevant to the cultural and political context of the United States in the late-19th century.

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