The Lady or the Tiger, by Frank Stockton

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Frank Stockton’s story “The Lady or the Tiger” is one that has several contrasting emotions and/or feelings throughout the entirety of the story. The daughter of the king is a young, very beautiful woman who has certain protocols that she has to live by. One of the principles is it would be atrocious see any man behind her fathers back and the outcome of this would most likely be fallacious. She did not consider the consequences of her actions and decided she was going to go against his wishes. The king eventually finds out about this secret affair and forces them to discontinue their relationship. He sends her lover to the arena to surmise his fate. The king’s choice of punishment puts both his daughter and her lover on edge. In “The Lady or the Tiger” the king’s daughter struggles with her judicious attempt at love and happiness.

The king’s daughter finds love, although she knows her father will not approve. The couple has been together for many months and their relationship was thriving wonderfully, until the king discovered their existence. She loved this young man very much and wanted to be with him very much so. The king noticed how much they cared for each other but did not bother to let the man explain himself, when he concluded that he would be sent to the arena. He was so upset and had his mind set on punishing the lover that he didn’t take his own daughters feelings into consideration. The king’s objection towards his daughter and her lover’s relationship results in two different alternatives given to the lover for the consequences of his actions:

If he opened the one there came out of it a hungry tiger the fiercest and most cruel that could be procured, which immediately sprang upon him and tore him to ...

... middle of paper ...

...tle different. The princess would be better off to let him live and marry this woman, so she could still see him. Despite the fact that he will be married to the young maiden, it does not portend that he is going to fall in love with her. The young lover may still have feelings for the princess but he cannot do anything about it. I believe that if you are meant to be together that somehow fate will rejoin you both later on in life when it is meant to happen. Maybe if the lover would try to talk to the king and straighten things out and prove how much he loves the princess and that he is the right one for her that he will give the young lover another chance to prove himself. Overall I think that this is a very good story and it made me want to keep reading until the end, which did not end like I thought it would.

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