Lady Or The Tiger Essay
Young, Tiffany
Period 6
11/25/14
The Princess’s Jealousy Love or jealousy, which overcomes the other? Can love be so strong that you are willing to make sacrifices for your lover just to keep them alive? Or can jealousy be so powerful that you are willing to murder your lover? In Frank Stockton’s short story, “The Lady or the Tiger,” he ends the story with a question, leaving the readers to decide which door the princess chose for her lover. The clues given in this story shows that jealousy can overpower love, which means that the princess chose the door with the tiger. While the princess loved the commoner clearly, she was not able to control her jealousy and anger. The lady was the fairest and loveliest of the damsels, and she felt that her soul would have “burned in agony” (150) if the lady and the commoner were to have a wedding. She obviously wanted him for herself, and she did not want the lady to interfere in her relationship with her lover. In addition, the story says, “Often she had seen, or imagined she had seen, this fair creature throwing glances of admiration upon the person of her lover, and sometimes she thought these glances were perceived and even returned” (149). This meant that the princess already believed that the lady and her lover might be having an affair and she could not handle the fact that they could end up getting married.
Young 1
Furthermore, due to her selfish and semibarbaric behavior, it led her to choose the door with the tiger. She hated the lady, which the story states itself, “It was one of the fairest and loveliest of the damsels of the court who had been selected as the award 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” (149). Because she hated the lady, the princess wanted to cause harm to her. If killing her lover will harm the lady in any way, I feel that the princess will be willing to do it because of
Period 6
11/25/14
The Princess’s Jealousy Love or jealousy, which overcomes the other? Can love be so strong that you are willing to make sacrifices for your lover just to keep them alive? Or can jealousy be so powerful that you are willing to murder your lover? In Frank Stockton’s short story, “The Lady or the Tiger,” he ends the story with a question, leaving the readers to decide which door the princess chose for her lover. The clues given in this story shows that jealousy can overpower love, which means that the princess chose the door with the tiger. While the princess loved the commoner clearly, she was not able to control her jealousy and anger. The lady was the fairest and loveliest of the damsels, and she felt that her soul would have “burned in agony” (150) if the lady and the commoner were to have a wedding. She obviously wanted him for herself, and she did not want the lady to interfere in her relationship with her lover. In addition, the story says, “Often she had seen, or imagined she had seen, this fair creature throwing glances of admiration upon the person of her lover, and sometimes she thought these glances were perceived and even returned” (149). This meant that the princess already believed that the lady and her lover might be having an affair and she could not handle the fact that they could end up getting married.
Young 1
Furthermore, due to her selfish and semibarbaric behavior, it led her to choose the door with the tiger. She hated the lady, which the story states itself, “It was one of the fairest and loveliest of the damsels of the court who had been selected as the award 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” (149). Because she hated the lady, the princess wanted to cause harm to her. If killing her lover will harm the lady in any way, I feel that the princess will be willing to do it because of