Choose, the door with the lady or the door with the tiger? What’s good for oneself or what’s good for another? In “The Lady or the Tiger? ” by Frank R. Stockton, a fictional story filled with characterization and interesting conflicts, the climax leaves many questions to think about. Conflict in “The Lady or the Tiger” shows what one can battle with their inner-self while making a tough decision. Decisions are already tough enough to make, but what if it depended on someone’s life, or the decision makers own feelings? Stockton created the story based on the elements of direct characterization and conflict.
Stockton makes explicit statements with and about conflict and characterization that are easy to miss, but vital to understanding the story. In the beginning of the story Stockton explains how the door system works when a subject is accused of a crime. The accused subjects are placed in front of two doors in the king’s arena and have to choose between them, one holding a lady which whom they are to wed if that door is opened, and the other holds a hungry tiger which would tear the subject to pieces. The story gets more intense and the king finds out that his daughter, the princess, had a boyfriend, the youth.
The king doesn’t approve of her boyfriend because he thinks that the youth is not worthy or good enough for his daughter. The king decides to treat the youth as a criminal and makes him choose between the two doors. The most thought provoking part of “The Lady or the Tiger,” is when Stockton discusses how hard it had to be for the princess to decide which door to tell the youth to open when he turns to her and asks, and how hard it is to answer the question. Stockton continues saying, “Did he tiger come out of that door or did the lady? The more we reflect on the question the harder it is to answer.
It involves a study of the human heart which leads us through devious mazes of passion out of which way is difficult to find our way. Think of it, fair reader, not as if the decision of the question depended on yourself, but upon that hot blooded, semi barbaric princess, her soul as white heat beneath the combined fires of despair and jealousy. She had lost him, but who should have him” (18). What Stockton wrote not only shows conflict within the story, but gives the readers conflict also. Not many authors can give the readers second thoughts of their own decisions within a short story like “The Lady or the Tiger”.
Stockton adds, “The question if her decision is not one to be lightly considered, and it is not for me to presume myself up as the one person able to answer it. And so I leave it with all of your which came out of the opened door-the lady or the tiger”(18)? In the plot line of this story, the climax is at the end without falling action or resolution. The end of “The Lady or the Tiger,” is bound to make many readers think about past decisions and whether the right thing was done for others or just for themselves. The end not only leaves characters from the story with an internal conflict, but it leaves the readers with one or more too.
Stockton shows theme to the readers in the conclusion discussing the choices the princess could make. Stockton leaves a message; to do what’s good for others too, and a person cannot only think about themselves especially when making critical decisions. It is evident that the major conflict within the plot is between the princess and herself, deciding which door to send the youth to when he asks. Stockton writes, “Her decision had been indicated in an instant, but it had been made after days and nights of anguished deliberation.
She had known she would be asked, she decided what she would answer, and, without the slightest hesitation, she had moved her hand to the right” (18). This uncovers the struggles the princess has within her own mind deciding which door to send the youth to. Think about it, some consider hard decisions as which car to buy when a new one is needed or what color to get their nails painted. But what people don’t realize is that there are much harder things to be decided that can really take a toll on someone, like it did the princess. Another conflict that could happen is between the tiger and the youth.
If the youth opens the door holding the tiger, he will clearly be torn to pieces. Stockton explains,”The other side of which waited the cruel fangs of the tiger. And yet, that awful tiger those shrieks that blood” (13). Stockton foreshadows the conflict that would occur if the princess told the youth to open the door with the tiger within it. Tensions between conflicts are clearly felt and are crucial to grasping the content of “The Lady or the Tiger? ” Characterization plays a key role in the tensions and plot and assists readers to grasp the plot.
Stockton includes great examples of direct characterization that are key to understanding what is going on in the story. In the beginning of the story Stockton writes, “… there lives a semi barbaric king, whose ideas, though were somewhat polished and sharpened by the progressiveness of distant latin neighbors, were still large, florid, and untrammeled… ” “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” (12). Stockton is trying to get across that the king has a large amount of power, big ideas, and what he wants is for sure done.
The statements Stockton makes about the characters are very explicit and make it easier for the readers to understand what the characters are like and their roles in the story. Stockton also used direct characterization in his description of the king’s daughter, “This semi barbaric king had a daughter as blooming as his most florid fancies, and with a soul as fervent and imperious as his own. As in such usual cases she was the apple of his eye, and was loved by him above all humanity” (14). The reader understands that the princess is very loved by her father and is much like him in powerful and liked ways.
The author directly characterizes the tiger also. Stockton writes, “The tiger-cages of the kingdom were searched for the most savage and relentless beasts, from which the fiercest monster might be selected for the arena” (14). It is very easy to understand that the tiger is “savage and relentless” from this statement. The unique thing about “The Lady or the Tiger? ” is that Stockton doesn’t only directly characterize the main characters, he characterizes the tigers giving the decision the princess had to make more intensity. Should she choose the lady or the tiger?
What’s best for oneself or what’s best for another? Good or bad? When making a decision one cannot only think about themselves, but one must think of others. This theme can apply to anyone in their everyday lives. Not only does this story contain many great examples of characterization and conflict, but it makes the reader think, not only about the story, but about their past decisions and the effects of the choices they have made. Not only can a person have a conflict with others, but they can have a conflict within themselves about what is best for themselves and others.
