Lady or the Tiger Essay

[student’s name]
[professor’s name]
[course]
[date]
The Lady or the Tiger?
William Congreve once said, "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned" ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Congreve", "given" : "William", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "1753" ] ] }, "publisher" : "J. and R. Tonson and S. Draper in the Strand", "title" : "The Mourning Bride: A Tragedy", "type" : "book" }, "locator" : "46", "suppress-author" : 1, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=d0c53abe-49cc-4bb3-9bfc-ed2759b17b9e" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(46)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(46)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(46)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(46) to explain the wrath of a jealous woman. From Medea of the Golden Fleece, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District and Ruth of The Life and Loves of a She-devil scorned women have been known to do dastardly deeds when they have been cheated on. Hence, it is no surprise that most people who read Frank Stockton’s The Lady or the Tiger think that the semi-barbaric princess sent her lover to his death due to jealousy. And yet, a careful examination of the short story will reveal that the princess in fact showed her lover the door of the lady, despite the fact that it would cause her so much pain.
We know from the story that the princess loved the commoner "with an ardor that had enough of barbarism in it to make it exceedingly warm and strong" ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "URL" : "/short-stories/UBooks/LadyTige.shtml", "accessed" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2015", "4", "26" ] ] }, "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Stockton", "given" : "Frank", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "East of the Web", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2015" ] ] }, "title" : "The Lady Or The Tiger?", "type" : "webpage" }, "locator" : "4", "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=64fd17dc-2844-4cf6-a9e9-0cad0606f152" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(Stockton 4)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(Stockton 4)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Stockton 4)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Stockton 4), which in essence meant that she had passionate feelings for him – enough for her to sway towards barbarism, or a lack of reason. The commoner knew how deep the princess’ love for him, as is shown in this paragraph: "He understood her nature, and his soul was assured that she would never rest until she had made plain to herself this thing [what laid beyond each door]" ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "URL" : "/short-stories/UBooks/LadyTige.shtml", "accessed" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2015", "4", "26" ] ] }, "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Stockton", "given" : "Frank", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "East of the Web", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2015" ] ] }, "title" : "The Lady Or The Tiger?", "type" : "webpage" }, "locator" : "6", "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=64fd17dc-2844-4cf6-a9e9-0cad0606f152" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(Stockton 6)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(Stockton 6)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Stockton 6)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Stockton 6). The princess did everything she could to find out which door the lady and the tiger were kept and she attended the day of judgment for one particular reason – to tell her lover which door he should open. It is illogical to think that she would go to such great lengths to just send him to his death because the commoner could do that on his own, without her help.
Most people who think that the princess sent the commoner to his death cite this paragraph:
But how much oftener had she seen him at the other door! How in her grievous reveries had she gnashed her teeth, and torn her hair, when she saw his start of rapturous delight as he opened the door of the lady! How her soul had burned in a...