The lady or the tiger presentation

1. Frank R. Stockton
The lady, or The tiger?

2. Author’s life
Frank Stockton, byname of Francis Richard Stockton also called Frank Richard Stockton,
(born April 5, 1834, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.—died April 20, 1902, Washington,
D.C.), American popular novelist and short-story writer of mainly humorous fiction, best
known as the author of the title story of a collection called The Lady, or the Tiger? (1884).
Stockton refused to study medicine as his father wished and became a wood engraver. He
contributed to and was on the staff of Hearth and Home and in 1873 became assistant
editor of the St. Nicholas Magazine. His earliest fiction was written for children. Among his
most popular children’s stories were those collected in Ting-a-Ling Tales (1870) and The
Floating Prince, and Other Fairy Tales (1881).
Book Jacket of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by American children's author illustrator Eric
Carle (born 1929)
His adult novel Rudder Grange (1879), originally serialized in Scribner’s Monthly,
recounted the whimsically fantastic and amusing adventures of a family living on a canal
boat. Its success encouraged two sequels, Rudder Grangers Abroad (1891) and Pomona’s
Travels (1894). The Casting Away of Mrs. Lecks and Mrs. Aleshine (1886) told of two
middle-aged women on a sea voyage to Japan who become castaways on a deserted
island. A sequel appeared in 1888 as The Dusantes.
Though he continued to write some juvenile fiction, Stockton wrote mostly for adults after
1887. He also wrote a book of history, Buccaneers and Pirates of Our Coast (1898).

3. Other works of author

4. The setting of this story is an ancient kingdom somewhere in the
proximity of Rome. This kingdom has an arena to entertain its
subjects,similar to how Rome had the Colosseum.However, the
narrator is quick to point out that this arena was used for a different
purpose.In Rome, gladiators would fight and religiousprisoners
would be killed.In the kingdom of the story, the arena is instead a
kind of courthouse. Judgment on guilt or innocence is passed in this
arena. There are two doors from which the accused must choose:
one holds guilt, in the form of a tiger that will rip the person to
shreds,and the other holds innocence, in the form of a lady the
accused will then marry. The king even keeps a priest and
merrymakersbehind a third door, ready to spring out and conduct
the marriage should the accused be deemed innocent.
Setting

5. The story begins with a description of a king who ruled long ago. The king is somewhat
barbaric in his rule, but he is also calm and genial to his subjects. Only slightly influenced by
the Romans, who ruled nearby, this king did not have gladiator battles or killings of religious
prisoners in his amphitheater to amuse his subjects. Instead, this king conducted criminal
trials there, and in a very distinctive way. These trials were very popular in his kingdom.
The king’s amphitheater contained two doors. Behind one door was a tiger, and behind the
other was a lady. Whenever a man was accused of committing a crime, he was sent into the
amphitheater to choose one of the two doors. If he chose the door with the tiger behind it, he
died a gruesome death at its claws and teeth, and was therefore deemed guilty of the crime.
If he chose the door with the lady, he was deemed innocent and was married to the lady then
and there by a waiting priest. It didn’t matter if the man was already married, since the king
demanded his own form of reward be enacted regardless of the newly innocent man’s
circumstances.
Summary

6. Themes
1. The Shifting Nature of Justice
2. Love and Jealousy
3. Determinism versus Free Will (Fate vs Choice)
4. The Sheer Power of Chance

7. The king
A king from long ago. The king is described as partially barbaric and partially civilized. He is good to his
subjects, and he also likes to put things right when they have gone wrong. He believes his system of justice is a
good one and enforces it in every situation he faces.
Characters
The princess
The king’s daughter. The princess could be seen as the protagonist of the story, since she is the one who must
decide if her lover lives or dies. The princess is semi-barbaric like her father. Though she is genuinely distraught at
the prospect of her lover’s death, she is also fiercely jealous at the thought of losing her lover in marriage to
another woman.
The young man
The princess’s lover. The young man is described as beautiful and tall, but he is also of a low
social standing.
The lady
The king’s potential offering to the princess’s lover. The lady is described as one of the most
beautiful women in the whole kingdom.

8. 1.The doors = Fate
2.The tiger = death and
punishment
Symbols
3. The lady = innocence
and reward
4. “Doleful iron bells” =
mourning
5. “gay brass bells” =
celebration and life

9. Questions
1. What type(s) of irony is used in the story?
2. What is the moral lesson of this story?
3. Why is the king's system of justice unfair both to
those who live and to those who die ?
4. Give at least three reasons why the princess
might have chosen the tiger?
5.What do you think about the effect of chance in
our life?

10. Untrammeled barleycorn king
exuberant epithalamic
self-communing tribunal
Bland fervent
Genial imperious
Semifi courtier
Valor
Inevitable
Amphitheater
Decrees
impartial
vocabulary

11. 1. The people like the king’s system of justice.
2. The story takes place in modern times.
3. The story is about a prince who falls in love With a common girl.
4. The princess is presented as a simple, kind-hearted girl.
5. The princess has thought about her decision for many days and nights.
True or false questions

12. The Lady or the Tiger?
What will one do, when one is in doubt,
Watch him walk away, another in his arms,
Or hear him scream and shout?
Does one simply look the other way, ignoring his pleading eyes,
Knowing forever, you could have saved yourself from his cries?
Do you put your heartthrob to death, and watch his empty eyes stare,
Or watch him kiss the bride?
Not quite fair.
The lady or the tiger?
It’s a nightmare either way.
Hate and love, hand-in-hand,
Two emotions ruling fate.
“My love, I beseech you!”
you read it in his eyes.
“Please lead me to safety!”
or should I send him to die?
Toss-turn,
She must have every night.
Unsure of what to do,
teeth or wedding night?
She had to choose a nightmare,
A guilt beyond compare.
Unable to choose, unable to think,
What will she do?
“My love, my love!”
he’d scream as blood runs about.
“My love, my love!”
he’d see the lady, and shout.
Joyous happiness, she would watch from the side.
Or nightmarish massacre tearing apart his hide.
So little princess…
Which shall you choose? The lady, or the tiger?
What lies behind the door?

13. Thank You !