Now. I hold with the Tiger. It simply fits. She is a jealous and possessive woman, it would seem, and the idea of no one else having her man appeals. I doubt love triumphs over possession for her.
I've never heard anyone argue for the Lady.
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Oct 2004
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Hmm. It's a difficult question. You ARE correct thta the woman is jealous, possessive.
You're probably right, especially since the author gives far more time to the suggestion that she'd had to see him married. The author's hinting somewhat. But perhaps the horror of seeing her lover die before her eyes would allow her to keep him from dying.
After all. She could just have the woman surreptitiously killed immediately afterward. Posts: 1577 | Registered: Sep 2005
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posted
Ok, here's a second question: If she really loves this man that much, would there even be a question? Wouldn't her feeling be immediately, "Oh no, my true love is in danger! I must rescue him by any means necessary!"
The fact that she struggled at all with deciding whether or not to murder him . . . that speaks more of possession than love, and that means she won't give him up.
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
Not too long ago someone on hatrack, I forget who, posted an interesting comment about this story. The gist of it was that the man should choose the opposite door from what she tells him. So if she sends him to the lady, he will know upon seeing the tiger that he has experienced true love and can die peacefully. And if she sends him to the tiger, it wasn't love after all, so he can marry the lady with a clear conscience.
Posts: 1810 | Registered: Jan 1999
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posted
But wouldn't that show distrust on his part to doubt that she might not send him to the door that preserves his life?
Atleast by following her direction, he lives knowing of her true and honest love or he dies but having not betrayed his own heart.
Posts: 1733 | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
I still can't figure out how someone gets away with writing a story, leaving out the ending, and getting it hailed as art. What's that about?
Posts: 2283 | Registered: Dec 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Mike: Not too long ago someone on hatrack, I forget who, posted an interesting comment about this story. The gist of it was that the man should choose the opposite door from what she tells him. So if she sends him to the lady, he will know upon seeing the tiger that he has experienced true love and can die peacefully. And if she sends him to the tiger, it wasn't love after all, so he can marry the lady with a clear conscience.
posted
Why didn't she trade places with the other lady, if she already had enough guts and resources to subvert the system?
Posts: 2849 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
"I still can't figure out how someone gets away with writing a story, leaving out the ending, and getting it hailed as art. What's that about? "
Because it's a good story, perhaps?
Posts: 1577 | Registered: Sep 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Eaquae Legit: Why didn't she trade places with the other lady, if she already had enough guts and resources to subvert the system?
Because information can be traded invisibly, so she can get it without the king knowing. But if she gets into the lady's room, the king will certainly take an interest in the matter. Further, how is she supposed to indicate which door is the right one in that case?
Posts: 10645 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
Heh, my friend Nathan has said this: She points to the door with the tiger. It leaps out as she begs her father to spare her true love's life. The tiger pads around, lies down, and goes to sleep, having been well-fed by her on steak the night before.
OR she bribes someone to put the Tiger and Lady behind the left-hand door, so when he opens the right, the problem has solved itself.
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
I don't see why, if she's willing to kill her lover rather than risk losing him to a legally-mandated wife, she wouldn't be willing to kill his wife immediately after the hurried wedding.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
I know I'm supposed to have some sort of loyalty to the story because I was an English major, but I have to agree with AvidReader. While this story is pretty good, it started an annoying trend!
There are too many stories where the authors try to be trendy, so they leave the ending open. I think they're just being lazy. The Lady and the Tiger is an example of one of the better stories of this type--but unfortunately, too many authors try to imitate the technique. It's so tiring to invest time and attention in reading a short story only to have the author try to be artsy in the end.
Posts: 2880 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Ugh. I thought it was something some overly philosophical ninth grader wrote up. As literature, it's horrible.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
If "he saw, by that power of quick perception which is given to those whose souls are one, that she knew behind which door crouched the tiger" and "He understood her nature", he'd also know whether she was pointing toward the lady or the tiger. And then he'd choose the tiger.
Posts: 8501 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
I read it in tenth grade (Required reading).
It doesn't have an ending because the author, upon writing the story, soon lost interest, and didn't care about the characters anymore, so he stopped writing.
The story was then hailed as art, because the author was so cocky, that he thought he could just publish this story and see if anybody called him on it.
That's my theory, anyway.
Now for a random statement: I do remember on an episode of 'Daria', her friend Jane painted a picture of a woman with tiger stripes on her face. "Get it, Daria? The Lady and the Tiger. Now you don't have to choose."
I thought it was funny.
Posts: 438 | Registered: May 2006
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There once was a lady from Niger, who went for a ride on a tiger. They returned from the ride, with the lady inside, and the smile on the face of the tiger.
Posts: 892 | Registered: Oct 2006
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posted
I don't think we know nearly enough about the princess to have a good guess. We're told that she's jealous and barbaric. We're not remotely shown how that compares to her love for the man, her sense of justice, or her ability to feel guilty. I don't like the story because the characters are shallow and the question requires a deeper understanding of them than is presented.
Posts: 1947 | Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
I think the author gives more time to the jealousy because the woman is going to save her lover. She knows she will save him and so she is wallowing in self pity. The beauty of this story is that it is ready made for an essay in a beginning lit class.
Posts: 1001 | Registered: Mar 2006
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