25 pages • 50 minutes read
Frank R. StocktonThe Lady, or the Tiger?
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1882A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Authorial Intrusion
In the last few paragraphs of the story, the unnamed omniscient narrator inserts himself into the narrative by asking readers to answer the question: “Did the tiger come out of that door, or did the lady?” (Paragraph 19). The narrator then exhorts the reader to empathize with the princess: “Think of it […] not as if the decision of the question depended upon yourself, but upon that hot-blooded, semi-barbaric princess, her soul at a white heat beneath the combined fires of despair and jealousy” and laments that “the more we reflect upon this question, the harder it is to answer” (Paragraph 20). By explicitly leaving the end to the reader’s interpretation, the narrator establishes his authority while creating a sense of fairness and objectivity. However, because the logic behind the question is flawed, this rationality is only an illusion.
Irony
Irony, or the use of language that contradicts a statement’s meaning for humorous effect, is the main device that this story relies on. The tone of the story is emphatic and openly admirative of the king. The flawed and authoritarian logic which drives those actions, however, highlights the king’s hypocrisy. When the king discovers his daughter’s affair, for instance, he “[does] not hesitate nor waver in regard to his duty in the premises” and immediately sends the man to prison (Paragraph 9). The narrator praises the king’s sense of duty, but the king’s behavior is more cruel than rational. This ironic tone parallels the king’s conflicting motives: he claims to be driven by rationality and objectivity while exhibiting aggressive, authoritarian behavior. As a literary device, irony thus pokes fun at the king’s desire for power and his warped sense of justice.
Logical Fallacy
“The Lady, or the Tiger?” examines the concept of justice and fairness by presenting the king’s public arena as a seemingly objective, rational way to determine a subject’s guilt: “The decisions of this tribunal were not only fair, they were positively determinate: the accused person was instantly punished if he found himself guilty, and, if innocent, he was rewarded on the spot, whether he liked it or not” (Paragraph 7). That system, however, is built upon flawed reasoning that invalidates its conclusions and thus creates irony. Indeed, the narrator argues that, because the accused does not know which door will lead to his death, and which will lead to getting married, he has a perfectly equal chance of “finding himself” guilty or innocent. The fallacy, however, is that the sentence itself determines whether the accused subject is guilty, whereas they should be proven guilty for an appropriate sentence to be chosen.
Free Indirect Speech
Free indirect speech is a form of third-person narration in which the voices of the narrator and characters effectively merge. When the princess’s lover enters the arena where he is to be tried, for example, the narrator says “his appearance [is] greeted with a low hum of admiration and anxiety. Half the audience had not known so grand a youth had lived among them. No wonder the princess loved him! What a terrible thing for him to be there!” (Paragraph 12). The last two exclamations are the audience’s, inserted in the narrator’s prose as if he was also lamenting the young man’s fate.
In some places, the distinction between the narrator’s words and free indirect speech is even blurrier. When he mentions the potential criticisms of the king’s justice system, the narrator argues that “the thinking part of the community could bring no charge of unfairness against this plan, for did not the accused person have the whole matter in his own hands?” (Paragraph 8). It is unclear whether the king or the narrator uttered this rhetorical question, indicating the narrator seems to agree with the king’s views while also suggesting that it is an ironic stance.
