The Lady Or The Tiger Quotes

The Lady or the Tiger Essay

The environment that one grows up in shapes their personality and has a major effect on the attributes, morals, and ethics they develop. In Frank Stockton’s The Lady or the Tiger, the Princess is born into a kingdom with an incredibly cruel and unfair justice system. The structure of her whole world revolves around the brutal arena, causing the Princess to adopt the same flawed morals that went into the ideas behind its construction. Furthermore, the Princess inherits her father’s malicious attributes from growing up under his influence. Both of them possess cruel, authoritative, and intense characteristics, which are emphasized throughout the story. Stockton’s description of the Princess’s personality and emotional

When first introducing the lady, the narrator states, “...and the Princess hated her. Often had she [seen] this fair creature throwing glances of admiration upon the person of her lover, and sometimes she thought these glances were perceived, and even returned.” (5). This quote illuminates that the Princess feels threatened by the fair maiden because she is afraid that the courtier admires her beauty. The Princess is overwhelmed by her own insecurities which cause her to burn in jealousy and fury, because seeing her lover with any woman would be hurtful, but seeing him with a woman that she absolutely hates would cause the Princess unimaginable rage. The Princess’s resentment towards the lady spirals out of control and her already warped mindset is twisted further until it has surpassed the point of all rationality; pushing her over the edge and causing her to choose the tiger. The Princess’s catastrophic feelings of hatred and envy towards the fair maiden overshadow her morals; thus, she directs her lover towards his death rather than this enemy of

When evaluating the Princess’s character, the narrator describes her as a “hot-blooded, semi-barbaric Princess” (7). This quote reveals her savage, aggressive, and irrational side; presenting characteristics that correlate with a shortage of compassion and remorse towards others. Furthermore, at the end of the story, the author states, “Would it not be better for him to die at once, and go to wait for her in the blessed regions of semi-barbaric futurity?” (7). This quote reveals that not only does the Princess lack empathy for the courtier, but she is also primarily concerned with her own feelings of loss and despair. Her uniquely vicious, intense attributes and self-centered nature take over any reasonable thought processes that she could possess. Together, these imperfections overpower her morality and cause her to direct the courtier to the tiger’s door rather than spare his life. The Princess’s toxic characteristics such as cruelty and brutality convey that she almost certainly feels little empathy towards her lover; making it much easier for her to direct him towards the vicious tiger’s