The Lady or the Tiger?

[Lunis]

Has anyone read the story "The Lady or the Tiger?" If not, here's a link. http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/LadyTige.shtml

Which door do you think the princess led her lover to?

I think she would lead him to the tiger. Why? It is a partially barbaric country. Everything else in the story seemed barbaric enough that I think in the princess' mind, it would be better for that man to die than to marry someone that she hates. I think that she would convince herself after the days of indecision that having him die would be a lesser torture to herself. Not the way I would do it, but I reiterate that this was a barbaric country.

I find it fun to discuss questions like this. What is your opinion and why?

[shooraijin]

Wow, this is a oldie.

I always favoured the tiger myself.

[Mangafanatic]

Given the nature of the princess, I'd say she'd choose the tiger. While she loved the guy, she has two major things pushing her towards the tiger door:

1) Her father is obviously the kind of guy who doesn't mind judging someone by the means discribed in the story. With that said, we can assume her parenting has been pretty crappy.

2) Plus, she hates the chick who's behind the door. To a barabaric princess, I'd say love and hate are probably equally strong emotions.

For these reasons, I'd say she sent the poor fellow to his death.

As a side note, I had to read that story for a literature class, and the teacher told us that the author of the story was swamped by letters from readers who wanted to know which door the princess chose. He would never tell, but he did say that he thought that your gut feeling concerning which door the princess guided her beloved to said something about you. So I guess the three of us vampires or something.

[Nate]

Honestly, I think she pointed him to the tiger. This is probably because of her barbaric nature, and the fact that she probably did not love him.

Love sometimes means doing something you do not want to do, for the better of the object of your affection. Look at God. He truly loved us, so even though He did not want to, He sent His son to die for us.

Conversely, if I were in love with a woman, TRULY in love with her, I would want what was best for her, even if that turned out to not be me. If the prince looked favorably upon the lady that was in the cage, they could possibly have loved each other, and if the princess truly loved him, he should have let him live and be happy, because that would have been best for him.

This is my opinion, and I'm sticking to it. Probably the tiger because of her nature, but it should've been the lady if she truly loved him.

[Kaori]

He would never tell, but he did say that he thought that your gut feeling concerning which door the princess guided her beloved to said something about you.

I also remember reading something to that extent.

The author wrote a sequel story, The Discourager of Hesitancy. A messenger is sent to the country where the first story took place to try to find out what happened to the lover, and instead of receiving an answer he is told a different story that has a similar inconclusive ending.

[Scribs]

The Tiger

Being the pessimist that I am, I would very much suspect that she, being bloodthirsty and probably jealous would point to the tiger. "If I can't have him no one will" was probably what was going through her head.

[Indigo_Eyes]

Like everyone else here, I say the tiger, because she probably didn't truly love him.
Although it would have been nice (in a way) if she chose the other woman, because that would mean that he wasn't just an object of her fancy that was being punished for loving her. Lol, I'm such a romantic.

[AnubisWerewolf]

I love that story. Such a classic. Had to read it in school when I was younger. Good times...

[the_lizardqueen]

Wow. An old thread and a story that I've never heard of before. It was quite interesting though.

I'm gonna go against the flow and lean towards the lover surviving. Honestly, I can't decide which way the Princess would have gone. But I just can't quite accept the whole watch-the-lover-get-shredded-by-the-tiger route.

I may claim to be a pessimist but there seems to be a sun-shiney flakey optimist hiding below the surface ^^;

Dude. This is totally reminding me of 'The Prisoner's Dilemna', that play made me totally neurotically paranoid. I see a potential thread idea O.O

[mitsuki lover]

This is such a classic that they made it part of Catwoman's introduction on Batman.
In the ep.Batman has to choose the classic two doors,behind one is a tiger and behind the other is Catwoman with the key to free Robin from his cage.If Batman guessed right he will be able to free Robin and himself from the trap,if he chooses wrong he becomes Bat Burgers.

[Radical Dreamer]

I remember reading this book back in 9th grade. I always thought it was the Tiger the princess chose, for all the reasons mentioned above. An interesting story, though. My favorite short story from 9th grade was still "The Most Dangerous Game," though. I loved that story!

[USSRGirl]

I loved this story!

THE TIGER!!! THE TIGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Because....pride is stronger than love. And besides...that's just how girls are. ^_^ If she couldn't have him fawning over her anymore, then she'd rather see him die a horrible bloody death. Because her love would be dead to her regardless, at least she wouldn't have to see him with another. Barbarism overrides civil behavior.

[rocklobster]

We did that story once in Junior High. In my version, I had her pick the tiger, but the hero actually killed the tiger and got the girl anyway.