Power and riches can turn a person from kind-hearted to cold, and from bad to ruthless. It can easily go to someone’s head and turn them into a person that they are not. In “The lady or the tiger?” by Frank R. Stockton, we are introduced to a king who was immediately described as “semi-barbaric.” Throughout this short story, the author describes how the king would throw any person or “criminal” in an arena and face them with a life or death situation. Either they could choose a door and be greeted with a beautiful maiden, or choose a different, identical door and be eaten by savage tigers. The king was semi-barbaric because of his immorality, biasness, and remorselessness.
The king was immoral because any person he deemed a criminal would be thrown in an arena. Even if that person was innocent, they could choose the door to the tiger. Both doors were bad options because the “criminal” had to marry the maiden. The king either forced the person into an unwanted marriage or an unwanted death. The king’s immorality would lead him to believe that it was okay to pluck a maiden out of her village and basically sacrifice herself for entertainment. Though she was not the one dying, there was a 50% chance that she had to give up her life because of the king.
Another reason that the king was semi-barbaric was because of his biasness. Sure, any father might be over-protective of their daughter, but to take the man interested in their daughter and throw them into an arena to not only be ridiculed by the public, but have a equal chance of dying or living an unhappy life is terrible. The king specifically chose the most ruthless, crazed tigers to be in the arena along with the most beautiful maiden in all the land. The king was biased against this man for liking his daughter, so he made sure that he would get the worst punishment regardless.
Lastly, the king was remorseless in all his actions. Considering how often the king must have punished people, that would mean that he also witnessed many people be eaten by tigers. Yet, he continues with these cruel and ruthless actions. He showed no remorse for targeting his daughter’s lover, and he never seemed to show remorse for any of the other men that he punished. Though all of the king’s actions were inexcusable, showing remorse would most likely make the reader more likely to forgive him. Villains turned good are very popular in all sorts of books, tv shows, and more. However, the king was a villain and stayed one.
In conclusion, the king from “ The Lady or The Tiger?” by Frank R. Stockton was a cruel, ruthless, and semi-barbaric man. He plucked maidens and men from the street and forced unto them a chance at a terrible life. The story focused on a specific man: the man in love with the king’s daughter. The king was close with his daughter so he decided to pull all the stops to ensure that the man would suffer whether he chose the maiden or the hungry, savage tigers. Though us readers don’t actually know what happened to the man, because the author left the ending ambiguous, we can assume that either way, the man suffered; and it was all the king’s fault.