Unit Planner
Pre-Reading
- Would you trust your life to a friend? Explain
- Which is a stronger emotion- love or jealousy? Explain
- How completely can one person understand another? Explain
BACKGROUND
This story is a fairy tale. It has all the fairy tale ingredients: kings, queens, moral of the story etc.
MAIN CHARACTERS
King: He has a weird system of justice involving a lady and a tiger.
King's daughter: She loves this young courtier in the king's court. She has quite a temper though
Courtier: a young man. He loves the princess, but he is a commoner - a person without royal blood
PLOT
Long time ago there was this king. When someone broke the law he had a specific punishment. He would put the person in an arena and make them choose between 2 doors. One door had a beautiful lady behind it that he would marry. The other door had a tiger behind it that would kill him. People loved this because the criminal chose their own fate.
One time this young manhad an affair with the princess (King's daughter). He was in the lower class, so because of this embarrassment, the king decided to put the guy in the arena. The King went out and found the biggest tiger and the most beautiful woman. The princess found out who the woman behind the door would be. It was some girl who liked the man and flirted with him. She realized if he picked her they would have to marry. Then the princess uses her power to find out what which door the tiger would be behind and what door the lady would be behind. When the day came, the courtier came out and looked at the princess for help. She pointed to the right door. The story ends here.
THINGS TO MAKE YOU LOOK SMART
Here is the thing about the ending: We don't know the fate of the courtier.
The princess knew the placement of the lady and the tiger. BUT, does she save her lover from the tiger? Or does she save herself the jealousy of having her lover marry the woman.
On the one hand the guy would get killed. On the other, she would have to watch as he married some lady that she hated. We never find out the end. You have to decide what happens.
Vocabulary:
interfere
power
reveal
satisfied
wonder
clue
announce
audience
admiration
chance
contain
discover
expect
final
identical
jealous
punish
beast
brave
bride
choose
enter
fair
glance
gather
hate
reward
terrible
trial
LOTS Questions
(The answers to the following questions can be found in the text)
What is the meaning of the following phrases:
a) "The apple of his eye."
b) "Poetic justice."
a) Where did the king sit in the arena?
b) Did the tiger come out of the same door each 'trial'?
c) Did the princess like the lady who had been chosen for her lover's 'trial'? Give reasons.
d) How did the princess indicate to her lover the door of her choice?
e) What had the princess seen in her dreams?
f) Did the princess expect her lover to ask her to indicate which door he should choose?
g) Why did no one else in the arena notice that the princess was communicating with her lover?
Literary Therms:
Setting
Plot
Characters
Protagonist
Antagonist
Conflict
Analysis (HOTS)
Inferring:
What does the author mean by "When he and himself agreed upon anything, the thing was done"?
Did the mourners come to the arena because they wanted to?
Is there a suggestion that polygamy is legal in the kingdom?
Do you think women ever committed crimes in the kingdom? If they did, how do you think they were tried?
Problem Solving/Uncovering Motives/Cause and Effect:
Why did the king think the princess' lover would be 'disposed of' whichever door he opened?
How had the princess found out what was behind each door?
Why had the king thrown the commoner into prison?
Review questions before the test:
- In the kingdom described in the story, what happens when a person is accused of a crime? Why do the members of the community support this method? (2)
- What is the young man’s crime? Why are his actions considered criminal? (2)
- What does the princess do when the young man is in the arena? What motive does she have for sending him to his death, and what motive does she have for saving his life? (3)
- What do the young man's actions tell you about his relationship with the princess? (2)
- In what ways is the king’s justice similar to flipping a coin to decide an important question?
- Why is the princess’ internal conflict so central to the story?
- At what point is the young man’s fate actually decided? Explain
BridgingText and Context
"If a person committed a crime, most of the time they had to go through a ‘trial by ordeal’. Trial by ordeal was an ancient judicial practice by which the guilt or innocence of the accused was determined by subjecting them to an unpleasant, usually dangerous experience. Classically, the test was one of life or death and the proof of innocence was survival. In some cases, the accused was considered innocent if they escaped injury or if their injuries healed."
Post-Reading
1. Draw a picture or diagram of the king's arena. You could show the lover making his choice.
2. Make a Storyboard
3. As you see, there is no resolution to the short story “The Lady or the Tiger?” Your job is to write the ending. You must first writethe last line of the next-to-last paragraph of the story: “She had known she would be asked, she had decided what she would answer, and, without the slightest hesitation, she had moved her hand to the right.” Now, continue with your ending.