Name: ______Date: ______Period: ______
Analyzing a text – “The Lady or the Tiger”
THEME – a recurring idea or insight found in the text; also known as the “hidden message” or moral of the story.
DIRECTIONS: Using the text of “The Lady or the Tiger,” find specific examples, evidence, and quotes of the following themes. You MUST provide page numbers for your quotes and explain the significance of each quote (why it is important) and what it reveals to the reader.This will be a building block to your open-ended response so take notes carefully.
Themes found in “The Lady or the Tiger”:
- Jealousy can cause people to act unjustly (unfairly):
Textevidence:
We see evidence of this when the narrator states, [...] think of it, fair reader, 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.”
Analysis and explanation:
This quote revealsthat the princess was obsessed with her lover and might choose the tiger because she is consumed by her “jealousy”.Her jealousy could lead her to make “unjust” or unfair decisions even about the man she loves. Jealousy is an all-consuming fire that could live inside of one and change the person he/she is.
- Love vs. Jealousy: The choice of whether to follow love or give into jealousy.
Text evidence:
We see evidence of this whenthe narrator states, “It was one of the fairest and loveliest of the damsels of the court who had been selected as the reward of the accused youth, should he be proved innocent of the crime of aspiring to one so far above him; and the princess hated her. Often had she seen, or imagined that she had 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.”
Analysis and explanation:
This quote revealsthat the princess is jealous of the maiden. She thinks that she saw the maiden flirting with her lover, and perhaps, her lover was returning her affections. She may think that her lover has stronger feelings for this young maiden, perhaps even more than for herself. The princess demonstrates her “jealousy” and may not love the young courtier as much as the reader thinks she does. Perhaps the princess will given in to “jealousy” since we know she has been described as “semi-barbaric” just like her father. In this case, “jealousy” may outweigh the princess’s love for the young man.
- Loyalty vs. Selfishness
Text evidence:
We see evidence of this when the author states, “When her lover turned and looked at her, and his eye met hers as she sat there, paler and whiter than anyone in the vast ocean of anxious faces about her, he saw, by that power of quick perception which is given to those whose souls are one, that she knew behind which door crouched the tiger, and behind which stood the lady.”
Analysis and explanation:
This quote reveals that the princess has a choice to be “loyal” to her lover and let him live, or be “selfish” and let him be eaten by the tiger. Perhaps the princess will choose the door with the tiger just because she is “barbaric”. Her “barbarianism” and “selfishness” might outweigh her love and “loyalty” to the young courtier.
DIRECTIONS: Using the text of “The Lady or the Tiger” identify specific evidence that supports where you believe the princess sent her lover.There are two examples provided for you for each side. You MUST provide page numbers for your quotes and explain the significance of each quote (why it is important) and what it reveals to the reader. This will be a building block to your open-ended response so take notes carefully.
The evidence that follows supports the belief that the princess sent her lover to the tiger’s door and a brutal death.
EvidenceQuote or paraphrase / Page number / Analysis / explanation of how this evidence supports your idea
“The semi barbaric king had a daughter as blooming as his most florid fancies, and a soul as fervent(enthusiastic and passionate) and imperious (superior) as his own.” / p. 4 / The fact that the princess is passionate and self-important (self-centered, selfish, narcissistic) suggests that she would not allow another woman to possess her lover.This suggests she would choose to lead her lover towards the door of the tiger.
“Had it not been for the moiety (molecules in her body) of barbarism in her nature, it is probable that lady would not have been there; but her intense fervid soul would not allow her to be absent on an occasion in which she was so terribly interested.” / p. 5 / Due to the fact that this princessis half barbaric and thus, enjoys the barbaric display of the arena, part of her nature would like to see her lover eaten by the tiger. This fact is even more evident in the second half of the quote when the author explains that her “fervid soul would notallow her to be absent.”
“The girl was lovely, but she had dared to raise her eyes to the loved one of the princess; and, with all the intensity of the savage blood transmitted to her through long lines of wholly barbaric ancestors, she hated the woman who blushed and trembled behind that silent door.” / p. 6 / This quote reveals due to the fact that the princess becomes angry with this maiden. This is shown when the narrator mentions her “barbaric ancestors” and “savage blood”. The princess may not allow her lover to marry the maiden behind the door.
“But how much oftener had she seen him at the other door! How in her grievous reveries had she gnashed her teeth, and torn her hair, when she saw his start of rapturous delight as he opened the door of the lady!” / p.7 / This quote reveals to the reader that princess’s jealousy may outweigh her love for her “lover”. She hated the maiden and would probably not allow the courtier to marry this maiden.
The evidence that follows supports the belief that the princess saves her beloved and chooses the door with the maiden.
EvidenceQuote or paraphrase
Possible examples follow) / Page number / Elaboration / explanation of how this evidence supports ideas or argument
“It mattered not that he already possesses a wife and family, or that his affections might be engaged upon an object of his own selection; The king allowed no such subordinate(inferior or lower class)arrangements to interfere with his great scheme of retribution and reward.” / And this is the situation the courtier (young man/lover) found himself in, he was engaged in an unlawful affair with the princess, for he was deemed to be below her station.
“This semi barbaric king had a daughter as blooming as his most florid (fancy or showy)fancies, and with a soul as fervent (enthusiastic and passionate) and imperious (superior) as his own.” / p. 3 / This wild and self-important nature that the princess possesses, all the more suggests that she will let no one deprive her of her lover’s life. She will figure out a way to be with him.This quote reveals that she loves him so fervently that she probably pointed him in the direction of the maiden because the marriage to her lover doesn’t matter to her. She will still figure out a way to be with him. He is better off alive than dead.
“This royal maiden was well satisfied with her lover, for he was handsome and brave to a degree unsurpassed in all this kingdom, and she loved him with an ardor that had enough of barbarism in it to make it exceedingly warm and strong.” / This quote reveals that the princess might actually love this man enough to let him live. Even though she hated this maiden because of her “barbaric” nature, she would still try to find a way to be with him. Because she loved him with “an ardor of […] barbarism” she probably could not point him in the direction of the tiger, therefore she possibly chose the maiden. Perhaps the princess feels that his beauty would be a waste if he died.
“How often, in her waking hours and in her dreams, had she started in wild horror, and covered her face with her hands as she thought of her lover opening the door on the other side of which waited the cruel fangs of the tiger!” / This quote reveals that the princess could not stand to witness her lover die by the “fangs of the tiger”. Even though the princess’s nature was barbaric, her love for the young courtier outweighed her barbarism and her hatred for the maiden.