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The “semi-barbaric” tyrant of a kingdom somewhat influenced by distant “Latin” neighbors, the king has grandiose ideals, not least among them that justice should be administered with absolute impartiality, by chance. It is to this end—and also for his own viewing pleasure— that he has established the public arena in which the accused are forced to choose between one door, one of which hides a beautiful lady to whom the accused will be married (whether he likes it or not) if he opens her door, and the other a ferocious tiger that will devour him should he open its door. When the king discovers that his daughter, the princess, has a lover beneath her royal station, a young man who serves in the royal court no less, the king condemns this young man to trial by arena.
The king Quotes in The Lady or the Tiger?
The The Lady or the Tiger? quotes below are all either spoken by The king or refer to The king. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The Lady or the Tiger?
Quotes
In the very olden time there lived a semi-barbaric king, whose ideas, though somewhat polished and sharpened by the progressiveness of distant Latin neighbors, were still large, florid, and untrammeled, as became the half of him which was barbaric. He was a man of exuberant fancy, and, withal, of an authority so irresistible that, at his will, he turned his varied fancies into facts.
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The decisions of this tribunal [held in the public arena] were not only fair, they were positively determinate: the accused person was instantly punished if he found himself guilty, and, if innocent, he was rewarded on the spot, whether he liked it or not. There was no escape from the judgments of the king's arena.
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Of course, everybody knew that the deed with which the accused was charged had been done. He had loved the princess, and neither he, she, nor any one else, thought of denying the fact; but the king would not think of allowing any fact of this kind to interfere with the workings of the tribunal, in which he took such great delight and satisfaction. No matter how the affair turned out, the youth would be disposed of, and the king would take an aesthetic pleasure in watching the course of events…
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The king Quotes in The Lady or the Tiger?
The The Lady or the Tiger? quotes below are all either spoken by The king or refer to The king. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Lady or the Tiger?
Quotes
In the very olden time there lived a semi-barbaric king, whose ideas, though somewhat polished and sharpened by the progressiveness of distant Latin neighbors, were still large, florid, and untrammeled, as became the half of him which was barbaric. He was a man of exuberant fancy, and, withal, of an authority so irresistible that, at his will, he turned his varied fancies into facts.
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
The decisions of this tribunal [held in the public arena] were not only fair, they were positively determinate: the accused person was instantly punished if he found himself guilty, and, if innocent, he was rewarded on the spot, whether he liked it or not. There was no escape from the judgments of the king's arena.
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Of course, everybody knew that the deed with which the accused was charged had been done. He had loved the princess, and neither he, she, nor any one else, thought of denying the fact; but the king would not think of allowing any fact of this kind to interfere with the workings of the tribunal, in which he took such great delight and satisfaction. No matter how the affair turned out, the youth would be disposed of, and the king would take an aesthetic pleasure in watching the course of events…
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