Lady or the tiger

Hanna, Cathy, and Haripriya begin the presentation about the feminist lens placed on the short story, "Lady or the Tiger". The start of the presentation is marked with a summary of the short story to ensure that the class has context for any statements or information they share later on into the presentation. The lady or the tiger is named this specifically as it is the method of trial. A potential criminal will enter the arena, and there are two doors where one has a tiger (meaning you're guilty and you will die) and the other has a lady (which means that you are innocent, then you will marry the lady). The princess of the kingdom, having more power than anyone before her, possessed the secret of the doors, having knowledge of which door is the tiger or the woman. The princesses’ lover is subjected to the trial, and is debating with the fact of whether to tell the lover which door to go to as she will lose him to the lady from the gates. The lover walks to the door and the author does not reveal what the result was, keeping the audience in suspense forever. Next, the topic of historical feminism and the 5 lenses of analysis is brought up. Feminism is an ideology that states that men and women should have social, economic and political equality. Historical feminism has existed as far back as 3rd century Rome, evidence exists from feminist protests against Consul Marcus Porcius Cato. The 5 lenses of analysis are context, representations of women, gender roles and expectations, power dynamics, intersectionality, voice and narrative structure. The author is Frank R. Stockton, an American writer and humorist. In 1882, the first wave of feminism took place in America, women were also not allowed to vote until the 1920's in the U.S. Regarding representations of women, the maidens behind the doors are objectified as a reward and a proof of another's innocence rather than having their own self worth. The princess is more complex than other females mentioned in the story and has her own personal ambitions and struggles. However, princesses are able to rebel and have an opinion as shown in the story. Gender roles and expectations are included everywhere in this story, the maidens and the unfortunate wives are surveyed by judges, are shown as objects of beauty, and are expected to marry the potential criminal. The wives do not even have the right to protest if their husband or father marries another woman. Power dynamics are also a large basis of the story, the princess is punished more by the king for her defiance than the young man at trial as he has a 50/50 chance for happiness. 

“It matters not that he might already possess a wife and family, or that his affections might be engaged upon a object of his own selection ; the king allowed no such subordinate arrangements to interfere with his great scheme or retribution and reward”

Intersectionality is present in the "Lady or the tiger" as class, personalith, physical appearnace and narrative structure all play a major role in this short story. The presenters explain in further detail about each intersectionality aspect, furthering our knowledge as students in this english class. The presentation concludes. Through the lens of feminist criticism, “The Lady or the Tiger” by Frank Stockton reveals society's views of women during his time and the long historical imbalances faced by females in patriarchal society, shown through the female characters’ experiences shape by class, wealth and power through affirmation. The activity is analyzing the story using a feminist criticism indicator assigned to each group, it is relevant to the presentation and serves as a closing to this baffling presentation. These hosts had amazing storytelling skills, possessed lots of expression to convey the message, as well as many references to real life history.