Monday, May 5, 2014

Who is the protagonist and antagonist in "The Lady, or the Tiger?"

Protagonist, by defintion, is the one character who the plot is centered upon. In this case, the young male villager serves as our protagonist because all of the story's action is oriented toward his eventual decision. We know he is the protagonist because of his portrayal as "the good guy" by the author.

The antagonist is primarily the semi-barbaric king, who makes the choice to have the young man choose in the arena either the tiger or the maiden. We have no way of knowing whether his alleged love (the princess) is an antagonist or not, as the author leaves us wondering whether the young man chose death or life. The princess gestures toward one door, but whether her love chose that door remains undisclosed. Further, we know that the princess was jealous of the woman behind door number two, which may have prompted her to lead her love to death rather than a lifetime with her adversary.

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