The Lady or the Tiger?
From this Tuesday's Interactive Writing assignment (read "The Lady or the Tiger" and write a short response):
The lady. Our princess may be “savage,” but that doesn’t mean she’s stupid. Choosing the tiger would be a very shortsighted move; true, her lover wouldn’t marry a hated rival, but then, he’d also be permanently unavailable. Pointing her lover toward the lady opens up the possibility that the situation can later be altered to suit her desires. For instance, we know our princess is passionate and savage, and therefore she is probably willing to be quite ruthless. It would be quite easy to arrange for the unfortunate death of her lover’s new wife, thus returning her lover to his previously unmarried state and ridding herself of the despised other woman. Based on the ease and speed with which our lady obtained the secret of the two doors, I would surmise that she is quite experienced and skilled in court intrigue. Arranging something as simple as an “accidental” death would be relatively simple for the princess. After this brutal demonstration of her father’s lack of regard for her feelings, I would also guess that she is feeling less than affectionate toward the king, and may not have for quite some time. Defying her father’s wishes and marrying her lover is entirely within the scope of her character; what’s more, it isn’t outside the realm of possibility that she might be willing to go one step further and facilitate the king’s early demise. Doing so would ensure both that he won’t interfere with her marriage plans and that, as the new queen, she can do as she pleases without fear of interference from any other authority. While I can’t say for certain that this is our princess’ exact plan, I am quite sure that something similar has crossed her mind. Even if she were to formulate an entirely different method of achieving what she wants, in the end, assuming her passion for her lover has not been overstated, any plan she comes up with will require his survival. Thus, the only choice our princess can make is to choose the lady, rather than the tiger.