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Use Of Tone In 'The Lady, Or The Tiger'

Decent Essays

¨This vast amphitheater, with its encircling galleries, its mysterious vaults, and its unseen passages, was an agent of poetic justice, in which crime was punished, or virtue rewarded, by the decrees of an impartial and incorruptible chance.¨ This quote describes where most of the short story, ¨The Lady, or the Tiger,¨ took place. In the short story a king uses his power and a deadly arena to scare his subjects, and because of this the king's daughter has a love affair without her father's consent. The young man is sent to the amphitheater and the readers are left on a cliff hanger. In the short story, ¨The Lady, or the Tiger?¨ by Frank R. Stockton, the literary style pulls the reader in by powerful word choice, expansive figures of speech, and a constantly changing tone.
Tone is a vital part of the short story “The Lady, or the Tiger.” Throughout the story the author is …show more content…

The author uses many vivid words that helps put a picture of the town in your mind. For example, in line 3 “large, florid, and untrammeled.” Stockton uses these dramatic words to help the reader get into great detail on why the king is the way he is. The king is very big in his ways and no one crosses him and his family. No one dared to love the princess that is why everyone was so shocked when some one did. The people were scared of the large, florid, and untrammeled king because he used fear as an advantage. The author wants the reader to know that because of the coliseum the king could do whatever he wanted to do and have no one rebel against him. Another example of striking word choice is in line 19 “rhapsodies of dying gladiators.” Stockton wants the reader to experience what it was like back in that time period. He is describing that at any point some one could go into the amphitheater. While word choice makes the story more interesting, figures of speech add a thought provoking aspect to the

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