The Lady Or The Tiger, And Charlotte Stetson's The Yellow

Improved Essays
In Frank Stockton’s “The Lady or the Tiger” and Charlotte Stetson’s “The Yellow

Wallpaper,” the protagonist is forced to conform to the society in which she lives. In “The Lady

or the Tiger,” the king’s daughter must endure her father’s harsh laws, and watch as her lover is

thrown into an arena, forced to randomly choose a fate: a life married to a beautiful woman, or a

terrifying death by tiger. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the main character struggles with post-

partum depression. Her husband, John, who also acts as her physician, sentences her to bed rest,

hoping this will cure her depression. In both stories, a life altering conflict is brought to pass by

loved, trusted males. The women are so accustomed to their patriarchal

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