“The girl was lovely, but she had dared to raise her eyes to the loved one of the princess; and, with all the intensity of the savage blood transmitted to her through long lines of wholly barbaric ancestors, she hated the woman who blushed and trembled behind the silent door.” 302 There is no way that a woman with a nature such as the princess’s would allow a woman she hated to be married to the man she loved. “How in her grievous reveries had she gnashed her teeth, and torn her hair, when she saw his start of rapturous delight as he opened the door of the lady.” 303 Her passionate rage inflicted upon herself in her dreams could easily be redirected when she obtained the power to determine her lover’s destiny. The rage of her barbarism will prevail because it is combined with her earlier stated imperious nature. “Would it not be better for him to die at once, and go to wait for her in the blessed regions of semi barbaric futurity?” 304 The princess asks this question of herself in response to the image of her lover’s marriage to the fair maiden she played over and over again in her mind. She has obviously determined that it would be better for him to die and wait for her in eternity than to allow him to fall into another’s arms. The evidence that follows supports the belief that the princess saves her beloved and chooses the door with the maiden. Evidence Quote or paraphrase Possible examples follow) Page number Elaboration / explanation of how this evidence supports ideas or argument “It mattered not that he already possess a wife and family, or that his affections might be engaged upon an object of his own selection; The 300 And this is the situation the courtier found himself in, he was engaged in an unlawful affair with the princess, for he was deemed to be below her
front, and in which waited the lady.” “But gold, and the power of a woman’s will, had brought the secret to the princess.” The princess’s love for her soul mate was so great that she divined a way to save his life. “He saw, by that power of quick perception which is given to those whose souls are one, that she knew behind which door crouched the tiger, and behind which stood the lady. He had expected her to know it.” ‘His soul was assured that she would never rest until she had made plain to herself this thing, hidden to all other lookers on, even to the king.” 302 When two people share a love as deeply as the princess and her lover, their souls are intertwined and they can perceive all matters of the heart. Just as Adam said of Eve in Genesis 2:23, “this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” Though two separate people that are yet as one. “Without the slightest hesitation, he went to the door on the right, and opened it. “ The princess’ lover knew the depth of love the princess felt for him, and thus did not hesitate to open the door that she had shrewdly discover in order to save his life. “How often, in her waking hours and in her dreams, had she started in wild horror, and covered her face with her hands as she thought of her lover opening the door on the other side of which waited the cruel fangs of the tiger!” 303 The death of her lover haunted her dreams. What would be worse than watching one’s loved one being torn to shreds. “She had known she would be asked, she had decided what she would answer, and, without the slightest hesitation, she had moved her hand to the right.” 304 Knowing that their souls were stitched together as one, she knew that he would have discernment as to her knowledge of the doors. And as a garment ripped apart is useless, the princess knew that she could not betray the love of her soul. She immediately chose to spare his life and wait until they can once again be together in the “blessed regions of semi barbaric futurity” (pg. 304)
princess writhes with hate when she discovers the identity of the maiden who will become her lover’s betrothed. When thinking of the maiden, the princess “with all the intensity of the savage blood transmitted to her through long lines of wholly barbaric ancestors, … hated the woman who blushed and trembled behind that silent door”. The author, I believe, explains the extent of her savage nature when he says that the princess is a “hot blooded, semi-barbaric princess, her soul at a white heat beneath the combined fires of despair and jealousy”. A woman such as this would not allow her lover to be loved by another and thus would do what only a savage could do: send her lover to his death at the tiger’s door.