the tiger or the lady essay

A Summary and Analysis of Frank R. Stockton’s ‘The Lady, or the Tiger?’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Lady, or the Tiger?’ is a widely studied short story by the American writer Frank R. Stockton (1834-1902). This classic short story, which was first published in The Century magazine in 1882, began life as a story Stockton told at a party; he published it when it received a strong response from his friends.

In ‘The Lady, or the Tiger?’, we are presented with an ancient system of justice whereby a suspected criminal has to choose one of two doors. Behind one is a lady, whom he will marry; behind the other is a tiger, which will devour him. You can read the story here before reading our summary and analysis of Stockton’s tale below (the story takes around 10 minutes to read).

‘The Lady, or the Tiger?’: plot summary

Some time in the past, a ‘semi-barbaric’ king has an arena built, in which justice is administered. Any man arrested on suspicion of committing a crime has to choose one of two doors in the amphitheatre, without knowing what is concealed behind the two doors. All he knows is that behind one door is a lady, and behind the other door, a tiger.

Behind one door is a lady, who has been handpicked from the population as a suitable bride for the man. If he chooses this door, he will be married to the lady immediately in a wedding ceremony performed in front of the crowd. Even if he already has a wife, he must marry this new bride and be with her.

The alternative is far worse. For behind the other door is a tiger, which – if he chooses this door – will leap upon him and devour him in front of the audience. This is the king’s way of serving justice in his realm: effectively, he places responsibility for their fate into the criminal’s own hands, although of course it is purely a matter of chance as to which ‘prize’ they get.

One day, the king learns that his daughter, the princess, has fallen in love with a young courtier. He is horrified that a princess could have been led astray by a commoner like this, and he has the young man arrested. It is announced that he will face his justice before the whole kingdom, in the arena, and men are immediately dispatched to find a suitable potential bride for him. Meanwhile, the fiercest tiger in the whole land is sought out.

The princess, who loves the young man, is at the arena on the day of her lover’s ‘sentencing’. When the young man sees the princess, he can tell that she has done as he expected her to do: that she has used money and her powerful status at court to discover which door hides the lady and which the tiger. When he makes eye contact with her, he asks her, ‘Which?’, and she gestures to her right.

So she has signalled which door he should choose. But at this point, the third-person narrator of the story tells us that he cannot tell us whether the princess directed her lover to choose the ‘lady’ door or the ‘tiger’ door. He tells us, though, that she knows the identity of the lady concealed behind one of the doors, and it’s a beautiful lady at court who is clearly attracted to the young man; what’s more, the princess has suspected for a while that her lover likes this lady, too.

So, did she help him to escape the fate of the tiger’s jaws, and effectively give the man she loves to another woman, with whom he will probably be perfectly happy? Or did her jealousy get the better of her, and she gestured to the door behind which the tiger waits to devour him? The narrator leaves this question unanswered, instead encouraging us to think for ourselves about which decision the princess would have made.

‘The Lady, or the Tiger?’: analysis

In many ways, ‘The Lady, or the Tiger?’ resembles a fable or fairy tale, and indeed the story’s author, Frank R. Stockton, wrote a number of fairy tales for children. But this is a fairy tale with a difference, since Stockton concludes the story without providing us with the final denouement. We are left wondering what the fate of the young man was: did he marry a beautiful woman (albeit not the princess), or was he eaten alive by a tiger?

But in subverting the reader’s expectations on the final page, Stockton is doing more than providing a nice talking-point for dinner-party conversations (to hark back to the supposed origins of the story). Instead, he is tacitly inviting us to pause and consider narrative conventions by taking a step back from the story itself and acknowledging that it is just that: story, narrative, fiction.

The princess, king, and youth who appear in the story never existed, and are merely products of an author’s imagination. So, too, then, are their fates, including the unspecified fate of the youth who loved the princess. Most stories are what the French literary theorist Roland Barthes calls readerly texts: they provide the reader with everything he or she needs to understand the story, and the reader can passively sit back and simply enjoy being entertained.

By contrast, writerly texts – to use Barthes’ term – are those fictions which engage the reader more actively in the events of the story or novel. In a writerly text, the reader will have to work harder to make sense of the narrative. For the most part, critics apply Barthes’ term ‘writerly’ to the works of those authors who deliberately make us work hard from page one: Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, and other modernists.

What is curious about ‘The Lady, or the Tiger?’ is that it begins, in Barthesian terms, as a readerly text, but then at the last moment Stockton subverts our readerly expectations and the story becomes a writerly text, throwing the onus on us to determine what we think happened to the young man.

If Stockton had simply told us that what door the man had opened, we would have been told what the princes had decided to do. But by withholding this crucial piece of narrative information from us, Stockton makes us examine the princess’s mental and emotional state more closely, based on the information we have been given, in order to deduce what she would be most likely to have done.

Of course, we still cannot answer the question posed in the story’s title, ‘The Lady, or the Tiger?’, for certain (and note how even the question mark in the story primes us for a more active role than we might otherwise be used to when reading, or even analysing, a short story). This is what makes the story such a perennial favourite in classrooms: readers are unlikely to reach a consensus on what the princess decided to do.

But in withholding this information, Stockton created, in ‘The Lady, or the Tiger?’, a forerunner to many twentieth-century modernist stories which would be similarly open-ended and ambiguous. Perhaps even without fully realising it himself, Stockton toppled the author from his godlike pedestal and made us , the readers of his story, the final ‘authors’ of the story’s conclusion.

In this, too, he anticipates Barthes, whose 1960s essay ‘ The Death of the Author ’ would argue that the godlike authority of the author must be resisted in favour of ‘the birth of the reader’.

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Home › Literature › Analysis of Frank R. Stockton’s The Lady, or the Tiger?

Analysis of Frank R. Stockton’s The Lady, or the Tiger?

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on May 27, 2021

Frank R. Stockton (1834–1902) originally entitled this story “The King’s Arena,” and after its appearance in 1882, it became the most famous story ever published in Century Magazine. Related by a caustic first-person narrator  who clearly disagrees with the feudal nature of kings and courtiers who set themselves above commoners, the story takes place in an unnamed barbaric country. The king discovers that a handsome young man, a commoner, whose low social rank prohibits his marrying royalty, has fallen in love with the king’s daughter—a crime that, the author remarks wryly, became common enough in later years. The trial of the young man takes place in the king’s arena. He must choose to open one of two doors. Behind one waits a ferocious beast who will tear him to pieces; behind the other, is a beautiful maiden who will marry him immediately. If he chooses the beast, he is automatically guilty; if he chooses the maiden, he proves his innocence.

Frank R. Stockton/Wikimedia

Of all those in the arena—including the king— only the clever princess has discovered the secret of what lies behind each door. She has made her decision to send a signal to the young man, and she does so, indicating the door on the right. In reaching her decision, the princess has agonized between the dreadful images of the savage and bloody death, and of the young man married to the beautiful maiden of whom the princess is intensely jealous. The young man moves immediately to the door the princess has indicated, and the story ends with the narrator’s question to the reader: “Which came out of the door,—the lady, or the tiger?” (10). Although similar to a surprise ending, the final sentence differs in that it leaves the reader without a denouement. Five years later, Stockton followed with “The Discourager of Hesitancy” (1887), which promises to solve the puzzle, but in fact this story, too, leaves the question unanswered.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Stockton, Frank R. “The Lady, or the Tiger?” In The Lady, or the Tiger? And Other Stories. New York: Scribner, 1914.

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The Lady or the Tiger?

Frank stockton, everything you need for every book you read..

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Frank Stockton's The Lady or the Tiger? . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

The Lady or the Tiger?: Introduction

The lady or the tiger: plot summary, the lady or the tiger: detailed summary & analysis, the lady or the tiger: themes, the lady or the tiger: quotes, the lady or the tiger: characters, the lady or the tiger: symbols, the lady or the tiger: theme wheel, brief biography of frank stockton.

Historical Context of The Lady or the Tiger?

Other books related to the lady or the tiger.

• Full Title: “The Lady or the Tiger?”
• When Published: 1882
• Literary Period: Victorian
• Genre: Short story; fairy tale; children’s literature
• Setting: An unnamed semi-barbaric kingdom, especially the king’s public arena located within the kingdom
• Climax: The princess instructs the young man to open the door on the right in the arena, and he does so—but does the lady or the tiger greet him?
• Antagonist: The king’s semi-barbaric and unjust administration of justice by chance as manifested in the public arena; the deviousness of human passion and jealousy
• Point of View: Mostly third person limited, with an essay on the princess’s decision toward the story’s end that includes the first person

Extra Credit for The Lady or the Tiger?

A Famous Admirer. The Englishman Robert Browning, perhaps the greatest of all the Victorian poets, admired Stockton’s fairy tale. He claimed to have “had no hesitation in supposing that such a princess under such circumstances would direct her lover to the tiger’s door.” Such a claim, of course, probably tells us more about Browning than Stockton’s princess.

Sequel. Stockton composed a sequel to “The Lady or the Tiger?” entitled “The Discourager of Hesitancy,” in which a monarch and his companions travel to the semi-barbaric kingdom of the earlier story to ask whether the young man opened the door to find the lady or the tiger. In turn, “a high officer” presents them with yet another tale that ends with yet another dilemma, promising to answer the question of the lady or the tiger only if the monarch and his companions can decide the solution to this second dilemma. “At the latest accounts,” the narrator reports at the end of the sequel, “the five strangers had not yet decided.”

The Lady, or the Tiger?

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Analyze how typical fairy tale tropes are used and/or subverted in “The Lady, or the Tiger?”

Pay attention to the description of the king and his actions. How does the narrator feel about the king? Is the reader supposed to feel the same way? Use evidence from the text to support your argument.

“The decisions of this tribunal were not only fair, they were positively determinate: the accused person was instantly punished if he found himself guilty, and, if innocent, he was rewarded on the spot, whether he liked it or not” (Paragraph 7). How is fairness defined in this story?

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A Beautiful Summary and Analysis of ‘The Lady, or the Tiger?’

Frank R. Stockton's short story "The Lady, or the Tiger?" has won critical acclaim for its captivating narration and speculative suspense at the end. Penlighten helps you understand the story better by giving a summary and further analysis on it.

Frank R. Stockton’s short story "The Lady, or the Tiger?" has won critical acclaim for its captivating narration and speculative suspense at the end. Penlighten helps you understand the story better by giving a summary and further analysis on it.

Mystery Unraveled!

Frank R. Stockton, an American writer and humorist was discouraged from taking up a career in writing by his father despite the fact that besides being a Methodist minister, he was a writer himself.

Until 1860, Stockton worked as a wood engraver and after his father’s death took to writing again. 1867 saw Stockton’s launch as a writer in his brother’s newspaper and the publication of his very first fairy tale, Ting-a-ling.

The Lady, or the Tiger? , a short-story penned by Frank R. Stockton (1834-1902), was published in The Century Magazine in 1882. It was included as the title story in Stockton’s 1884 collection of twelve stories. This intriguing story describes the brutal ways of a half-barbaric king in imputing justice, and the struggle of a princess to free her lover from awaiting doom.

The story takes the readers by surprise with a speculative end, leaving it to them to decide the outcome. Let us find out more about the story…

Analysis: The Lady, or the Tiger?

Plot summary.

◆ The story is narrated in the third person addressing the readers directly. The story is set in the ancient times. It begins with the narrator introducing a semi-barbaric king, semi-barbaric because he has a civilized Latin influence on his life. However, he unleashes his barbaric side by exercising an unusual system of justice on his people when found guilty of any crime.

The accused is placed in an arena all by himself, which has two doors. The accused is faced with the task of choosing one of the doors which would lead him to freedom. The other, of course, would be sure death. The door that leads to freedom has a maiden sitting behind it, whom the accused would have to marry right away leaving no room for his opinion. Whereas, the other door has a ferocious, hungry tiger behind it. The doors are identical, and this is what gives the story a nail-biting finish.

◆ This system of justice enthralled the audience as the fate of the accused was in his own hands. They loved the experience of sitting at the edge of their chairs to witness the outcome―freedom or death.

◆ The story proceeds further with an interesting twist to it where the king’s daughter―the princess―falls in love with a commoner. When the king discovers this affair, he turns livid and summons his soldiers to arrest the commoner and put him behind bars. He calls for the game to begin. In the meanwhile, he sends out his soldiers to find the most ferocious and dangerous man-eating tiger to be put behind one of the doors. The softer side of him chooses one of the most beautiful maidens for the young man to be put behind the other door.

The princess being madly in love with her lover, plots to free him. She secretly, with power and money, finds the door to freedom and the maiden who would be sitting behind it. Unfortunately for her, the maiden is also in love with the commoner, and the princess detests her for that.

◆ Finally, on the day of the trial, she sits along with her father―the king―in the arena to witness the final outcome. As the accused lover is presented before the king, he looks up to her, and she signals with her right hand indicating that he should take the right door. As the young lover moves forward to open it, the narrator abruptly stops the story. Thus, leaving it to the readers to decide on the conclusion―Liberty or Doom.

◆ The story ends in a suspense, and the narrator sets out the princess’s dilemma. The princess was aware that she will be asked for help by her lover. The princess loved the commoner; however, she had a barbaric streak in her. She had imagined the horror of the tiger eating her lover, and on the other hand, she was tormented by the thought of her lover marrying someone else whom she hated. In any case, the princess had lost her lover. However, it was in her power to decide to whom she would lose her lover.

◆ The narrator describes the princess’s anguish and dilemma from the time her lover was cast into prison. The endless nights of sleeplessness, the will and power that she exudes to free her lover, the agony of losing him to another woman, and the fear of seeing her lover being devoured by a tiger― the choice was hers. She knew she had to decide and that she did. The softer, angelic nature in her overcame the barbaric, jealous one, and she set her lover free.

The end still remains a mystery. Did the door open to a beautiful maiden or a fierce tiger ready to tear the young man to pieces?

◆ The story develops around more than one theme.

• Cruel and Kind : Juxtaposition of the king’s (can be taken as the society’s) cruel and kind. The lady behind one door depicts kindness, tame, mellow beautiful; whereas, the tiger represents cruelty in its worst form―anger, merciless, savage.
• Selflessness vs. Selfishness : The princess’s prompt raising of the hand towards the right door for her lover to be set free shows the selfless nature in her. The inner pangs of jealousy, agony of losing her lover to the woman she hates, brings out the possessive, selfish side of her nature.
• Life and Death : The two identical doors―one leading to life and the other to death―the choice of which ultimately rests on the accused.

◆ The story is divided in three parts.

• The first part discusses the king’s nature and his justice system.
• The second part narrates the affair of the princess and the commoner, the king’s discovery, and the lover’s trial in the arena.
• The third part throws the light on the princess’s decision. The story ends with the narrator challenging the readers to finish the story.

◆ The story takes place in unspecified land at an unspecified time.

◆ The three main characters of the story are the king, the princess, and the commoner.

◆ The king is described as outwardly sophisticated and polished with a hidden murderous, savage nature.

◆ The commoner is described as a handsome young man who loves the princess deeply.

◆ Both characters are stereotypes, and do not undergo much change in the story.

◆ The princess’s character has more shades than any other character in the story. The emotional upheavals of losing her lover to another woman or the tiger, brings out both sides to her nature. From the possessive, detesting side to a merciful, loving one, the princess’s emotions are tossed from side to side like a storm causing the boat to rock from side to side.

◆ The entire story is based on conflicts―the conflicting nature in the king, the conflict of emotions in the princess who has to take a decision, and the doors depicting conflicts of life and death.

◆ Irony is present throughout the story. For example: the lover’s complete trust in the princess to show him the correct door. The trial day unfolds the truth of the princess’s revelation on which of the doors would either set her lover free or kill him. Worst still, is her decision to let him marry the maiden and not let the tiger tear him to pieces.

◆ Most stories depict the characters being influenced by outer forces, uncontrollable situation or destiny. However, this story focuses on the power of choice. The king allows the accused to choose his verdict (in a way). The entire story is based on choices, not knowing which side the scales will tilt. The narrator ends the story in suspense, letting the readers decide the outcome. The message is clear that life is based on the choices we make.

Stockton said: “If you decide which it was―the lady or the tiger―you find out what kind of person you are yourself.” Well, he definitely did not have an answer. Though, he had planned an appropriate ending to the story, he could not write one, as he states further “for I had not the advantage of being either semi-barbaric or a woman.” meaning he left the choice to the reader to let the shrewd, wicked side of one take precedence over the harmless dove-like side or vice-versa.

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The Lady Or the Tiger Short Story Theme

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Introduction, the princess' choice in the lady or the tiger.

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The Lady or the Tiger?

by Frank Richard Stockton

• The Lady or the Tiger? Summary

Stockton's "The Lady, or the Tiger?" is set in a kingdom ruled by a "semi-barbaric" king who is a fanciful and unpredictable man. The king has dreamt up a justice system that is based entirely on chance. He has built a public arena where men accused of a crime must choose one of two doors. Behind one of the doors is a lady; behind the other is a tiger. If the prisoner chooses the door with the tiger, he is assumed to be guilty, and he will be eaten in front of the entire kingdom. On the other hand, if he chooses the door with the lady, he is presumed innocent, and he marries the lady right there on the spot.

The king's beautiful daughter has a personality that is very similar to his. Unbeknownst to him, she falls in love with a courtier, who is far below her in status. When the king finds out about this relationship, he is enraged. He puts the courtier on trial and will let his system of "poetic justice" decide the youth's fate. He searches his kingdom for the most ferocious tiger and the most beautiful lady. On the day of the courtier's trial, everyone in the kingdom gathers in the amphitheater.

When the courtier steps into the amphitheater, he bows to the king but his eyes are on the princess. He knows the princess's character and knows that she would have gone to great lengths to know what each door is concealing. The princess also knows the identity of the lady hiding behind the door: it is a beautiful lady of whom the princess is quite jealous. The courtier and the princess's eyes meet. He asks her with a glance which door he should choose. The princess makes a miniature gesture towards the door on the right. The courtier marches forward and chooses that door without hesitation.

We are not told what was behind the door that the princess chose for her former lover. Did she choose to send him to death in order to avoid giving him away to another? Or, in order to spare her lover's life, did she seal her own heartbreak to watch the one she loves marry another? In the end, the question is posed to the reader: what do you think came out of that door? The lady, or the tiger?

The Lady or the Tiger? Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Lady or the Tiger? is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

"She could never see 'her' man married to another, what is the writer trying to tell us about the character of the princess by using inverted command for the word "her" in this sentence?

In context, she is possessive.

The King built a public arena where men accused of a crime must choose one of two doors. Behind one of the doors is a lady; behind the other is a tiger. If the prisoner chooses the door with the tiger, he is assumed to be guilty, and he will be...

Study Guide for The Lady or the Tiger?

The Lady or the Tiger? study guide contains a biography of F Stockton, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Lady or the Tiger?
• Character List

Essays for The Lady or the Tiger?

The Lady or the Tiger? essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Lady or the Tiger? by F Stockton.

• The Lady Or The Tiger?: An Analysis of Relationships Between Characters

Lesson Plan for The Lady or the Tiger?

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to The Lady or the Tiger?
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• The Lady or the Tiger? Bibliography

Pickman: South Carolina-LSU melee marred stellar women’s basketball weekend. ‘We have to fix it’

Dawn Staley had just won her eighth SEC tournament championship. Her South Carolina Gamecocks had capped off a second consecutive undefeated campaign in the lead-up to the NCAA Tournament. They had outmatched a conference rival Sunday in Greenville, S.C., outlasting LSU 79-72.

This should have been a moment for her entire team to enjoy together. Instead, she was surrounded by just six players still allowed to be on the Bon Secours Wellness Arena court for the game’s closing minutes. Most of the players who had led South Carolina through this remarkable season were in the locker room while the remaining handful took turns cutting down the nets.

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Staley called the scene bittersweet. Senior guard Te-Hina Paopao said the muted celebration was heartbreaking.

It was difficult for the Gamecocks to fully bask in this special moment after the mayhem that ensued with two minutes to play in the fourth quarter. The Gamecocks led by 7 points when LSU guard Flau’jae Johnson tugged at the jersey of South Carolina’s MiLaysia Fulwiley , slowing down her progress as she dribbled up the floor. Johnson then bumped into South Carolina’s Ashlyn Watkins . Gamecocks center Kamilla Cardoso sprinted over, shoving Johnson to the ground. Amid the chaos, a fan, identified on ESPN’s telecast as Johnson’s brother, left the stands and leaped over the scorer’s table and onto the court before police escorted him off the floor.

LSU and South Carolina players got into a scuffle in the fourth quarter of the SEC Championship. pic.twitter.com/rXw1tb1jWM — ESPN (@espn) March 10, 2024

The chaos took around 20 minutes to sort out. The opponents were separated from one another, and every player from the teams’ sidelines was tossed for leaving their respective bench areas, except for South Carolina’s Sania Feagin , who did not leave the Gamecocks’ bench area, and Paopao, who was already at the scorer’s table to sub into the game. Cardoso was deservedly among those ejected.

Then play resumed and the Gamecocks held on. So, with the few players left on-court behind her rejoicing, Staley acknowledged the situation head-on.

“I just want to apologize to the basketball community,” she said on ESPN’s telecast. “You know when you’re playing a championship game like this in our league things get heated. No bad intentions. Their emotions got so far ahead of them that sometimes these things happen.”

Dawn Staley spoke about the scuffle between LSU and South Carolina following the Gamecocks' SEC championship win. pic.twitter.com/vnF8WD3boW — espnW (@espnW) March 10, 2024

There’s no excuse for Cardoso’s (or the fan’s) reactions. The 6-foot-7 center’s push will now overshadow a weekend that also saw her hit a game-winning 3-pointer (her first-ever) Saturday that sent South Carolina into the SEC title game. But Staley also wanted to diffuse the situation. And she knows what happened Sunday isn’t illustrative of the Gamecocks’ undefeated season, or the sport, more broadly.

“I just don’t want the people who are tuning in to women’s basketball to see that and think that is our game, because it isn’t,” Staley said. “Our game is a really beautiful thing. To be quite honest, this is a part of it now. So we have to fix it, and we have to move on.”

The conversation around Sunday’s title game changed, dampening a thrilling stretch of conference tournament games. The altercation could be the lasting memory from the weekend, and possibly beyond, blocking out Southern California’s triumph over Stanford to claim its first Pac-12 title in a decade. Or Iowa’s Caitlin Clark scoring 30 points in the second half and overtime of the Hawkeyes’ Big Ten championship victory over Nebraska . Or Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey glowing with pride as the Fighting Irish won the ACC crown.

It likely will be a topic of conversation through at least the first round of the NCAA Tournament, not the continued growth of the sport’s popularity. Cardoso will be serving a one-game suspension for breaking NCAA conduct rules, according to ESPN.

At 32-0, the Gamecocks seek to become the 10th national champion to go undefeated. What happened Sunday shouldn’t shroud South Carolina’s campaign. Nor should it be considered representative of women’s college basketball as a whole.

“I know if they had a chance to do it all over again, they would do it differently,” Staley said.

She acknowledged there will be fallout from what happened. Cardoso’s actions put South Carolina — and LSU — in an unnecessary predicament. Perhaps, others too, will be suspended. Staley said, “(I) hope it’s the biggest lesson that any of our teams have to experience.”

Her opposing coach took a different tack. Although she called the incident ugly, LSU coach Kim Mulkey didn’t help matters by preposterously hypothesizing about a bout between more evenly sized opponents and seemingly making light of the situation.

“Why weren’t the coaches tossed if they left the bench? Wouldn’t that be a hell of an ending,” she said.

"I wish she would have pushed Angel Reese. You're 6'8" don't push somebody that little." LSU coach Kim Mulkey on Kamilla Cardoso 👀 pic.twitter.com/gGtVuepYDb — The Sporting News (@sportingnews) March 10, 2024

She went on: “I can tell you this: I wish (Cardoso) would have pushed Angel Reese . Don’t push a kid — (you’re) 6-8. Let those two girls that were jawing, let them go at it.” Her comments did no one any good. And Reese, to her credit, walked away from the skirmish to the end of the court when the incident began, despite the jawing between her and Cardoso throughout the game.

The matchup was intense before either team stepped on the floor Sunday. LSU and South Carolina played a tightly contested game in late January, which South Carolina won by 6 points. It was their only meeting of the conference schedule. Then, they finished first and second in the SEC, with so many hoping to see them face off again in the championship game. After it, Reese called it a contest between two “heavy hitters.” Even before the late-game exchange, players traded barbs, and moments of called (and uncalled) chippy contact boiled over to a point where the scuffle broke out.

Staley credited the officials for halting the incident before it grew worse. Her apology, too, was also not the only one voiced on-court. She said afterward that she appreciated LSU’s Johnson for approaching her and apologizing for her role in the altercation. Cardoso also noted on social media that she was “committed to conducting myself with the utmost respect and sportsmanship in the future.” In that regard, responsibility was taken.

Consequences, though, will be leveled. The incident will hover over Sunday’s headlines. But it shouldn’t take away from the Gamecocks’ success. The beauty of March — what has been and what is to come — should shine brighter than Sunday’s madness.

Still, it won’t be permanently erased. Or at least yet forgotten. “We put ourselves in that position,” Staley said. “We made decisions that forced our hand to be in that situation. So I’m hoping that it’s the last of the last.”

(Photo of Kamilla Cardoso: Tracy Glantz / The State / Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

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Ben Pickman is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the WNBA and women’s college basketball. Previously, he was a writer at Sports Illustrated where he primarily covered women’s basketball and the NBA. He has also worked at CNN Sports and the Wisconsin Center for Journalism Ethics. Follow Ben on Twitter @ benpickman

The Spawn Of Satan Rears Its Head in 'The First Omen' Trailer

The Arkasha Stevenson-helmed prequel arrives in theaters on April

The Big Picture

• The First Omen offers a fresh take on the classic horror series from the 1970s with a prequel that will delve into the origins of the evil entity.
• Fans of the original Omen films will be drawn into the story by the return of Father Brennan, portrayed by Ralph Ineson, connecting the past with the present.
• With a talented cast including Nell Tiger Free and Bill Nighy, director Arkasha Stevenson aims to bring a new perspective to the iconic tale of Damien, the spawn of Satan.

The Exorcist , Halloween , The Texas Chainsaw Massacre , The Omen , the list of classic horror flicks from the 1970s goes on and on . While each of these titles has received follow-up installments, many have just recently popped back into the public eye with fresh chapters flipping the page to the next piece of the lore. But, instead of going forward, the next project to spawn from a series born in the ‘70s will tell the tale of what came before when The First Omen breaches into theaters on April 5. Today, a fresh peek at the bundle of horrific joy that lies ahead has arrived swaddled in a brand-new trailer courtesy of 20th Century Studios.

In the new trailer, Father Brennan ( Ralph Ineson ) is warning all who will listen that evil will soon find its way to Earth and that there's nothing that can stop it. The signs are all pointing to the little beast's arrival in a teaser that makes viewers question their eyes and ears.

To give you a bit of a refresher about the original movie and how it ties into the prequel, the primary character holding both pieces together is Ineson as Father Brennan. In the 1976 version, the dutiful servant of the Catholic Church was played by Doctor Who alum Patrick Troughton . Father Brennan is the first character to really raise alarm bells in The Omen , telling Gregory Peck ’s Robert Thorn and Lee Remick ’s Katherine Thorn that they had better watch their backs because they have something much worse than your run-of-the-mill toddler on their hands. The First Omen will paint a clearer picture of how Father Brennan became involved with the spawn of Satan and, with his background in other similar genre hits like The Witch , The Pope’s Exorcist , and Robert Eggers ’ upcoming Nosferatu remake, there’s no better man for the job.

Filling out the cast will be Nell Tiger Free ( Game of Thrones , Servant ), Bill Nighy ( Love Actually ), Sonia Braga ( Kiss of the Spider Woman ), and Tawfeek Barhom ( Mary Magdalene ) with Arkasha Stevenson standing at the helm as director.

‘The First Omen’ Will Either Make Or Break With Fans

Like the other favorites from arguably the best decade of horror hits, The Omen franchise isn’t a stranger to sequels and adaptations. The last release from the series was almost two full decades ago with David Seltzer ’s full-blown remake, aptly titled, The Omen . The production garnered mixed reviews from audiences, which is probably part of the reason why there haven’t been any further attempts to resurrect the story of Satan’s spawn over the last 18 years. Yet, here we are, just one month away from the release of The First Omen , and audiences are having flashbacks (both good and bad) of other recently revived franchises like Halloween and The Exorcist . In an odd coincidence, filmmaker David Gordon Green was behind each of the three new Halloween films as well as The Exorcist: Believer with each title proving to be divisive for the dedicated fandom at the center. With a legacy like that of The Omen ’s, all eyes will now be focusing on Stevenson and how her entry into the story about a baby named Damien will fit into the fold.

You can check out the new trailer below and read up on everything there is to know about The First Omen here in our guide .

The First Omen

A young American woman is sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church, but encounters a darkness that causes her to question her faith and uncovers a terrifying conspiracy that hopes to bring about the birth of evil incarnate.

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