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What is an example of personification in "The Lady or the Tiger?" by Frank R. Stockton?

One example of personification in "The Lady, or the Tiger?" by Frank R. Stockton is the following:




This vast amphitheater. . . was an agent of poetic justice, in which crime was punished, or virtue rewarded, by the decrees of an impartial and incorruptible chance.



The amphitheater itself is described as a person who can exercise judgment and bring about justice, so an inanimate object is personified (that is, made into a living being). In this example, the amphitheater becomes the agent of justice, rather than the king, which suggests the king does not really accept responsibility for the terrible system of justice he established. Instead, the building itself, with its constantly changing doors containing a maiden on one side and a tiger on the other, becomes the instrument of justice. The personification in this story is a deliberate choice the author makes to emphasize the way in which the king absolves himself of blame for the barbaric system he has established.


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