Mrs.
Packletide’s Tiger
by
Saki
Analysis :
‘Mrs. Packletide’s Tiger’ by H. H. Munro who wrote
with his pen name ‘Saki’ who is regarded as a master story writer known for using
wit, humour and suspense in his stories.
This story is about a wealthy woman, Mrs. Packletide
who weaves a plan to outshine her social rival, Loona Bimberton, but for that she has to incur
high financial loss.
It is a humorous short story that satirizes vanity,
social rivalry, and human foolishness.
It mocks at the people like Mrs. Packletide who can undergo
any amount of loss or pain to save their false pride.
The story humorously exposes how pride and competition
can lead to absurd situations.
Summary :
This story is about a wealthy English woman, Mrs.
Packletide who is obsessed with outshining her social rival, Loona Bimberton.
When Loona gains attention of the society for having been carried eleven miles in an
aeroplane. At this, Mrs. Packletide gets envious of her and decides that she must achieve something even more
impressive to gain social admiration and fame in the world around.
She chooses to hunt a tiger in India, not because she is bold or courageous, nor she has love for adventure She has one and only intention to impress others and humiliate
Loona. Through arrangements made by locals, a very old and weak tiger is
selected for her hunt. The villagers promise that the tiger will be easy to
kill, as it has been preying only on domestic animals and is too feeble to hunt.
Mrs. Packletide agrees to pay a large sum of money to
the villagers to organise the hunt. A platform is built in a tree, and
she is accompanied by her paid companion, Miss Mebbin, who is known for her greed for money and practical nature.
On the night of the hunt, the villagers arrange for a goat that is tied as bait to
attract the tiger. When the goat bleats, tiger appears and Mrs. Packletide fires the gun.
However, instead of killing the tiger, her shot frightens the goat, that breaks free and runs away. The sudden movement and loud sound of the shot causes the already weak tiger
to die of shock and heart failure, and not from the bullet.
The villagers, eager to receive their payment, start pretending and celebrating that Mrs. Packletide successfully killed the tiger. She gains fame and is
celebrated for her bravery. A tiger skin is prepared, and she throws a party for Mrs. Loona Bimberton and plans to present a brooch made of tiger skin as a gift to Loona Bimberton and then enjoy the emotion of jealousy on her face.
However, Miss Mebbin, who witnessed the truth, begins
to blackmail Mrs. Packletide. She threatens to reveal to Loona that the tiger died of
fright rather than being shot by Mrs. Packletide. Using this secret, Miss Mebbin forces Mrs.
Packletide to buy her a cottage as the price of her silence.
In the end, Mrs. Packletide abandons her passion for
big-game hunting, claiming that the “incidental expenses” are too high, which was an
ironic reference to the cost of Miss Mebbin’s blackmail.
Themes involved in the story
- Vanity
and Social Rivalry: Mrs. Packletide’s actions are
driven entirely by jealousy and the desire to outshine her social rival,
Loona Bimberton.
- Ironical
end and False Pride: Even after sincere efforts and
lot of money spent, the tiger isn’t actually killed by her. Mrs.
Packletide manages to gain fame for the thing she couldn’t achieve which
was a lie.
- Exploitation
and Greed: The villagers exploit her desire
for fame and Miss Mebbin exploits Mrs. Packletide's secret for her personal gain.
Irony Humour and Satire
Saki uses humour, irony and satire to mock human pride
and superficial social values. The story humorously exposes how false pride and
competition can lead to absurd situations. In the end, Mrs. Packletide achieves
her goal of social recognition, but at a much higher cost than expected, making
the entire episode look ironic and satirical.
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