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.
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Summary :
This story is about a wealthy English woman, Mrs.
Packletide who is obsessed with gaining social prestige and outshining her social rival, Loona Bimberton. Recently, Loona gains attention of the society for having been carried eleven miles in an
aeroplane by Algerian aviator. At this, Mrs. Packletide gets envious of her popularity and decides that she must achieve something even more
impressive and exciting 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 become popular in the society and humiliate
Loona. Through arrangements made by local villagers, 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. They are also scared that tiger shouldn't die before the hunt that's why goats are left nearby unattended to keep the tiger satisfied and motivated. Children are posted around and women hush their singing to take care that the tiger doesn't roam away.
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Mrs. Packletide agrees to pay thousand rupees, 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. She is accustomed to draw money to her side. She also suggests Mrs. Packletide not to give thousand rupees to the villagers as the tiger is very old and if if the tiger doesn't touch goat, she shouldn't pay for the goat also.
On the night of the hunt, a goat that is tied as bait to
attract the tiger. When the goat bleats and tiger appears, Miss Mebbin asks Mrs. Packletide to shoot and she fires the gun.
However, instead of killing the tiger, her shot kills the goat. 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.
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The villagers, eager to receive their payment, start pretending and celebrating by beating tomtoms and shouting slogans that Mrs. Packletide successfully killed the tiger. She gains fame and is
celebrated for her bravery. She gets coverage in the magazines and her photos are published in the newspapers. A tiger skin is prepared, and she throws a lunch party for Mrs. Loona Bimberton and plans to present a brooch made of tiger skin as a birthday gift to Loona Bimberton and then enjoy the emotion of jealousy on her face.
However, Miss Mebbin, who has 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. The name of the cottage is kept 'Les Fauves' meaning wild animals and she plants tiger lilies around the cottage as a sign of her reward for her smartness and victory associated with tiger hunt.
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.
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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. A gand tiger hunt is arranged just to make a lad feel jealous.
The story humorously exposes how false pride and competition can lead to absurd situations. A very old and weak tiger is arranged for the shoot, though he was feared to die any time.
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. The hunter of the tiger gets blackmailed and a paid help takes the control of the situation, consequently buying a cottage through blackmail.
The title becomes anticlimatic as tiger hunt turns out to be an embarrassing outcome and too expensive affair.
Character Sketch
Mrs. Packletide
Mrs. Packletide’s sole motive is to
surpass Loona and gain social admiration. She is competitive as she
treats another woman’s social success as a challenge. She is very image-conscious and she carefully considers how the event will appear in
society. Her shallowness makes her self-deceptive. She accepts the public version of the event because it
supports the image she wants. She becomes ultimately
vulnerable pertaining to her obsession with prestige which exposes to Miss Mebbin’s
manipulation.
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Miss Mebbin
Miss Mebbin
is observant, economical and unusually practical. Her attention to the tiger’s
condition contrasts with Mrs. Packletide’s emotional obsession. She understands
the value of information
which gives her power. Her later demand
for a cottage transforms her from a minor companion into the person who
controls the outcome. Her behaviour is comic because she treats a supposedly
grand adventure as a transaction.
Important
Question Answers
Q. How did the
villagers ensure that the tiger is available at the spot till the shoot?
Ans. The prospect
of earning the thousand rupees had stimulated the sporting and commercial
instinct of the villagers.
Children were
posted night and day on the outskirts of the local jungle to head the tiger
back in the unlikely event of his attempting to roam away to fresh
hunting-grounds.
The cheaper kinds
of goats were left about with elaborate carelessness to keep him satisfied with
his present quarters.
Mothers carrying
their babies home through the jungle after the day’s work in the fields hushed
their singing lest they might curtail the restful sleep of the venerable
herd-robber.
Q. Comment on the
language of Saki used in the chapter.
Ans. Saki
uses witty language by choosing precise and polished words to expose social vices and shallow people without lengthy
explanation. Dramatic
situations are narrated with restraint rather than melodrama.
Shallow people
and their social
behaviour are critisised subtly in a satire that quietly reveal their absurdity and shallowness
Grand
language describing the hunting and society people is used for trivial motives and
practical details to show contrast.
The
world of fashionable society and high strata is used to make the characters’
concerns look mean and trivial.
Saki’s tone is detached and objective,
and amusing
and ironic language is used rather
than being openly
moralising.
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