Read the passage from "The Lady, or the Tiger.” In the very olden time there lived a semi-barbaric king, whose ideas, though somewhat polished and sharpened by the progressiveness of distant Latin neighbors, were still large, florid, and untrammeled, as became the half of him which was barbaric. He was a man of exuberant fancy, and, withal, of an authority so irresistible that, at his will, he turned his varied fancies into facts.

In the context of the allegory, what does the king’s behavior most likely represent?

the abuse of power
the power of great ideas
the consequence of choice
the uncertainty of love