The two major symbols of the poem are the tigers and the wedding band. What is the relationship between them? Do these symbols operate similarly in the poem?

The tiger signifies freedom and liberation from oppression, in aunt Jennifer's case, her marriage feels like bondage rather than a welcome bond of intimacy. It symbolizes all that she hoped to achieve but could not eventually, in terms of pursuing her dreams and aspirations. The wedding band symbolizes the constraints and confinement of marriage, to lose one's independent identity and right to self-assertion in being someone's wife. The relationship between the two was that the tiger represented her spirit wishing desperately to break free of the constraints of her married life which constituted her reality. The tigers were her dream creatures which became a mode of self-expression that can only be achieved through art and the use of imagination in her case. The wedding band was a constant reminder of the constraints of reality on the woman.
These symbols operate on the same plane, showing the contrast between the staidness of the woman's life and the vigour and vitality of her imagination. The tiger seeks to stress the fact that the woman has to seek creative fulfilment in the realm of imagination because the reality of the wedding band is too restrictive.

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