In "The Lady or the Tiger?," do people enjoy being at the arena?

Most of the people who attended the trials of prisoners at the arena did enjoy them. They were not required to attend them. The author explains the mood in one paragraph of the story before the princess's lover's test gets underway.

The institution was a very popular one. When the people gathered together on one of the great trial days, they never knew whether they were to witness a bloody slaughter or a hilarious wedding. This element of uncertainty lent an interest to the occasion which it could not otherwise have attained. Thus, the masses were entertained and pleased, and the thinking part of the community could bring no charge of unfairness against this plan, for did not the accused person have the whole matter in his own hands? 

The modern reader himself is entertained by the story. What makes it interesting is that the person on trial has a choice, and everyone wants to know the outcome of that choice. We ourselves must have some traces of that bloodthirstiness and morbid curiosity in our genes. Otherwise we wouldn't be intrigued by the story and wouldn't want to know what happened. The fact that we are left wondering and speculating about the fate of the princess's lover may be the real "point" of the story, i.e., that we haven't changed so much since the days of the Roman gladiators and the Christians begin eaten by hungry lions and tigers. 

The author of "The Lady or the Tiger?", Frank R. Stockton, tells us at the beginning that the barbaric king was accustomed to borrowing ideas from "distant Latin neighbors." This seems to place Stockton's tale back around the days of ancient Rome, when huge crowds gathered in the Coliseum to watch all sorts of bloody spectacles. The narrator tells us that the incident occurred in "the very olden time." The amusement and excitement the Roman crowds came for were about the same as those experienced by the king's subjects in "The Lady or the Tiger?" In other words, the people do enjoy being at the arena. It is a big event for them. No doubt they bring their children, the way people bring their kids to professional football games in our times. It was a lot of fun except for the man in the arena--and even he has a fifty-fifty chances of getting enjoyment out of the experience. 

This story bears some resemblance to Shirley Jackson's famous short story "The Lottery." After everyone in attendance at this annual event has drawn a blank slip except for one lone person, the event becomes exciting. They are all going to enjoy the spectacle of Tessie Hutchinson being stoned to death, just as the audiences in "The Lady or the Tiger?" may get to see a young man torn to pieces and devoured by a hungry tiger.