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“The Bet” by Anton Chekhov [1] edit

Biography of Anton Chekhov: edit

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction in history. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics. Along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, Chekhov is often referred to as one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theatre. Chekhov practiced as a medical doctor throughout most of his literary career: "Medicine is my lawful wife", he once said, "and literature is my mistress." Chekhov renounced the theatre after the reception of The Seagull in 1896, but the play was revived to acclaim in 1898 by Konstantin Stanislavski's Moscow Art Theatre, which subsequently also produced Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and premiered his last two plays, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard. These four works present a challenge to the acting ensemble as well as to audiences, because in place of conventional action Chekhov offers a "theatre of mood" and a "submerged life in the text". Chekhov had at first written stories to earn money, but as his artistic ambition grew, he made formal innovations which have influenced the evolution of the modern short story. He made no apologies for the difficulties this posed to readers, insisting that the role of an artist was to ask questions, not to answer them.[2]

Publication Information about “The Bet”: edit

On 17 December 1888 Nikolai Khudekov asked Chekhov to write a story for Peterburgskaya Gazeta which he was an editor of. Chekhov came up with "The Cobbler and the Devil" (published on 25 December) and informed Alexey Suvorin of that. Suvorin, the Novoye Vremya's editor, took it almost as an insult, so Chekhov promised to produce a similar kind of fable for this newspaper before the New Year Eve. He started writing it on 22 December, and on the 30th sent the story by post. Divided into three parts, it appeared in the 1 January 1889, No. 4613 issue of Novoye Vremya, titled "Fairytale". With a new title, "The Bet", revised and cut (part 3 of the original text now has gone) it was included in Volume 4 of Chekhov's Collected Works, published in 1899–1901 by Adolf Marks. "As I was reading the proofs, I came to dislike the end, it occurred to me that it was too cold and cruel," he explained the reason for the omission in 1903.[3]

Summary: edit

In the short story “The Bet”, Anton Chekhov describes the bet that was placed between two young men, a banker, and a lawyer, regarding capital punishment and imprisonment for life.

According to this bet, the lawyer- who claims that imprisonment for life is preferable than capital punishment- should experience imprisonment for fifteen years under the banker’s watch. The banker believes that lifelong imprisonment is more inhumane than death penalty. The reward of the bet would be two million dollars that the banker should give to the lawyer if the second can endure solitary confinement in a lodge in the banker’s garden for the time they had agreed on. Even though the lawyer would have whatever he wants during his imprisonment, the only way of communication with others would be through a very small window.

Chekhov presents the lawyer’s imprisonment by describing his psychological state, his thoughts, and his hobbies. He reports the prisoner’s relationship with wine, food, smoking, and music, and he also emphasizes the prisoner’s relationship with books and writing. Even though the prisoner suffered severe loneliness and depression in the first years, his relationship with all books totally changed him as a person. During the span of the fifteen years of isolation, the prisoner read many kinds of books that help him value and understand himself and life in general. When the fifteen years have almost passed, the banker decides to kill his prisoner one day before the time fixed so as to not pay the money.

As the banker gets ready to kill the lawyer, who is asleep at the table, he stops to read the letter the lawyer was writing to him. In this letter the lawyer explains that he plans to break the compact since he learned that material goods are not worth anything compare to divine salvation. Shocked and happy after reading the letter, the banker returns home without killing the lawyer. Learning the next day that the lawyer has escaped, the banker locks the letter in his safe to prevent the spread of rumors.

Analysis: edit

In the short story “The Bet”, Anton Chekhov portrays the psychological states and effects that social isolation could have on a person’s perspective of life and freedom. The setting of the story helps the author to communicate his message to the audience. The fact that the lawyer was isolated in a small lodge in the banker’s garden that had only one small window made him unable to be a part of a community. The prisoner did not have any contact with other people, and he went through different psychological stages to not feel depressed, and emotionally distressed. Moreover, the fact that the lodge where the lawyer was imprisoned for fifteen years was in the banker’s garden also played an important role on how the audience perceives the two men. This setting presents the lawyer as one of the banker’s possessions and shows the banker’s inhumanity and immorality.

One of the most important elements of this narrative that helps the author to better explain the sense of isolation and the way in which people change through isolation is the symbolism of books and writing. Over the span of the fifteen years, the prisoner read many different books from chemistry to poetry and from philosophy to foreign language studies, and he wrote many letters. The different types of the books that the prisoner was reading and the letters he wrote represent his psychological state and his need to explore and understand himself and the world around him. Through writing, the prisoner was able to express himself, come closer to his inner self, and understand his feelings and emotions. By writing his thoughts down and reading them to himself afterwards, the prisoner was engaged in a form of psychotherapy.

Moreover, through the books that he was reading the prisoner was learning new things and feeling productive, something that helped him to value himself and view the world from different perspectives. The fact that the prisoner asked to read different types of books shows the different mental and psychological stages that he went through in the span of the fifteen years. The prisoner created a form of community with the books he was reading. The books indirectly were part of a unique community with the lawyer. They offered him company and relaxation, they made him wonder about different issues and life in general, and they also made him develop feelings and emotions that were hidden deep inside him. The prisoner started reading languages, philosophy, and history. These three studies made him wonder about the world and life in general and helped him create a general understanding about people and life. One year later, the prisoner’s companionship was the Gospel, books that offered him relaxation and enjoyment. After spending one whole year reading nothing but the Gospel, the prisoner continued his studies with theology and histories. Through these studies the prisoner learned to value all kinds of ideas, beliefs, and theories, and view the world in different perspectives. After that, the prisoner started reading natural science, chemistry, and medicine as well as novels, Shakespeare, and Byron. Through these studies the prisoner broadened his knowledge and his imagination, became more creative and understand better the physical and nonphysical world.

The two main characters of the story, the banker, and the prisoner, also play an important role in the way that the author communicates his message to the audience. Even though in the beginning of the story both characters appear young and naïve, in the end of the story they are totally different with each other. The banker in the beginning of the story appears as a young, nervous, and rich man who believed that life imprisonment is more immoral and inhumane than the death penalty since it is a slow death. In the end of the story, the banker is no longer young and rich, but he is a cruel, greedy, and desperate man who decides to kill the prisoner before the bet is completed so as to keep his money. He does not seem to appreciate the lawyer’s success and he only cares about material possessions. On the other hand, the prisoner in the beginning of the story is a 25-year-old lawyer who believes that the life imprisonment is preferable rather than the death penalty and agrees to the banker’s bet to give away his freedom for two million dollars. In the end of the fifteen years imprisonment, the prisoner appears more intellectual, he has found his identity, and he has a better understanding about life. In contrast with the banker, the lawyer in the end of the story does not care about the material goods, but his primary concern is about nonmaterial virtues such as truth and beauty.

Solitudine totale

This image shows a dark room that gets light only from a very small window. This room can easily be the room where the young lawyer spent the fifteen years imprisonment. It gives a sense of isolation that creates sad feelings to the audience.

Glossary: edit

Life Imprisonment: any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted persons are to remain in prison either for the rest of their natural life or until pardoned, paroled or otherwise commuted to a fixed term.[4]

Capital Punishment: a government-sanctioned practice whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime, also known as death penalty.[5]

Depression: a mental disorder that is characterized from states of low mood and aversion to activity and can negatively affect a person's thoughts, behavior, motivation, feelings, and sense of well-being.[6]

Loneliness: an unpleasant emotional response to perceived isolation.[7]

Critical thinking questions: edit

In your opinion which do you think is more immoral and inhumane, the death penalty or life imprisonment? If you think they are equal explain why.
Do you think there was a moral lesson in Chekhov’s short story? Explain what it is if so.
Do you think the banker would have gone through with the killing if he had not found the prisoner’s letter? Do you feel that it would been the only option for him? Explain why?
Would the outcome have been the same if the prisoner did not have all those resources at his disposal? Explain.