The Bet

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This article is about Chekhov short story. For other uses, see The Bet (disambiguation).

"The Bet" is an 1889 short story by Anton Chekhov.

The Bet is a short story about a banker, and a young man who make a bet with each other based on capital punishment and whether the death penalty is better or worse than life in prison. An ironic twist responds to this exploration of the value of a human life with an unexpected result.

An English translation is featured in a Singapore literature textbook About Literature Volume 2, used in the country's lower secondary education.

[edit] Plot (Brief)

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Two million dollars and fifteen years of life are at stake in The Bet, a short story written by Anton Chekhov. One cold autumn night, a rich banker throws a party, and the conversation turns to capital punishment. Most of the guests at the party are all deeply opposed to it, but the banker believes it to be very humane. He strikes a bet with a young lawyer who thinks the opposite. The terms of the wager state that if the lawyer can live in solitary confinement for fifteen years the banker will give him two million dollars. For fifteen years the lawyer reads and studies, while the banker loses his fortune on the stock market. As a result, the banker contemplates murdering the lawyer, but reads a letter left by the him first. The lawyer has found love and worship for ideas, not things. The banker walks away, feeling self-loathing. The prisoner escapes the next morning, invalidating the terms of the bet.

[edit] Plot (Elongated)

The story begins in a autumn night with an old banker in his study, remembering how, fifteen years ago, he had given a party on another autumn night. There, intellectual men were debating on capital punishment; The majority of the partygoers believe it to be wrong, but the banker disagrees, stating that capital punishment kills a man at once, but life imprisonment kills a man very slowly. One guest, a twenty-five year old lawyer, declares that both capital punishment and life imprisonment are wrong, but he would gladly choose the second if necessary.

The excited banker then declared that he would bet him two million dollars that he wouldn't stay in solitary confinement for five years. The young man takes the bet, but changes the term to fifteen years. Although the banker mocking suggests he decline the bet, it is accepted anyway. The banker fifteen years later wonders why he took the bet at all.

It was then decided the lawyer was put in a lodge in the banker's garden, and it is made so that he cannot see human beings, hear any voices, cross away from the lodge, or read any newspapers and letters. His sentence begins at midnight on November 14, 1870, and ends at midnight on November 14th, 1885. Any attempt to break the conditions will result in the void of this bet.

For the first year of confinement, the prisoner suffers from depression and loneliness. He refused any wine and tobacco, and sends for light reading material. In the second, the prisoner does not play the piano, and he does ask for wine. He would angrily talk to himself, and did not read books.

In the sixth year, he begins to study languages, philosophy, and history, throwing himself into studies.

In the tenth year, the prisoner reads the Gospel, and in the last two years the lawyer read natural sciences and William Shakespeare and Lord Byron.

And fifteen years later, the older banker realizes that if he pays the lawyer he is ruined, as he is now bankrupt due to wild gambling on the stock market. At three o' clock, the banker takes the key to the lodge, and looks through the window as the prisoner sleeps. Opening the door, the old banker discovers that the lawyer now looks similar to a skeleton. The banker thinks of murdering to avoid paying the two millions, but reads a letter that the prisoner has written first.

The prisoner expresses contempt toward freedom, life, and health in the letter, but also expresses love toward the books he has read in the fifteen years. Thus, fully renouncing the world, he declines the two millions, preferring to go five hours before the deadline; thus breaching the compact.

The banker, weeping, kisses the lawyer on the head, and goes out of the lodge, feeling self-loathing.

The next morning, the watchmen explain to the banker that the man has disappeared, climbing out of the lodge window and escaping. The banker takes the letter and locks it up in a safe.