“The Bet” by Anton Chekhov
Characters
Who are the protagonist and antagonist of this short story?
R/ The protagonist is the lawyer and the antagonist is the banker
Describe them according to next requirements regarding traits:
Lawyer:
A. Positive: He was determined, he decided to open up his soul and learn from the confinement instead of going crazy and losing 15 years
B. Negative: In a way greedy, without hesitation he restrained himself from living, but since “Every cloud has a silver lining” he got lucky and quickly realized it was the best that could have happened.
C. Motivations: At first, he was motivated by the money, but then he learned that the real price was inside his confinement.
Banker:
A. Positive: At a point he stopped and realized how crazy the bet was, but either way he continued with it.
B. Negative: He was arrogant, he felt the best because he had money but then after that money went away because of his own decisions, he realized that man he once thought was crazy was the most sane out of them.
C. Motivations: Money.
Who began the wager?
The banker.
Why and how did the lawyer’s reading habits change over the years?
Because at first, he wouldn't read and then he challenged himself to read hard comprehension books.
How does the lawyer help depict the theme?
It’s because of him that the theme is so clear. Throughout his journey we see a man growing out of an immature self and becoming a real man with his meaning of life completely declared.
Does the banker’s perspective ever change throughout the story?
In my opinion, partially, he really just based all his actions on money and the lack of it.
What is the banker’s reason for thinking that the death penalty is better than life imprisonment?
Because for him life imprisonment is like killing slowly rather than capital punishment which he saw as a more moral way of punishment.
How does the banker’s financial status change through the years?
He lost it’s fortune due to gambling.
Why do you think that Chekhov chose to leave his characters and settings unnamed?
To simply let the reader dive into the story regardless of those details.
Theme:
The meaning of life, this man began his imprisonment looking forward to the two million he was promised and left knowing that money was worthless. He began this journey and although the money was what motivated him in the first place, he found the real price in his imprisonment.
Irony:
Situational: At the end the lawyer ended up enjoying everything about his imprisonment, so much that he understood it was a blessing in disguise and left before the 15 years ended so he wouldn’t receive the money. “I renounce the two million of which I once dreamed as of paradise and which now I despise”.
Dramatic: The moments prior to the ending, when the author reveals the banker is no longer wealthy and can’t pay the two million he once promised, but the lawyer who spent 15 years imprisoned to get his price didn’t know that. “Fifteen years before, his millions had been beyond his reckoning; now he was afraid to ask himself which were greater, his debts or his assets”
Verbal: When the banker entered the lawyer's room he felt sorry for him and even called him a half-dead man since he no longer had the money. He said “Poor creature!.. he is asleep and most likely dreaming of the millions”. On the contrary the man felt as alive as one can be, and didn’t even care about the millions.
Symbols
The money: It represents the 15 years a young man spent in a voluntary imprisonment, those 15 years he sacrificed all because of some money.
The books: These represent the only way of life he knew for 15 years. He believed he indeed lived through those books even being confined.
The piano: The lawyer began his imprisonment playing piano but then changed his hobby to reading. This shift represented his own change as an individual.
Voice:
Narrator’s/ Character’s voice
Mood:
Emotionless, with no open space for the reader to further discover the story.
Tone:
Matter-of-fact, a story with lack of emotion even though it was expected to have some.
Conflict:
Inner: The lawyer who carelessly sacrificed his life for 15 years and had an emotional rollercoaster for most of it.
External:
Man vs man: Banker vs Lawyer, since the beginning they disagreed and that led them to those 15 years.
Man vs nature: The lawyer went against human nature by depriving himself from human interaction for 15 years. As well age didn’t come easy on him since he didn’t look like his age after those exhausting 15 years.
Man vs society: After those 15 years the lawyer despised society.
Man vs superpowers: The lawyer was able to live 1000 lives through books, like no other human could.
Climax:
The banker found the lawyer’s note where he renounced the millions.
Resolution:
The lawyer left willingly before the 15 years finished, precisely to never get the money since he despised it.
New resolution:
The banker ended up killing the lawyer like he planned and then found the letter where the lawyer despised the money.
By María Camila Montes, Step 11
