A Short Summary of the Essay, "The Bet" by Anton Chekov

The Avenger by Anton Chekov

About the Author: 

    Anton Chekhov was a Russian short story writer and playwright. He wrote about human loneliness and frustration. He shows a sense of sympathy towards his characters and tries his best to present life as it is. His characters constantly face inner turmoils. He has written famous stories like The Bet, The Duel, The Lady with the Dog, The Black Monk, etc.

Summary of the Essay: 

    The Bet is a story that shows the deep agony of a man who is faced with the conflict in life between what is important in terms of self improvement and monetary gain. Chekov uses the situation to present the idea that imprisonment does not necessarily deprive a person of their freedom. Chekov conveys the importance of life over material possessions. 
    The Bet is a story of two characters. They are the banker and the lawyer. The flashback technique is used in the beginning where the banker remembers how fifteen years before he had given a party. Many people attended the party and they had lively discussions on many topics. One of the topics discussed in the party was which punishment is better between life imprisonment and death penalty. Some people were of the opinion that death penalty is more moral and more humane than imprisonment for life. They believed that capital punishment or death penalty kills a man at once but life imprisonment kills him slowly. Some people did not like this idea and they say that both are equally immoral because the state does not have any right to take away the life which it cannot restore. Among the guests there was a young lawyer. He was twenty five years old and when he was asked his opinion he said that the death sentence and the life sentence are equally immoral but if you had to choose between the death penalty and imprisonment for life you would choose the second that is imprisonment for life. There was a discussion on this and the banker did not like the lawyer’s opinion. The banker challenges the lawyer that he will bet two millions if he would stay in solitary confinement for five years. The lawyer accepts the challenge and says that he will live fifteen years in solitary confinement. It is decided in the presence of all the guests that the banker will stake his two millions and the lawyer will stake his freedom.

    The writer calls this bet as wild and senseless. The banker was spoilt and frivolous. He was very rich man at that time. He makes a fun of a lawyer and says that better he think it twice that he should not engage in this bet because he cannot stay in solitary confinement for long. It was decided that the young man must spend the years of his confinement under the strict supervision in one of the rooms in the banker's garden. All the terms and conditions regarding his confinement are decided. It was agreed that for fifteen years he should not cross the threshold of the room. He should not see human beings, should not hear human voice or should not receive letters and newspapers. He is allowed to have musical instruments, books. He is allowed to write letters, to drink wine and to smoke. He can have with the outer world through a little window which is made purposefully for this thing. He can have anything he wants; books, music, wine which he can order by writing and he will receive these things through window. The agreement provided for every detail regarding his imprisonment and if he will leave the room before five minutes of the completion of the bet, it is not obligatory on part of the banker to pay him two millions. The banker remembers everything that happened after that bet. He remembers how the lawyer has completed his fifteen years in solitary confinement. Tomorrow the lawyer is going to complete the bet and the banker remembers all this before one day. 

    In the first year of his confinement the lawyer suffers very badly from loneliness and depression. He plays piano. He refuses wine and tobacco because wine excites the desires and desires are the worst foes of the prisoner. He reads books of light characters. He reads novels with complicated plot, sensational and fantastic stories. 

    In the second year of his confinement, the lawyer reads classical books. In the fifth year, he plays musical instruments. He also asked for wine. He spends most of the time doing nothing but eating, drinking and lying on the bed and frequently yawning and angrily talking to himself. He does not read any books. He also cries for most of the time. 

    In the second half of the sixth year, the prisoner starts studying languages, philosophy and history. He studies very eagerly and in the four years he reads six hundred books. In this period he sends a note to the banker. He writes few lines in six languages and asks the banker to show it to the people who know them. He requests the banker to fire a shot in the garden if he has written those lines in correct words in six languages. He finds that all the wisdom in all the ages of all the countries is same though people speak and express in different languages and the lawyer thinks that he has understood all this. The banker orders a shot to be fired in the garden. 

    After the tenth year the lawyer reads the book of Gospel that is the Bible. It seems very strange to the banker that a man who has mastered six hundred books in four years could spend a whole year for reading a small book which is very easy to understand. The lawyer reads theology and histories of religion after the Bible. 

    In the last two years of his confinement the lawyer reads variety of books on different subjects including natural sciences, literature, books on chemistry, a manual of medicine, novels treatises on philosophy or theology. 

    The old banker remembers all this because the next day the lawyer is going to win the bet and as per the contract the banker has to pay two millions to the lawyer on completion of the bet. He thinks that if he will pay two millions he will be totally ruined. Fifteen years before the banker was a very rich man but due to gambling on the Stock Exchange he has lost all his money. The banker who was a proud, fearless and self confident millionaire before fifteen years has become a banker of middling rank who trembles at every rise and fall in his investment. He curses the bet and thinks that why should not the lawyer die. He is only forty years old. He will take his last penny. He will marry and enjoy life. He will gamble on Stock Exchange.

    It is 3 o'clock in the midnight. Everybody is asleep in the house. The banker decides to murder the lawyer. He takes the key of the door in which the lawyer is staying. It is dark and cold in the garden. It is raining. The wind is blowing. The banker strains his eyes but cannot see anything. He finds that the watchman is also asleep. He thinks that if he carries out his intention to kill the lawyer the suspicion would fall upon the watchman. He peeps into the window and sees that the lawyer is sitting at the table. The banker can see his back. The books are lying on the table and on the chairs and on the carpet near the table. He finds that the lawyer is asleep. He decides to enter in the room and open the lock and to his surprise he finds that the lawyer does not make any movements. The banker sees that the lawyer is a skeleton with the skin drawn over his bones. He has long beard. His face looks very pale. His cheeks are hollow. His back is long and narrow and his hands are very thin and delicate that it is very fearful to look at. His hair is streaked with silver and he is looking very old man though he is only forty. He is fast asleep. In front of his bowed head there lies on the table a sheet of paper on which there is something written in fine handwriting. 

    The banker feels that the lawyer is asleep and might be dreaming about two millions. He thinks that he has to kill this half dead man but before doing so he thinks to read what is written on the sheet of the paper. 

    It is the long letter and the lawyer has written his mind into it. It is written that tomorrow he will regain his freedom. He will leave this room and see the sunshine but before that he thinks it necessary to speak few words. He says that at this stage he dislikes freedom and life and health and all that is called the good things of the world. He has written that he has studied earthly life through the books. He has enjoyed the food, the places and all the pleasures in the world through books. He has visited many lands, forests. He has climbed the mountains. He has watched the sky, the ocean, and the mountain tops. He has seen forests, fields, rivers, lakes, and towns. In short he has learnt and experienced everything under the sun. He feels that books have given him wisdom. All the thoughts of man through ages are compressed into his brain and he thinks himself as a wiser man than all. He dislikes books. He dislikes wisdom and the blessings of this world. He thinks that everything is worthless, fleeting, illusory and deceptive like a mirage. He thinks that death will wipe out everything. He finds out that people have lost their reason and have taken the wrong path. People consider lies for truths and ugliness for beauty. He also feels that some strange events may happen on the earth. He has written that to prove himself in action how he despises all that people live by he sacrifices the two millions of which once he dreamt as a paradise and which now he dislikes. To deprive himself of the right to the money he shall go out from there five hours before the time fixed and will break the compact. 

    When the banker has read this, he kisses the man on his head and goes out of the room weeping. He feels contempt for himself. He cannot sleep after that time. His tears and emotions keep him for hours from sleeping.

    The next morning the watchman comes running with pale face to the banker and informs him that the lawyer has been disappeared from his room. The banker goes with the servant to confirm the news. He takes the sheet of the paper from the table in which it was written that the two millions are sacrificed and keeps that paper locked up in the fireproof safe to avoid unnecessary talk. 

    The essay is about what is important in terms of self improvement and monetary gain. The writer through the example of the lawyer informs us that self-improvement is more important than monetary gain in life. The lawyer in his confinement becomes a very wise person by reading the books and improves himself. The lawyer changes himself from a greedy man to a wise man who sacrifices two millions. It is the journey of the lawyer from a man who dreams of materialistic things to the man who renounces these materialistic things. The essay is also about the two types of characters; the banker is a rich, spoilt and frivolous man. He is arrogant. He does not change himself. At the end of the essay also he thinks to kill the lawyer when he comes to know that he is going to lose the bet. He does not change himself. On the contrary the lawyer is a different man. He changes himself. He improves himself and he does not go for money at the end.