The Bet (short story)

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

Plot

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 15 years, he will be given 2 million rubles.

The lawyer spends his time in confinement reading books. In the meantime, the banker's fortune declines and he realizes that he will be unable to pay off the bet. The banker resolves the day before the bet is to be up to kill the lawyer so as to not owe him the money. However, the banker finds when he comes to the man a note written by the man. The note declares that in his time in confinement the lawyer has learned to despise material goods for the fleeting things they are. Therefore, to demonstrate his contempt, he intends to leave confinement a few minutes prior to when the bet would be up, thus losing the bet and unwittingly saving his own life.

External links

* [http://www.adamsmithacademy.org/etext/The_Bet_text.html Illustrated eText of "The Bet"] by Anton Chekhov

* [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13437/13437-8.txt The Project Gutenberg EBook of Best Russian Short Stories, including "The Bet"]

* [http://librivox.org/short-story-collection-004/ Librivox’s Short Story Collection 004, including "The Bet"] (Audio Book)