The young lawyer argues that life on any terms is better than death. In his hubris, the lawyer raises the bet that he can stay in isolation from five years to fifteen.
Full Answer
The young lawyer argues that life on any terms is better than death. In his hubris, the lawyer raises the bet that he can stay in isolation from five years to fifteen.
In the end of the story, "The Bet," the lawyer despairs of life, and he reneges on the wager with banker. In their bet about which is crueler, live-long imprisonment or capital punishment, the banker and the lawyer wager their futures.
From all his readings, the lawyer has learned the vanity of human desires; certainly, the desire for material gain corrupts the soul. The lawyer has spent the last fifteen years searching for meaning in life and not found it. Moreover, he feels life is beyond comprehension.
The lawyer has spent the last fifteen years searching for meaning in life and not found it. Moreover, he feels life is beyond comprehension. So, he writes that he will prove how he despises all that people live by in renouncing "the two million of which I once dreamed as of paradise and which now I despise."
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 five minutes prior to when the bet would be up, thus losing the bet and unwittingly saving his own life.
In Chekhov's "The Bet," the banker and the lawyer both learn the futility of their wager, as they have found that life and its conditions differ greatly from their more youthful perceptions. The lawyer learns that his sweeping statement that life on any terms is better than death is not true.
1 Expert Answer The lawyer states that the life sentence would be preferable, but the banker calls his bluff, saying that he couldn't stand five years in prison. The decision by the lawyer to raise the stakes is meant to prove his point that a life sentence would be preferable to a death sentence.
Moved by the lawyer's letter, the banker kisses the prisoner and leaves to go home, feel bad about himself, and have a good cry. Meanwhile, the lawyer sneaks out of the room early. Finally, the banker takes the letter that rejects that money and hides it away in his safe as evidence.
Terms in this set (5) What has the man concluded while spending 15 years reading in solitude? The author is suggesting what is important in life by not working and getting whatever someone wants in the bet.
In contrast to the banker, the lawyer is an intelligent young man whose tenacity drives him to pursue the bet. At the start of the story, the lawyer is 25 years old. He is heedless and impatient and wants to prove to the banker that living under any circumstance is better than dying.
In Anton Chekhov's "The Bet," the banker contends that capital punishment is more humane than life imprisonment. But, most of the guests at his party disagree. Among the banker's guests are journalists and intellectuals; they disapprove of the death penalty, finding it immoral and against Christian purposes.
The emotions and desires that motivated the Lawyer and Banker were greed and competitiveness. Engaging in such a bet reveals that they are very competitive and are not very graceful. These emotions and desires are not appropriate because it makes them unhappy.
The lawyer was allowed to have anything in his confinement except The Human Companionship. He was given books and piano. He was allowed to write letters. He was allowed to smoke and drink.
So, while the lawyer tries to prove that living an isolated life is not a hardship and win the bet of two million, he can have any of the books he wants, he is given a piano and music, he is allowed to write letters, and he may drink wine and smoke.
The moral is that only when we have had the experience of being rescued by grace can we really become like the Samaritan, and like Christ himself, in showing mercy and compassion.
The Meaning of Life Anton Chekhov's “The Bet” sets up a seemingly simple bet about the nature and value of life. The banker, who believes that the death penalty is more humane and moral than life imprisonment, argues that experiences, pleasures, and relationships are what make life worth living.
What was the bet between the lawyer and banker? The lawyer bet that he could stay in solitary confinement for 15 years if the banker paid him 2 million dollars.
Young, wealthy, and fairly reckless at the beginning of the story, the banker insists that death is preferable to life imprisonment and is the one who initially makes the titular bet with the lawyer.
The banker further goads the lawyer over dinner, telling him to back out before it is too late. He points out... (full context)
The banker notes that the lawyer is so emaciated by the end of his sentence that he is hard to look at, prematurely aged, and appears ill. This outward appearance contrasts with the lawyer’s own belief that he has bettered himself.
Part 2. It is fifteen years later and the eve of the lawyer ’s release. The banker is distraught because he cannot afford to pay the two million rubles. ... (full context) The old banker fears that the lawyer will, having won the bet, become wealthy, marry, and enjoy life the same way he... (full context)
All the wisdom from the books, writes the lawyer, is condensed into a little lump in his skull. He has become cleverer than almost... (full context) The lawyer has come to hold people who appreciate earthly things in contempt, and as such he... (full context) The banker has begun to cry.
In the second year, the lawyer stops playing piano and starts reading classic books. By the fifth year, he is playing... (full context)
The Lawyer Character Analysis. The Lawyer. Just 25 years old when he attends the banker’s party at the beginning of the story, the lawyer initially asserts that life-imprisonment is far preferable to capital punishment.
Now he would apply himself to the natural sciences, then he would read Byron or Shakespeare … He read as though he were swimming in the sea among broken pieces of wreckage, and in his desire to save his life was eagerly grasping one piece after another.
The lawyer found out from reading a lot of books that money cannot buy happiness and material things are Unneeded
Because if the lawyer would stay in the jail for 15 years he would have to give him $2 million and the lawyer would be left with nothing
You don't always have to be right, you don't need money or material things/can't buy happiness