The lawyer voluntarily extends the bet from five to fifteen years because he is so convinced that he can win the bet, proving that life imprisonment is preferable and more humane than the death penalty. PDF Cite Share Expert Answers Marietta Sadler | Certified Educator
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.
Initially, the banker makes the bet for 5 years. He believes that the lawyer would not be able to endure 5 years of voluntary imprisonment. In the heat of the moment, the lawyer raises the stakes to fifteen years. He probably does this to prove how serious he is, and how much he believes that he is in the right.
In the tenth year, the lawyer reads only the New Testament. In the next two years, he reads haphazardly and randomly,... (full context) 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 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.
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.
How does the lawyer's 15-year imprisonment affect the banker? The banker wishes that he had required the lawyer to stay imprisoned for longer. The banker comes to realize that he was wrong about his stance on life imprisonment. The banker mourns the life and experiences that he has deprived the lawyer of.
How does the lawyer decide to conclude the bet, and why? At the end of the fifteen years, five hours before he would have gotten the 2 million rubles, the lawyer chooses to run away and revoke his right to the money, leaving a letter explaining himself. He has come to hate people and rejects the money on principle.
The terms of the bet are that the lawyer must live in isolation for fifteen years. At the end of that time, if he fulfills his bet of having no human contact for this period, the banker will pay him two million rubles. The bet arises out of an argument on which is crueler, the death penalty or life imprisonment.
25 years oldJust 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.
At the end of Anton Chekhov's "The Bet", the lawyer survives the 15 years in prison but refuses to take the money.
Answer: The lawyer renounced the two million because in prison, he read a lot and reading of philosophical and religious books gave him wisdom. He realised the futility of money. It was as illusory and deceptive as mirage.
Consequently, the lawyer will leave five hours early because he does not want the money. He determines that he is now wiser than the banker. The lawyer will deprive himself of what he thought he once wanted more than anything in the world.
A banker and a lawyer wager a bet at a party. The banker tells the lawyer that if he can endure fifteen years of voluntary captivity, he will be rewarded with two million rubles.
In Chekhov's short story "The Bet," the terms of the bet are that the lawyer will stay in prison for fifteen years and the banker will "wager two million" (92). While the lawyer is in prison, he can have no human contact, but he can have "anything necessary--books, music, wine--" and anything else he requests (92).
He had to stay there exactly fifteen years, beginning from 12 o'clock of November 14, 1870, and ending at 12 o'clock of November, 1885. The slightest attempt on his part to break the conditions, if only two minutes before the end, released the banker from the obligation to pay him two millions.
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.