The Bet (Chekhov)
Short summary
Russia, late 19th century. At a party hosted by a wealthy banker, guests debated capital punishment. The banker argued that execution was more humane than life imprisonment, while a young lawyer claimed that any life was better than none. Their disagreement escalated into a bet: the lawyer would spend fifteen years in solitary confinement for two million rubles.
The lawyer was confined to a lodge in the banker's garden. Initially, he suffered from loneliness, playing piano constantly and reading light novels. Over the years, his interests evolved: he studied languages, philosophy, and religion, eventually focusing on the Gospel. In the final years, he read voraciously across all subjects.
After fifteen years, the banker, now financially ruined, decided to kill the lawyer to avoid paying. Entering the lodge, he found the lawyer asleep at the table with a letter. In it, the lawyer declared that he had gained wisdom but now despised earthly life and its values.
"To prove to you in action how I despise all that you live by, I renounce the two millions of which I once dreamed as of paradise and which now I despise. To deprive myself of the right to the money I shall go out from here five hours before..."
Moved by these words, the banker kissed the sleeping lawyer's head and left in tears. The next morning, the watchmen reported that the lawyer had escaped, deliberately breaking the terms of the bet. The banker kept the letter locked in his safe.
Detailed summary by parts
Part titles are editorial.
Part 1. The wager and the beginning of imprisonment
On a dark autumn night, an old banker paced his study, recalling a party he had hosted fifteen years earlier. During that gathering, the guests had engaged in a heated discussion about capital punishment. Most of the intellectuals and journalists present had argued that the death penalty was outdated and immoral, suggesting life imprisonment as a more humane alternative.
The banker had disagreed, arguing that capital punishment was more humane than life imprisonment because it killed a man quickly rather than slowly. During this debate, a young lawyer of twenty-five had stated that while both punishments were immoral, he would choose life imprisonment over death, as living in any condition was better than not living at all.
"It's not true! I'll bet you two millions you wouldn't stay in solitary confinement for five years." "If you mean that in earnest," said the young man, "I'll take the bet, but I would stay not five but fifteen years."
The banker, younger and more impulsive then, had challenged the lawyer to a bet of two million rubles that he could not endure five years in solitary confinement. The lawyer had raised the stakes by declaring he would stay imprisoned for fifteen years. The terms were established: the lawyer would remain in one of the lodges in the banker's garden for exactly fifteen years, from November 14, 1870, to November 14, 1885, without human contact except through a small window. He could have books, music, wine, and other comforts, but could not cross the threshold or see anyone. If he violated these conditions even minutes before the end, the banker would be released from paying.
During the first year of confinement, the lawyer suffered from loneliness and depression. He played the piano constantly and requested novels with complex love plots. In the second year, the piano fell silent, and he requested only classics. By the fifth year, music returned, and the lawyer began drinking wine. He spent much of that year eating, drinking, lying in bed, and occasionally writing at night only to tear up his work in the morning.
In the sixth year, the lawyer devoted himself to studying languages, philosophy, and history, ordering some six hundred volumes over the next four years. He wrote a letter to the banker in six languages, asking him to fire a shot in the garden if no mistakes were found, which the banker did. After the tenth year, the prisoner read only the Gospel, followed by religious texts. In the final two years, he read widely across various subjects, from science to poetry, as if desperately grasping at knowledge.
Part 2. The bankers plan and the prisoners revelation
On the eve of the fifteenth year, the banker sat in his study contemplating his financial ruin. His once vast fortune had dwindled through reckless gambling and speculation. He realized that paying the two million to the lawyer would completely bankrupt him. In desperation, he decided that the only way to save himself from disgrace was to kill the prisoner.
"Cursed bet!" muttered the old man, clutching his head in despair. "Why didn't the man die? He is only forty now. He will take my last penny from me... No, it is too much! The one means of being saved... is the death of that man!"
At three in the morning, the banker took the key to the lodge and went into the garden. It was dark and rainy, with a cutting wind. He called for the watchman but received no answer, assuming the man had sought shelter from the weather. The banker thought that if he carried out his plan, suspicion would first fall on the watchman.
Entering the lodge, the banker found it empty except for the prisoner's room. Looking through the window, he saw the lawyer sitting motionless at a table with his back to the door. The banker carefully broke the seals and unlocked the door. Inside, he found the lawyer transformed into a skeletal figure with long hair like a woman's and a shaggy beard. His face was yellow and gaunt, making him appear much older than his forty years.
He was a skeleton with the skin drawn tight over his bones, with long curls like a woman's and a shaggy beard. His face was yellow with an earthy tint in it... no one would have believed that he was only forty.
The lawyer was asleep with a sheet of paper in front of him. The banker decided to read what was written before carrying out his murderous plan. The note revealed that the lawyer had spent fifteen years studying earthly life through books. He had experienced the world's beauty, climbed mountains, heard music, and contemplated the greatest works of human thought. He declared that he had become wiser than all others but had come to despise worldly knowledge and possessions.
In his letter, the lawyer renounced the two million rubles he had once dreamed of, stating that to prove his contempt for what others valued, he would leave his confinement five hours before the agreed time, thus breaking the agreement and forfeiting the money. After reading this, the banker kissed the sleeping man on the head and left the lodge in tears, feeling profound contempt for himself.
The next morning, the watchmen reported that they had seen the prisoner climb out of the window and leave through the gate. The banker went to verify this himself, then took the lawyer's written renunciation of the money and locked it in his safe to avoid unnecessary talk about the extraordinary bet and its conclusion.