The Gambler (Dostoevsky)/Chapter 2

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Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Gambler. Chapter 2

A First Roulette Win and a Dangerous Certainty

1866

Summary of a Chapter
from the Collection “The Gambler”

The original takes about 14 minutes to read

Microsummary

On his first visit to roulette, the narrator turned Polina’s 100 gülden into 1,600. He refused to remain her gambling agent, but she insisted that they play as equal partners at future sessions.

Chapter Summary

The narrator entered the gaming rooms for the first time, intending to gamble with money entrusted to him by Polina. Playing for someone else angered and unsettled him, while the crowded room immediately made him uncomfortable.

He rejected newspaper descriptions of the Rhineland casinos as splendid places covered with heaps of gold. In his view, most visitors played only for small sums, although an occasional wealthy foreigner might win or lose a fortune.

Despite his uneasiness, he believed he could not leave Roulettenberg until his circumstances had changed completely. He expected roulette to transform his fortunes and argued that seeking money through gambling was no more absurd than seeking it through trade.

Because he had never seen roulette played, he initially watched the tables and tried to learn the rules. Although he had eagerly read many accounts of the game, the actual system of numbers, colors, and odds was still unfamiliar to him.

The gaming room appeared morally filthy, yet he felt sympathy for the players’ open desire to win quickly. He considered the solemnity and humility with which they treated gambling uglier than their hunger for profit.

He contrasted supposedly gentlemanly gambling for amusement with common gambling for gain. He recalled how the General had calmly staked 300 francs on black, let his winnings remain, and finally lost 1,200 francs while smiling to preserve his social dignity.

He also remembered a Frenchman accepting a loss of 30,000 francs without complaint. Such conduct illustrated the aristocratic expectation that money should seem unimportant, even when a loss caused private distress.

While observing the crowded table, the narrator suspected that theft was common because people sometimes seized winnings belonging to others. He studied the proceedings carefully so that he would know how to act once he began playing.

He risked 100 gülden of Polina’s money in two bets, first losing fifty on even and then winning on red. Repeated bets on red and twelve numbers increased the fund to 800 gülden. He then placed all 800 on even, won, and left with 1,600 gülden.

After supper, the General warned that either conspicuous losses or large winnings could compromise him. The narrator returned the money to Polina but refused her offer to divide the winnings and continue as equal partners. He insisted that he needed to play for himself, while Polina declared that she placed great hopes in his roulette playing and expected him to obey her wishes.

Characters

Narrator (Alexei Ivanovich) — young Russian man employed in the General’s household, emotionally intense, proud, observant, morally defiant, and convinced that roulette will transform his fortunes.

Polina Alexandrovna — young Russian woman connected to the General’s household, Alexei’s commanding and enigmatic love interest, who entrusted him with gambling money and pressed him to become her equal partner.

The General — middle-aged or older Russian military man, Alexei’s employer and Polina’s relative, socially anxious, ceremonious, financially strained, and determined to preserve an aristocratic appearance.

The Frenchman — adult French man associated with the General’s party, an experienced gambler who reportedly accepted enormous wins and losses with outward composure.

Quotes

However ridiculous it may seem to you that I was expecting to win at roulette, I look upon the generally accepted opinion concerning the folly and the grossness of hoping to win at gambling as a thing even *more* absurd.

Money must be so subservient to gentility as never to be worth a thought. Of course, the *supremely* aristocratic thing is to be entirely oblivious of the mire of rabble, with its setting;

Also, I wonder if anyone has *ever* approached a gaming-table without falling an immediate prey to superstition? I began by pulling out fifty gülden, and staking them on “even.” The wheel spun and stopped at 13. I had lost!

This summary is based on the translation by C. J. Hogarth, first published in Poor Folk; The Gambler (London: J. M. Dent & Sons; New York: E. P. Dutton, 1915). Illustrations were created using AI.