Question

What is the resolution of "The Bet"?

Accepted Answer

In literature, the resolution of a story is generally the ending of the story.  Some people use this to mean the same as falling action, some use it to mean the part after the falling action
To me, the climax of the story is the part where the banker decides to go and kill the lawyer so that he will not lose the 2 million rubles.
The falling action, to me, is the part where he goes to the cottage and eventually finds and reads the lawyer's letter.  What I would call the resolution is the part where the banker feels bad about himself, but also locks the letter in a safe.

Answer

This story by Anton Chekhov story does not have a resolution, strictly speaking, because of the story's structure. Chekhov deliberately created a plot that would not be neatly resolved.
While it seems that the banker and the lawyer have made their bet in good faith, that was not the case. The lawyer is more concerned with proving himself right than with winning the money, so he deliberately gives up mere hours before his time is set to expire. He wonders why his pride led him to sacrifice all those years. The banker waited him out, expecting to lose but prepared to do whatever it took (even to commit murder) to get the money. He concludes that it was "meaningless": Did the bet

prove that the death penalty is better or worse than imprisonment for life? No, no. It was all nonsensical and meaningless.

Answer

I think the bet is resolve by the lawyer. He initially ends the bet and  letting the banker win. The imprisonment has made the lawyer insane in my opion.

The Bet by Anton Chekhov

What is the resolution of "The Bet"?

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