Discussion Topic

The character and transformation of the lawyer in Anton Chekhov's "The Bet"

Summary:

In Anton Chekhov's "The Bet," the lawyer initially seeks wealth and prestige, agreeing to fifteen years of solitary confinement for a large sum of money. Over time, he transforms, finding solace and enlightenment in books and renouncing materialism. By the end of his confinement, he voluntarily forfeits the bet, illustrating his profound personal and philosophical transformation.

Expert Answers

An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

What does the lawyer's letter in "The Bet" by Anton Chekhov say?

The lawyer writes this letter on the night before he is due to win the bet and win back his freedom. According to the lawyer, before he is free to enjoy his life again, there are a couple of points that he wants to make clear to the banker.

First of all, the lawyer says that he despises "freedom and life and health." Anything that can be considered as one of life's pleasures is no longer desirable or enjoyable for the lawyer.

Secondly, in his letter, the lawyer also says that he has spent the last 15 years immersed in the world of his books. Thanks to these books, he has been able to experience a wealth of different scenarios, including watching the sunrise, climbing mountains, performing miracles and having relationships with women.

Next, he says that, although these books have given him lots of wisdom, he feels that this wisdom is pointless because he now knows the truth about every aspect of human life: that it is "worthless, fleeting, illusory, and deceptive." Everything that man craves and enjoys is actually pointless and the lawyer despises all of it.

Crucially, based on this view, the lawyer renounces the two million rubles that he once described as "paradise." Money is no longer of any interest to the lawyer because he now despises human materialism.

In order to forfeit the money, the lawyer intends to leave his cell five hours before the deadline, therefore ensuring that he loses the bet.

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

How can we analyze the lawyer's character in "The Bet" by Anton Chekov?

Since "The Bet" is told from a third-person, limited point-of-view, we never fully understand the thoughts of the lawyer. And that is likely intentional, since his actions from within confinement seem to bewilder those around him over the span of 15 years. Here's what we do know:

He may be a bit arrogant—or maybe ignorant. The original term of the bet is to confine himself for 5 years in order to prove that any life at all is better than death. However, the lawyer quickly increases the terms to not 5 but 15 years of confinement for the same amount of money. Since he has nothing more to gain but 10 additional years of his young life to lose, this is likely attributed to the pride of young adulthood. Or perhaps it reflects that he didn't fully understand in his youth how much living he would miss over those additional 10 years.

The amount of money is a staggering proposition and one that would be difficult to turn down. It's important when reading these types of stories which hinge on money to convert the amount in the story to today's value, adjusting for inflation. 2 million dollars by today's standards may not seem like an incredible offer, but we are told that he entered his confinement in November 1870. $2,000,000 in 1870 would be the equivalent of around $40,000,000 today. That makes it a bit easier to understand why the lawyer is willing to consider the bet. Any way you look at it, $40 million is a life-changing amount of money and might have (at least initially) provided additional motive for remaining in confinement.

He doesn't mind being alone. There are some people in the world who could never take the bet because they have a need to constantly be in contact with other people. The lawyer doesn't seem to be one of those people, because he is willing to take the bet in the first place. He also remains there for the entire 15 years without human contact. He studies the human society that he's left and only finds flaws in it. In the end, he decides that he doesn't want the money and flees their society. Maybe this reflects a mental disorder that he's developed from being in isolation for so long, or maybe he truly has developed an utter distaste for the human society he was so quick to leave in the first place.

He's has an intellectual mind. Instead of napping his 15 years away, the lawyer absorbs languages, religion, philosophy, and more and deeply processes his own thoughts about all he reads. Not everyone has this capability. Regardless of the decision he ultimately arrives at, his ability to understand this many topics (self-teaching himself six languages and with perfect fluency alone is quite a feat) and to develop his own perspectives on them without any tutors or training reflects an intelligent mind.

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

How can we analyze the lawyer's character in "The Bet" by Anton Chekov?

There is clearly a marked difference between the lawyer at the beginning of the story and the person who leaves the secluded hut moments before the bet is due to end. Note how impulsive the lawyer is at the beginning:

"If you mean that in earnest," said the young man, "I'll take the bet, but I would stay not five, but fifteen years."

He, of his own volition, is so proud and impulsive that he automatically triples the conditions of the bet for himself, so sure he is that he can fulfil what he has just proudly boasted.

However, the note that he leaves the banker at the end of the tale reveals a very different character. Having read and thought deeply about so many issues, he now realises how everything to do with mankind is "worthless, fleeting, illusory, and deceptive, like a mirage":

You may be proud, wise, and fine, but death will wipe you off the face of the earth as though you were no more than mice burrowing under the floor, and your posterity, your history, your immortal geniuses will burn or freeze together with the earthly globe.

Having started off as a figure defined by pride and arrogance, now the lawyer has eschewed these characteristics and realised the true humble position of man and how man could be wiped out at any second. The lawyer realises that life does have meaning, but misplaced values have effectively blinded people to that meaning. As a symbol of his new understanding, he deliberately breaks the terms of the bet to show how unimportant money is to him.

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

In "The Bet" by Anton Chekhov, what is the lawyer's attitude at the end?

The lawyer enters this bet as a young man, debating capital punishment and life imprisonment at a party. (It might be worth noting that this topic isn't one most party-goers would find a light topic of conversation.) The lawyer interjects his opinion:

Capital punishment and life-imprisonment are equally immoral; but if I were offered the choice between them, I would certainly choose the second. It's better to live somehow than not to live at all.

Thus ensues a lively conversation. Finally, the banker tells him that he'd wager $2 million that the lawyer could not stay in complete isolation for even five years. Full of ego, the lawyer raises the terms:

"If you mean it seriously," replied the lawyer, "then I bet I'll stay not five but fifteen."

When looking at stories involving money, especially ones in which the plot hinges on money, it's important to consider how much that same quantity would be worth today. $2 million in the late 1800s would have approximately $50 million of buying power today. It becomes a bit easier to see why the lawyer would take the bet.

The lawyer sticks it out. During his fifteen years, he becomes fluent in multiple languages, studies history and philosophy, and then studies solely the New Testament for an extended period of time.

Before he is released at the end of his fifteenth year, he writes a letter rejecting the money and explaining his reasoning. He says that mankind takes "falsehood for truth and ugliness for beauty." He says that people consider themselves wise and beautiful, oblivious in their daily lives that death will wipe each of them from the world. They have exchanged the promises of Heaven for the temporary pleasures of Earth. And he wants no part of it.

The lawyer runs off without his money, having decided that money is foolish and life is fleeting. He abandons this society because he no longer believes in its values.

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

In "The Bet" by Anton Chekhov, what is the lawyer's attitude at the end?

By the end of the story, the banker's attitude has changed significantly. He is no longer motivated by the two million rubles, for example, because money holds no value nor interest for him:

"I renounce the two million of which I once dreamed as of paradise and which now I despise."

In addition, the banker no longer values books and learning. During his fifteen-year confinement, for instance, the banker read voraciously, taking up everything from the Classics to light-hearted and "sensational" novels. By the end of his confinement, however, the lawyer realizes that this knowledge is worthless because it does not create happiness nor hold any real meaning:

"And I despise your books, I despise wisdom and the blessings of this world. It is all worthless, fleeting, illusory, and deceptive, like a mirage."

Finally, the lawyer's attitude also suggests that he no longer believes solitary confinement to be a better alternative to the death penalty. As we see in his letter, death's ability to destroy everything renders life, and all of its earthly pleasures, totally meaningless:

"Death will wipe you off the face of the earth as though you were no more than mice burrowing under the floor."

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

What insights does the lawyer gain about knowledge and life in Anton Chekhov's The Bet?

In "The Bet" by Anton Chekhov, a banker and lawyer begin arguing over the death penalty versus solitary confinement. The lawyer declares the death penalty to be "better" seeing as "to live anyhow is better than not at all" (Chekov). The young and excited banker jumps at the opportunity to prove the lawyer wrong and bets him two million dollars that the lawyer could not survive five years in solitary confinement. The lawyer, willing to take the bet, increases the time to fifteen. So begins the fifteen year span where the lawyer lives in a lodge within the banker's garden. He is not allowed any human contact but can request food, drink, and items. Each year, the lawyer is fixated with various items: wine, food, music, and literature. Each year, solitary confinement becomes less of a struggle for the lawyer. The banker, meanwhile, struggles with everyday life, poor choices, and limited funds. He begins to worry that he will indeed lose the bet and not be able to pay the lawyer. His worry is for nothing.

The lawyer, spending so much time alone, gained knowledge about life through books. He has been living a life stripped away of human influence. The lawyer was able to see the world without the veil that blurs reality. While many believe the rich amount of information he gained of language, literature, and music should be celebrated, the lawyer was able to realize just how much humanity takes for granted. "And I despise your books, I despise wisdom and the blessings of this world. It is all worthless, fleeting, illusory, and deceptive, like a mirage" (Chekhov). As a society, people rely on money and material things to remain happy and fulfilled. Instead of relishing in our ability to experience life, we squander our time with possessions and desires. 

The lawyer feels that in these fifteen years, he has experienced more through reading and isolation than those that are not confined. Things don't matter to him anymore, like the two million dollars. Humanity does not really live life to the fullest and so the lawyer breaks the rules of the bet and in a sense the banker "wins." If you think about it, the lawyer does show that life can be lives in solitary confinement. However, having the time to really consider the concept of life essentially has him become a shell of a man, one that cannot live life the way he once did. So, solitary confinement can perhaps equal death, just not as quickly.

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

Discuss the character of the lawyer in Anton Chekhov's "The Bet".

In “The Bet” by Anton Chekhov, a young guest at a party given by an older banker enters into a discussion about capital punishment.  The young lawyer believes that any life is better than being executed.  

From the discussion, the host offers the young lawyer a bet.  If the lawyer can remain in solitary confinement for five years, the banker will give him two million dollars.  The lawyer ups the ante to fifteen years in confinement to prove that any life is better than death. 

The oddity here is that the lawyer increases the number of years of the confinement.  Obviously, there is a problem with the young man and his affiliation with humanity.  Why would he increase the number himself? When the lawyer begins the bet, the banker sets him up in his guesthouse. When he wanted them, the lawyer could get food, books, music--- whatever he wanted except human contact. 

In the beginning, the lawyer is depressed; however, eventually, he begins to study everything from the Bible to languages.  He changes his literature and the things that are important to him as the years pass. In addition, the lawyer runs the gamut of emotional experiences.

As the end of the fifteen years approach, the reader learns that the banker has squandered all of his money.  If he pays the wager, he will have lost everything.  The banker decides to kill the lawyer.  He discovers a note written by the lawyer.  In it states, that the lawyer has spent his fifteen years experiencing life through books. From this, he concludes that the material world is unnecessary and stupid because everyone will die anyway.  He intends to leave five hours early and rejects the money that he has been given.

"For fifteen years I have been intently studying earthly life. It is true I have not seen the earth nor men, but in your books I have drunk fragrant wine, I have sung songs, I have hunted stags and wild boars in the forests, have loved women. . . . To prove to you in action how I despise all that you live by, I renounce the two million 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 the time fixed and so break the compact ..."

The lawyer's assertion that by reading a lot of books he has experienced everything that a man ever could is believed by him.  Unfortunately, the reading of books does not outdo the actual experiences in real life. The banker is saved by the lawyer who no longer wants the money but rather his freedom. 

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

In "The Bet" by Anton Chekhov, what is the lawyer's attitude at the end?

When the lawyer in "The Bet" by Anton Chekhov is close to his release date, he writes a letter to the banker, telling him that he will forfeit the two million dollars by leaving his cell five minutes early. Through his fifteen years of imprisonment, the lawyer has learned much about the world and he is completely disillusioned about humanity. He finds that he now despises money, "...the two millions of which I once dreamed of as paradise." (Chekhov 10)

The lawyer had once thought that fifteen years of his life were worth giving up to have all of that money, but now he wants nothing to do with it or with anything the world of humans has to offer him. He sees it all as a mirage of sorts.

"'Everything is void, frail, visionary and delusive as a mirage. Though you be proud and wise and beautiful, yet will death wipe you from the face of the earth like the mice underground and your posterity, your history, and the immortality of your men of genius will be as frozen slag burnt down together with the terrestrial globe.'" (Chekhov 10)

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

Can you analyze the character in "The Bet" by Anton Chekhov?

You haven't specified which character you would like me to focus on in this intriguing and, in many ways, inscrutable story by Chekov, so I will focus on the main character, which is the Banker. This story has an interesting narrative style, as it starts at the end as it were and then uses flashbacks to fill us in with what happened before. The banker at the party which is the main element of this flashback is garrulous, wealthy and imprudent with that wealth. Note the way he is quick to make "the bet" without hesitation:

"It's not true! I'll bet you two million you wouldn't stay in solitary confinement for five years."

The banker himself, years on, is able to look back and call this bet "wild" and "senseless," and the narrator tells us how the banker felt immediately after making the bet:

The banker, spoiled and frivolous, with millions beyond his reckoning, was delighted at the bet. At supper he made fun of the young man...

However looking back on the bet, he recognised it as a "caprice of a pampered man." However, ironically, in spite of the reflection that the now poor banker is able to have, perhaps because of his penury, at the end of the story he still shows that greed dominates his actions. Note how at the very end of the story he takes the note the lawyer left and locked it in his safe, presumably so that if the lawyer came back having changed his mind, he would have proof that he had renounced the money and his property would be safe.

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

What are the implications of the lawyer's fate in "The Bet" by Anton Chekhov?

The solitary confinement has brought about a complete change in the lawyer. From a daring young man eager to make millions of rubles, he has changed into a middle-aged self-content ascetic whom material wealth no more lures. He seems to have found some superior knowledge supposedly restricted to saints and enlightened beings.

It is this knowledge that enables him to renounce the banker’s two million rubles. This is the sum of money for which he has staked the invaluable fifteen years of his life.

The foremost implication of the lawyer’s final fate is the change in the banker. We are introduced to the banker as a man who is “spoilt and frivolous, with millions beyond his reckoning.” He has always led a hedonistic life and frittered away millions by “desperate gambling on the Stock Exchange.”

However, we are positively surprised when we see him kissing the lawyer’s hand with tears in his eyes. He can’t be the profligate banker whom we know; something has drastically changed in him.

His tears don’t stop even when he is on his bed. He keeps on crying for hours that night. The banker is full of repentance and self-reproach. He must be despising himself for having thought to murder a pious man like the lawyer.

We’re not told if the banker decides to give up gambling and his self-indulgent lifestyle nor if he’s going to do a lot of charity thereafter. However, his self contempt and strong sense of guilt do make us believe that he’s not going to be the same man as he has been so far. We are convinced that this is going to have far-reaching implications in his attitude. We are hopeful of a spiritual regeneration in him.

Get Ahead with eNotes

Start your 48-hour free trial to access everything you need to rise to the top of the class. Enjoy expert answers and study guides ad-free and take your learning to the next level.

Get 48 Hours Free Access
Approved by eNotes Editorial