Why does "The Bet" by Anton Chekhov include a flashback?

Chekhov masterfully uses flashback in order to condense time and filter out details that do not focus upon the psychological development of the main characters and the theme.

Often when reading a novel, readers turn back to earlier chapters and re-read them because the relevance of some passages has deepened as the narrative develops. In shorter works of fiction, authors often use flashbacks as tools to help people "re-read" what needs to be understood, as well as to filter out non-essential details. Flashbacks benefit a narrative when knowledge of conditions or actions from the past can be used to provide significance to present conditions in the narrative or to underscore theme.

In his story "The Bet," Anton Chekhov illustrates the vanity of the desires of man. The young lawyer believed that life in isolation would be no real sacrifice and he would profit greatly with his reward at the end of his term. But what he really learned is that without human contact, such things as books, music, writing, languages, theology, and history are of little value without anyone with whom to exchange ideas and share the emotions that these studies evoke.

Through the use of flashback, the older and wiser banker looks back upon the time of the bet and he realizes,

On my part it was the caprice of a pampered man, and on his part, simple greed for money...

In a similar fashion, the letter written by the lawyer who has spent fifteen years in isolation explores his wisdom gained from experience as he looks backward. After an impulsive wager affected so much of their lives, both of these men now realize how shallow and vain their thinking has been all these years.

How does the use of flashback at the start of "The Bet" enhance plot understanding?

"The Bet" is one of Chekhov's best and most famous short stories. It is beautifully constructed. It covers a period of fifteen years in just a few pages. Chekhov had several serious plot problems to solve. He wanted to write a story about a man who bets he can spend fifteen years in solitary confinement without having a mental breakdown or forfeiting the bet. This is a fantastic idea, but Chekhov had a problem with verisimilitude. He had to make the reader believe that anyone would actually make such a bet. He manages to make the main premise believable by several means.

First of all, he had to create a strong motivation for the lawyer. The motivation was money. He had to create a man who would be wealthy enough and daring enough to stake a large fortune and who could also be counted upon to pay that fortune if the lawyer managed to stick it out for fifteen years. Chekhov also had to indicate the ordeal the lawyer would suffer in solitary confinement for year after year. The writer avoids describing the prisoner's activities inside his room but merely focuses on the impression the banker gets from the outside.

It should be noted that the prisoner is not enduring the kind of solitary confinement that is used as punishment for disobedient convicts in ordinary penitentiaries. The lawyer is served good meals. He can order all the books he wants to read. He even has a piano in his lodge. These amenities are described only to make the bet more plausible to the reader. No one would consider spending fifteen years of solitary confinement in a cold, dark dungeon; but some readers might relate to the studious man who was treated like a special guest in a comfortable lodge with all the comforts he could desire.

The story is told exclusively from the banker's point of view, making it easy to describe how the bet came to be made by entering the banker's mind and describing the fateful evening in flashbacks. By dramatizing the argument leading up to the bet, the challenge, the acceptance, and so on, Chekhov manages to overcome his main problem which was to make the fantastic bet believable.

Fifteen years are covered quickly in the banker's memories. Chekhov adroitly begins his flashbacks almost immediately.

It was a dark autumn night. The old banker was walking up and down his study and remembering how, fifteen years before, he had given a party one autumn evening.

And there we are back in the past. Chekhov never mentions a word about liquor being consumed at the party. But this is an all-male gathering, and it seems certain that these men would all be drinking vodka and wine and smoking cigars--or else it wouldn't be much of a party. The bet would probably not have been made if the banker and lawyer had not been somewhat intoxicated, but Chekhov does not want to suggest that it was not a serious bet, one which could be called off the next morning when the two men sobered up and realized how foolish they had both been. So liquor is not mentioned.

The flashbacks cover the origin of the bet and the whole fifteen years of imprisonment. Then Chekhov brings the story into the present with admirable dexterity:

The old banker remembered all this, and thought:

"To-morrow at twelve o'clock he will regain his freedom. By our agreement I ought to pay him two million. If I do pay him, it is all over with me. I shall be utterly ruined."