Short Story: "The Bet" By Anton P. Chekhov Practice And Quiz

Character motivation matters because it affects how characters react to the conflicts or forces acting against them. It may also affect the way the reader interprets the resolution of 0 Dr. Horrible inadvertently gets Penny killed. Dr. Horrible is credited with Penny's death and asked to join the Evil League of Evil. At the end of the story, Dr. Horrible achieves his dream, but in a way that completely destroys his main motivation. As a result, the ending is sad rather than joyful.

need for entertainment

The banker is motivated only by the need for entertainment and by boredom. Two million means nothing to him because as a young man, he had inherited millions. The lawyer is more interesting: he seems truly to believe that "'[i]t's better to live somehow than not to live at all.'" He believes that just to be alive would be worth all the suffering life gives. He's also motivated by money. Although we merely suspect in the beginning that his motivation is heavily influenced by money, he confirms it in his letter to the banker at the end: "That I may show you in deed my contempt for that by which you live, I waive the two millions of which I once dreamed as of paradise, and which I now despise. That I may deprive myself of my right to them, I shall come out from here five minutes before the stipulated term, and thus shall violate the agreement." Understanding each character's motivation helps us understand why each of the men reacts to the conflict the way he does. The banker, for whom this bet is merely entertainment in an otherwise easy life, regards the antics of the lawyer with amusement and wonder. Later, when the banker is bankrupt, he reacts with fear and a plan to murder. After all, his main motivation was trifling and impulsive. He definitely did not plan on losing everything in this bet that was just supposed to be an entertaining distraction. The lawyer, on the other hand, is motivated by his belief, which he expresses eloquently the night of the bet and by the dream of winning a fortune. The lawyer may have rationalized it as two million (valued back then even more than it is today) that he could earn in fifteen years without working. At that young age, he showed that he valued money more than his freedom.

his hatred of freedom, life, and health

Chekhov frequently wrote about the disillusionments of life and life's meaninglessness in his works. This particular short story discusses how one young man—the lawyer—realizes after many years that all his efforts to win a bet were for nothing. He didn't even care about winning the reward at the end.

First, the obvious conflict in the story, revealed through the banker's flashback, is between the lawyer and the banker (external conflict: character vs. character). They both believe they are right and are willing to bet years of life and a large sum of money in order to prove it. This conflict reveals the beliefs and personality of the two main characters. The banker is impulsive, perhaps bored, and careless with his money. The young lawyer is certain that the money will be worth solitary confinement. At age twenty-five, perhaps he hadn't seen enough of the world yet to truly understand what he'd be giving up. After all, he gives it up so easily. One example of internal conflict from the story is that which lies within the lawyer. As this excerpt shows, it's not easy for him to be confined within the garden wing of the banker's house, not allowed to see anyone, not allowed to leave. He had to overcome his discomfort and mental suffering in order to reach his goal of fifteen years in the "cell." Although we never get into his mind until we read his letter at the end of the story, we can guess that he might have questioned his own motives during the many years.

These two excerpts are both written by the lawyer in letters to the banker. The diction in the first excerpt is obsessive and passionate. The lawyer seems to be involved in the world of knowledge and finds joy in the little ways in which he can communicate with the world. Although he doesn't have much access to the world, he still tries to be masterful in its beauty. The diction in the second excerpt, written years later, almost seems like it's written by a different person. The lawyer is bitter, unhappy, and pessimistic. The language choices that Chekhov gives to the lawyer supports the theme that life needs to be lived well, not just lived. Although the lawyer is still alive, he's lost all desire to live. He bet that just being alive would be enough, but since he has just walked out on all that he once saw as valuable (money), he has no reason to live.

external

desire for money

internal

lawyer vs. banker

life's meaninglessness

It affects the reader's interpretation of events.

I and II only

money

boredom

short story

The lawyer's diction becomes gloomier.

lawyer vs. self

internal