What is the bet between the banker and the lawyer?
They agreed to a bet: if the lawyer could spend fifteen years in total isolation, the banker would pay him two million rubles. The lawyer would have no direct contact with any other person, but could write notes to communicate with the outside world and receive whatever comforts he desired.
Why does the banker think the lawyer will be indebted to him for his happiness?
Why does the banker think the lawyer will be indebted to him for his happiness? He predicts a future life for the man, where he will enjoy life and gamble on the Exchange, suggesting this enjoyment will come from the money he gets.
Why does the banker put the prisoner’s letter in the safe?
He was planning to murder his prisoner to get out of paying the bet, and then he was planning to allow one of his servants to be convicted of the crime and sent to Siberia. He locks the lawyer’s letter in a fireproof safe to serve as evidence that he had won the bet, if any question should arise in the future.
What was the most astonishing part of the prisoner’s letter?
The most astonishing part of the prisoner’s letter was his intent to leave his captivity five hours early and renounce the money he would have received.
What did the banker do on reading the letter?
1 Answer. The banker was overwhelmed after reading the letter addressed to him. After reading the note, he kissed the prisoner on the head and went back to his house weeping.
Why does the banker have contempt for himself after reading the lawyer’s letter?
After reading the letter, the banker feels “contempt for himself,” presumably because he is guilty of just what the prisoner is writing about: believing in the lies mankind has lived by. He locks up the letter so that he will have proof that the prisoner has lost the bet.
What is ironic about the bet?
In the short story “The Bet” by Anton Chekov, the author uses irony to make the story more capricious in the banker’s decision to kill the prisoner rather than pay him, in the prisoner’s decision to repudiate the two million dollars, and in the actual note the prisoner inscribes.
Which does the banker consider more humane?
The banker, who believes that the death penalty is more humane and moral than life imprisonment, argues that experiences, pleasures, and relationships are what make life worth living.
How old is the lawyer when he takes the bet?
25 years old
What does the state is not God mean?
In this context, the guest is referring to the fact that only God can determine the time of life and death, that the state, courts, or government, do not have the right to supercede in matters of death. Thus, the guest is citing his belief that capital punishment is not justice, but rather murder.
Who is the lawyer in the bet?
At the start of the story, the lawyer is an impulsive young man out to prove a point. As the story and imprisonment continue, the lawyer constructs a new identity as a kind of contrarian mystic who challenges or rejects the whole of human society. He renounces the money he would win as part of the bet and disappears.
What is the climax of the story the bet?
The climax of “The Bet” is when the watchmen run in to the banker’s house with the news that the young man has escaped “out of the window” and disappeared beyond the garden gate. The climax certainly has an element of irony because the thought arises that he might have escaped “out of the window” fifteen years before.
What did the banker do to kill the lawyer?
The banker decided to kill the lawyer in the dark of night to avoid paying him the amount. He decided to go to the lodge and stifle the lawyer with a pillow and imagined that it would be easy to kill the already half-dead man. He also thought that since the watchman guarded the lodge, the suspicion would fall on him.
What is the bankers reason for thinking that death penalty is better than life imprisonment?
What is the Banker’s reason for thinking the death penalty is better than life in prison? The Banker assumes that spending life in prison means dying slowly.