The Bet

First published in an 1889 edition of the St. Petersburg-based newspaper Novoye Vremya (Новое время), Anton Chekhov’s “The Bet” (“Пари”) is a short story about a bet made between a banker and a lawyer. During a dinner party in November 1870, a wealthy banker claims that capital punishment is more humane than life imprisonment. The younger lawyer counters that to live under any circumstance is always better than death. The two debate and make a bet: if the lawyer can live in solitary confinement, the banker will give him two million rubles. The lawyer agrees to stay isolated in a lodge in the banker’s garden for fifteen years. Over the course of those fifteen years, the lawyer fervently reads and studies. In the meantime, the banker’s wealth begins to dwindle and he must make a rash decision in order to save his money. Characteristic of his stories and plays, Chekhov ends the short story on an ambiguous note as the lawyer emerges from his confinement with a new understanding of the world and a complete rejection of materiality.