The Bet

By Anton Chekhov

     In The Bet, we see the arguement between a young lawyer and a banker on the topic of capital punishment, either death penalty or imprisonment for life is more immortal. So they have a bet of two million dollars, and if the young lawyer can stay in the jail for fifteen years then he gets the money. This imprisonment is different than compulsory imprisonment given to the criminal, because he gets to read, write, drink wine, smoke and to have a musical instrument, the only think he can't have is the contact with outer world.

     They both have confident in their bet in the beginning, but as time goes on a change took place in both of their heart. The banker saw the perserverance of the young lawyer and he begins to worry, he start to have the feeling of enviousness and angriness inside his heart, for he know that he'll not just loose the bet, he'll always loose everything he own to this young man who can still enjoy life, get married, and mocked him for his success for the rest of his life. So he decide to take a step before the bet ends.

     On the other hand, the young lawyer, after all these years of studying the outer world through books, despise the world and everything that was in it, to the point that he is willing to give up the two million dollars of his dream, the goal that he was striving for the past fifteen years. He wrote a letter and leave it on his table, and the banker read it while he sneak into his room to kill him. After reading the letter, the banker has a heavy feeling inside is heart, he left and weep almost all night.

     The next day the young lawyer left the room before noon and was gone forever, and the banker locked the money and the letter at his home.

The young lawyer and the banker have a bet with each other. During the years inside
the prison, the young lawyer read a lot and learned a lot about life, world, and what's in it.

Question 2 pg. 660

a. The banker's plan to murder the lawyer is a type of situational irony, because it turns out differently that what the character itself and also the reader expected. In the beginning the banker believe that he will win, but towards the very end he realize that he's going to loose the bet, and the readers are likely to think so too. And this is where it's unexpected to both the reader and the character, because the banker knew he's going to loose the two million dollars which is like all of his money to this man that can still enjoy his life, he decided to end the lawyer's life the night before the winning. Which he himself might not expect (the decision) fifteen years ago, and also the reader might not expect so too.

b. The physical description of the lawyer is a type of verbal irony, because in verbal irony the write says one thing and means something quite different. At the end when the banker sneak into the lawyer's room he realize that he was different from before, much more skinner and dreadful. He described him as a half-dead person dreaming of his two million dollar to-be that will be murder in the next few minutes without any sign of violent death. But it was like what he was decribed physical, his heart and body was wary and half-dead, it was different than what the banker thought (happy, exciting, waiting to enjoy life and gamble his money on the exchange...), instead he was really torn with all these things he comprehend as world and lfie in the past 15 years.

The banker sneak into the room and read the letter he wrote.

c. The locking of the lawyer's letter in the safe is a type of dramatic irony, because only the reader knows the truth of the situation, when other character can only judge by what it seems inside the story. Other may think that the end is just simply the young lawyer gave up and walk away from the room, when in reality it is something more and we can see this in his letter. He realized that everything that belongs the world isn't good and he despise it so that's why he decided to give up and leave five minutes before the time fixed. No one will never know this because he's gone forever, no one beside the readers and the character itself.