The Bet by Anthon Chekhov Summary

The Bet: Fifteen Years of Solitary Confinement

A young lawyer, aged five and twenty, was asked to choose between the death penalty and life imprisonment. He argued that both are equally immoral, as they both have the same objective of taking away life. The banker, who was younger and more nervous, was excited by the bet and offered to bet two million dollars for the young man to stay in solitary confinement for fifteen years. The young man agreed, but only for fifteen years, provided for every detail and trifle.

The banker, spoiled and frivolous, was delighted at the bet and made fun of the young man, stating that voluntary confinement is harder to bear than compulsory confinement. The banker then realized that the bet was nothing more than a caprice of a pampered man and greed for money. He decided to spend the years of his captivity under strict supervision in one of the lodges in the banker's garden.

For fifteen years, the young man was not allowed to cross the threshold of the lodge, see human beings, hear human voices, or receive letters and newspapers. He was allowed to have a musical instrument, books, write letters, drink wine, and smoke, but only had relations with the outer world through a window made purposely for that object. He could have anything he wanted, but could only receive them through the window.

The agreement provided for every detail and trifle that would make his imprisonment strictly solitary, and bound the young man to stay there exactly fifteen years, beginning from twelve o'clock on November 14, 1870, and ending at twelve o'clock on November 14, 1885. The slightest attempt on his part to break the conditions, if only two minutes before the end, released the banker from the obligation to pay him two million.

For the first year of his confinement, the young man suffered severely from loneliness and depression. He refused wine and tobacco, as they excites desires, which are the worst foes of the prisoner. The banker was relieved when the young man broke the conditions, allowing him to live anyhow.