The Bet
Written on September 28, 2007 – 1:54 pm | by shylaa
The Bet is about a party that one of the character holds, the banker, November 1870 and makes a bet with the lawyer, that he will pay the lawyer 2 million rubles if he stays in prison in the bankers house for 15 years.
This story shows power in the relationship between the banker and the lawyer because the banker has money to bet and the lawyer gives in. Power is usually shown in relationships if someone has more knowledge or is stronger but power can be used in good and bad ways.
Power in can change a relationship, because the person in the relationship with power could use that in a bad way, and make the other person feel small and not very fond of the one with more power because they are using it disrespectfully towards them.
When people start out with all this power they have a choice to use it in a bad way or a good way. If they used their power in a bad way that could change them into a bad person.
I thought this story showed power because in the beginning the banker thought he had all the power because he had more money than the banker and he had him locked away and prison. Over the 15 years the banker began to gamble and all he had left was enough to pay off the bet in the end. So he was going to kill the lawyer so that he could keep his money, he went in to the garden wing of his house, where the lawyer was held prisoner, and was ready to kill him when he found a note he had written.
“Tomorrow at noon, I am to have my freedom. I shall have the right to mix with people. But before I leave this room, I want to say a few words to you. My conscience is clear, and I stand before God, who sees me. I declare to you that I despise all that your books call the blessings of the world.
For fifteen years I have studied earthly life. In your books I hunted deer and sang songs. In your books I climbed Mt. Blanc. I saw from there how the sun rose in the morning. In your books I worked miracles, burned cities to the ground, preached new religions, conquered whole countries-
Your books gave me wisdom. I know that I am cleverer than you all. You are mad and gone wrong way. You worship things not ideas. You take falsehood for truth and ugliness for beauty. So do I marvel at you. You have traded heaven for earth. I do not want to understand you.
To show that I despise all that you live by, I give up the two million I once desired. Can your money buy wisdom? No. I shall come out of here five minutes before noon tomorrow. I shall break our agreement.”
As you can see the lawyer now has more power because he has more knowledge, and he was the bigger man to realize that money is not everything.
Author of The Bet, Anton Chekhov
Shyla
One Response to “The Bet”
By zaolae on Sep 28, 2007 | Reply
Wow I already read this. It kind of didn’t make any sense to me, but it was kind of interesting to me.
anyways i like this and i hope that we can at least comment about that “THE BET”. I like reading it sometimes, when i am bored. 
please comment back… zaolae 