The Bet by Anton Chekhov
A wealthy man and a young lawyer wager over whether capital punishment is more humane than life imprisonment, agreeing that the lawyer will spend fifteen years in solitary confinement to win a large sum. During isolation he immerses himself in books and undergoes a profound moral and intellectual transformation while the banker, ruined and anxious, contemplates murder to avoid payment; in the end the lawyer renounces the money in a letter and quietly leaves before the term ends, exposing both men's moral emptiness and revealing the hollowness of their bet.
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- Published
- 1889
- Nationality
- Russian
- Length
- Very Short
- Pages
- 5-15 pages
- Original Language
- Russian
- Avg User Rating
-
(4.0)
- Alternate Titles
-
- Na spor
- On a Bet
- На спор
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