“The Bet” by Anton Chekhov

[Anonymous No.15067870]

I just read this story and want to discuss the ending with anyone familiar with it.

Why do you think the lawyer dismissed the wisdom of the books which he so assiduously studied and read during his 15 years of voluntary imprisonment?

When I read this it made me think “I want to deprive myself of certain distractions that I can pursue knowledge of art, literature, science, theology, history and music, perhaps not to the extreme that the lawyer went, but in a toned-down version. Why is Chekhov, a brilliant man of letters, having his protagonist say that books are a waste of time?

The books he read ended up freeing him from the desire for wealth and the 2 million which the banker would have owed him. The books left him extremely well educated, (he knew six languages to a native proficiency, seemed to have a great skill for music, science, and history, and had gained a wisdom which is rare. They gave him an understanding of humanity, and made him a free-thinker. He was 40 at the end of his imprisonment, which in the grand scheme is quite young. He still had many years to fill with whatever he felt was best. What do you think the man would have done with his time? How do you think this scenario would have played out in real life?

[Anonymous No.15068272]

>>15067870
Idk i havent read much of his short stories

[Anonymous No.15068280]

>>15067870
I haven't read this one but just finished The Shooting Party by him. It was good.

[Anonymous No.15068287]

>>15067870
don't know, havent read it

[Anonymous No.15068377]

>>15067870
Just read it. ITS LIKE 3 PAGES LONG ANONS YOU FUCKERS DON'T READ GOD DAMN, TOO BUSY JERKIN IT TO FURRY PORN AND SHITPOSTING ON /lit/ TO READ A THREE PAGE STORY? FUCK.

Neat story OP. As someone who just took the bar exam the other month and is trapped in my apartment due to covid, you can find my mental break down, similar to the lawyer in the story here:
>>15066721
>>15066733
>>15066745

You are missing the entire point of the story.

I don't believe he was rejecting the knowledge. He concluded the fruitless nature of knowledge without action. With being overwhelmed by raw pure information without having another person to discuss it with. Accomplishments and knowledge mean nothing without a relation to other people. There is beauty in a hobby of creating something, but the satisfaction ends at the end of creation if there is no one to show it to beyond yourself for critical feedback. If you were blessed with all the knowledge, literature, and experiences of the world, what would you do? This is a trick question as the lawyer couldn't do a thing. As social beings, our mental state becomes unhinged without interaction of others (even if its shitposting on 4chan, but that'll do damage in it's own right). He finished the goal. He was done. He vicariously lived all the lives he could possibly want and without other people there to share it with he became disillusioned with humanity because if everyone else knew as much as he did, there wouldn't be so much evil/hate/greed/sins/etc. in the world.

[Anonymous No.15068477]

I just finished the penguin collection of his plays and this wasn't in it. I suppose it's not considered "essential" for understanding

[Anonymous No.15068492]

>>15067870
The lawyer progresses naturally in what he reads (popular novels to the classics to philosophy/history to religion to theology), attaining more and more wisdom. The only logical next step is radical asceticism; I'm talking Jainism-tier, which explains his emaciated state at the end. But Chekhov was not an Indian, so he takes inspiration from Orthodoxy. This is obvious when the lawyer declares he is "beholden to God".
>Why do you think the lawyer dismissed the wisdom of the books which he so assiduously studied and read during his 15 years of voluntary imprisonment?
In the name of denying everything material. He makes this pretty clear, and it's hard to miss. He even goes on to say that if trees grew lizards instead of fruit and flowers smelled like a sweaty horse that the banker would marvel at the fact, but the lawyer wouldn't. Because he denies everything material. It's the entire reason he rejects the $2 million. He read books, which all detailed and glorified material things. Yet these books made him realize that none of it is worth anything.
If you don't want to read all that: basically he denies the books for the same reason he denies the $2 million.
>>15068377
I have no idea where you got this from. There are no themes of action vs contemplation in the story. The lawyer's letter never touched on it. You're reading your own views onto the story, which is fine, I guess.

[Anonymous No.15068512]

>>15067870
>When I read this it made me think “I want to deprive myself of certain distractions that I can pursue knowledge of art, literature, science, theology, history and music, perhaps not to the extreme that the lawyer went, but in a toned-down version.
Then you missed the point.

[Anonymous No.15068611]

>>15068492
Just because a character is unaware of his own reasons for doing so doesn't mean they aren't there. Yeah, I'm reading into it, but that's part of litarary analysis and discussion isn't it? This was written in 1889. You made me google things, so I learned a little bit!

>The practice of solitary confinement traces its origins back to the 19th century when Quakers in Pennsylvania used this method as a substitution for public punishments. Research surrounding the possible psychological and physiological effects of solitary confinement dates back to the 1830s. When the new prison discipline of separate confinement was introduced at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia in 1829, commentators attributed the high rates of mental breakdown to the system of isolating prisoners in their cells. Charles Dickens, who visited the Philadelphia Penitentiary during his travels to America, described the "slow and daily tampering with the mysteries of the brain to be immeasurably worse than any torture of the body".[7] Prison records from the Denmark institute in 1870 to 1920 indicate that staff noticed inmates were exhibiting signs of mental illnesses while in isolation, revealing that the persistent problem has been around for decades.[8]

>The first comment by the Supreme Court of the United States about solitary confinement's effect on prisoner mental status was made in 1890 (In re Medley 134 U.S. 160).[9][4] In it the court found that the use of solitary confinement produced reduced mental and physical capabilities.[4] The use of solitary confinement in prisons was first introduced to regulate unruly prisoners and keep them away from the rest of the prison society (Haney, Craig; Lynch, Mona). However, solitary confinement has been linked to several developments of mental disorders, one of which being Ganser syndrome. A man developed Ganser syndrome after being held in solitary confinement for a long-term sentence; however, that development is seen as rare and is unlikely in most cases.

>The effects of solitary confinement on mental health are undeniable. According to the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, solitary confinement can cause an array of mental disorders, as well as provoke an already existing mental disorder in a prisoner, causing more trauma and symptoms. Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment practiced worldwide, but no positive effects of the punishment have been proven (Jaapl)

Neat.

[Anonymous No.15068661]

>>15068377
Never underestimate how retarded the average /lit/izen is. After years of Gassposting, DFWposting, and Savposting, I tried to start a new topic series where I post a short story (<10 pages), we read it, and discuss it. I did 5 such topics with a mix of stories, and none of them got more than 5 responses.

[Anonymous No.15068666]

>>15068661
Anon, we have probably argued about stupid shit on here before, but I just want to say, thanks for trying.

[Anonymous No.15068674]

Ill read it right now

[Anonymous No.15068713]

>>15068674
thanks for posting. There is a twilight zone episode about this situation

[Anonymous No.15068752]

>>15067870
It's that life path. Depression -> Education -> Creativity -> Mastery -> Meaning -> Novelty -> Despair

But I think the story is really more about the sentence. The lawyer experiences living death of imprisonment, the light of the world has gone out for him, it is an obscene punishment. The banker is forced to face something like a death sentence when he'll have to pay the bet and is driven to murder over it. So who was right? Well it was some other guest at the party.
Chekhov even has the lawyers rant against all of humanity be preserved by the banker, lmao.

[Anonymous No.15068771]

Here is a breakdown of what things the character reads and does and at what stage of his isolation. It’s just a fictional character but at the same time I found it interesting what Chekhov believed he would put his efforts towards.
Year 1:
>severe loneliness and depression
>played the piano continually say and night
>refused wine and tobacco
>sent for books of “a light character; novels with a complicated love plot, sensational and fantastic stories, and so on.”
Year 2-4:
>no piano
>asks only for classics
Year 5:
>stopped reading
>only ate and drank and laid on his bed
>talks to himself a lot
>began playing music again
>at night he sits down to write for hours and then tears it up in the morning
>heard crying
Year 6.5-10:
>begins zealously studying again, languages, philosophy, and history
>in 4 years goes through 600 volumes
>is able to write in 6 languages to a native level proficiency
Year 11:
>sits immovably at the table reading only the New Testament
Year 12-13:
Reads books on theology and the history of religions
Year 14-15:
>reads indiscriminately
>books of natural science, Byron, Shakespeare
>books on medicine, chemistry, treatises on philosophy or theology, a novel
>compared to a man floundering in the ocean, attempting to grab at whatever he can to keep from drowning, with no rhyme or reason
>>15068674
It’s a great story and not very long! In my addition it was 9 pages and I have one of those tiny modern library books of Russian short stories.

[Anonymous No.15068803]

>>15068752
I like the path idea.

And yeah, it's supposed to be a discussion about the fact that, even with access to all the knowledge in the world, isolation is a terrible punishment.