The Bet

Readers reading “The Bet” ultimately see that Chekhov presents us with two failed paths in “The Bet": the banker who refuses to face his own mortality and the prisoner who faces it, but falls into despair because he is so disconnected. Both are failures, but in different ways. We will begin by considering why facing crisis might by easy. Human beings thrive on change. While they may feel fear and uncertainty when presented with a …showed first 75 words of 1336 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1336 total…available to him. In the end, he runs from one book to another, searching for momentary shelter, not unlike the banker and his crises. Chekhov is arguing that these two characters represent paths open to all people: one based on fear of death and the other based on loathing for living. Between these two extremes lie a path of moderation, straddling obliviousness and despair, and that is the path that Chekhov asks us to take.