The subject of this article is a summary of Betting. Chekhov is an unsurpassed master of "little prose." In a small work, he could reflect not only the character and experiences of his hero, but his whole life. The story, which will be discussed in the article, is one of the last in the work of the Russian writer. It was written at the sunset of life, at a time when the author was experiencing a rethinking of spiritual values. Therefore, this work has a particularly deep meaning.
The death penalty or life imprisonment?
The summary of Chekhov's “Paris” is that at a dinner party between people who were not burdened by life's hardships, a dispute arose that entailed events that turned the lives of two of them.
The subject of discussion is the relevance of the death penalty. Some said that it was not permissible. Others believed that life imprisonment was a more severe punishment. A third point of view was also expressed. According to some participants in the idle dispute, both the execution and the life sentence should be abolished.
One of the adherents of the idea that any form of punishment depriving a person of his life or freedom is inhumane, spoke out this way: if he chose, he would agree to a life sentence. This man was a young lawyer, one of the main characters of the story. The second protagonist - the banker - is a hot, passionate person who is used to throwing money around. From this moment, the main events begin, which are narrated by Chekhov's story.
Bet
A summary of the dispute between the young lawyer and a fairly mature banker comes down to the question of a person’s ability to refuse to communicate with people for many years. One of the arguers claimed that he could be in voluntary detention for fifteen years. The discussion, which began quite harmlessly, ended with a decision to carry out, at first glance, a meaningless experiment.
The lawyer became a prisoner. The banker undertook to pay the prisoner two million rubles, if he would survive in captivity for exactly fifteen years.
Conclusion conditions
The young man, doomed to long loneliness, was in search of eternal truth, intensively studying literature of various genres. This is the summary of "Bet". Chekhov wrote a story reminiscent of a wise parable. It is apparently based on the idea that the writer grasped in the last years of his life.
All conditions were negotiated. The prisoner lawyer had the right to drink wine and smoke cigars, as well as receive books that he wished. The conditions, it should be said, are very humane, with the exception of a strict ban on communicating with people.
The room in which he was to be was equipped at the expense of the banker. Everything was present in it. The prisoner regularly received food and drinks through a small window. A rough list of literature that has been studied by a voluntary captive over the course of fifteen years is what both the idea and the summary of the Bet consist of. Chekhov attached particular importance to the books that the lawyer read while in an impromptu prison. During the conclusion, over six hundred volumes were studied. Sometimes a banker barely had time to write out literature.
Prisoner reading
The lawyer began by reading lightweight literature. Then he switched to classical works. He spent several years studying foreign languages. And once he sent his opponent a letter in six languages ​​with a request to show its contents to specialists, and if they did not find a single mistake there, to shoot twice from a gun in the garden. The banker did everything the young man asked for. And the next day the prisoner heard gun shots.
The lawyer read a lot. He studied a lot of works on philosophy, history and natural science. Sometimes he threw reading and began to write. He spent one year of his imprisonment in drinking wine and talking with himself, as evidenced by a watchman specially hired to guard him. But the most surprising was the eleventh year when a person, already not so young, but very well-read and educated, as a result of a long stay in solitude, read only one book - the Gospel.
Exemption
Fifteen years have passed. The banker was not so wasteful. And really did not want to part with two million. Their loss would be a financial collapse for an elderly person. But the prisoner still won the bet. He passed the test. It was necessary to settle accounts with him, but, not wanting to do this, the banker decided to get rid of his opponent. He planned to kill the prisoner.
On the night before the liberation, the banker made his way into the room and saw a haggard man sleeping. And on the table was a letter in which he refused the due millions and expressed contempt for earthly life. The banker should have received this message later, the next day. After reading the letter, an elderly banker kissed a sleeping man, cried and went home. And never in his life, even at the time of the biggest stock exchange losses, he was not ashamed as much as that night.
Such is the plot of one of the most striking works created by A.P. Chekhov. "Bet", the summary of which reflects the sequence of events in the work, should nevertheless be read in the original. Reading will take no more than ten minutes. The idea of ​​this small work, however, is so deep that it can change a person’s worldview.