“To live anyhow is better than not at all” (Chekhov 1) , the short story, The Bet commenced with the conflict when the person had no choice but to choose between the death penalty or life in prison. The Bet was originally written by Anton Chekhov, a profound Russian short-story writer who concentrated a lot on human values and the reflection of the extravagantly selfish Russian nobility. And through The Bet he was able to express all those ideas in two sides, the banker and the lawyer with the conflict along the story line.
The author introduced the story with a momentary flashback that the banker recalled at night what happened in the past instead of going directly to the party from fifteen years ago. Well, this flashback style for opening suggests that the event on the party from fifteen years ago was unforgettable. Moreover, this introduction style helps to pull the audience’s attention and curiosity out more effectively. On that night, the banker and the lawyer made a bet based on the idea between life imprisonment and death penalty. The argument began with the banker’s strong statement “Capital punishment kills a man at once, but lifelong imprisonment kills him slowly. Which executioner is the more humane, he who kills you in a few minutes or he who drags the life out of you in the course of many years?” (Chekhov, 1) and the lawyer had chosen lifelong imprisonment by indicating that “To live anyhow is better than not at all” (Chekhov, 1). To prove his philosophy righteously, the lawyer agreed to stay for fifteen years in the basement of the banker’s house without the acknowledgement of the surface world. In exchange for those imprisoned years, the banker would give the lawyer two million dollars if the lawyer succeeded with...
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...er and the banker had faced a lot of crisis when they decided to make the bet, endure the consequences on both sides for making the bet and make the final resolution or solution.
Life is priceless freedom, being able to live is better than accepting death. However, life is too short and unexpected; you would die tomorrow or the second later. Therefore, The Bet signifies that everyone should not need to fight over pretty things like money and power because it’s learning that makes man valuable not the money (knowledge is power and money is imprisonment). Everyone just lives to the fullest and appreciate every slightest moment, event, thing and people who appear in their life. Even that moment is sorrowful but every suffering has some meaning in this world that helps us to grow and develop our unique identity, overcome obstacles and treasure ourselves with others.
In the beginning of The Pardoners Tale he talks about his qualifications and what he does, talking to several people. The pardoner tries to use his story to get the audience to give him money for their greedy sins. Then he tells a story about three young men who find an old man and they talk about age, the younger kids say the don’t want to grow old like the old man. The old guy tells the kids that they can find death by a tree. Excited to see death, the kids go to the tree and discover a pile of gold coins instead. Excited they decide to draw lots to decide which one would go down to the store, and who gets to stay with the money. The one who lost would have to go down to a store and buy some bread and wine that is later poisoned. Meanwhile, back at the gold, the other two conspire to kill the guy that is walking to the store by stabbing him to death, so instead of splitting the money three ways there would be more money apiece by splitting it two ways between them. So when they guy who walked to the sore gets back they stab him (he dies). Then the two drink the poisoned wine afterwards and they died from the poisoned wine.
“We all fight on two fronts, the one facing the enemy, the other facing what we do to the enemy” (Boyden 199).
In order to gain value from reading about the main crime in Crime in Punishment, it must be understood that Raskolnikov committed his act of violence completely intentionally. He was not a victim of force from another person, he did not kill on accident, and was not put into a situation where he would die if he did not commit murder. Raskolnikov willfully and methodically planned the death of Alyona. Because the death of Alyona Ivanovna was completely based off of Raskolnikov’s judgment, his reactions afterward provide the reader with an accurate look into the mental psyche and beliefs of his character. Raskolnikov believed the murder was completely justified due to the torm...
Kafka’s The Trial delves into the life of Josef K., a bank worker who gets himself tied up in an unknown trial, against an indefinable and ultimately unaccountable legal system. While the piece is a work of fiction it parallels many of the legal problems in existence during the period in which Kafka was writing and to an extent gives a fictitious account of many real events going on. Many parallels can be seen in the trials of Alfred Dreyfus, Oscar Wilde, John Scopes and Nikolai Bukharin in various ways. The book indirectly questions legal principals such as an accessible system and a clear understanding of the process. Fundamentally these principles are missing from the other real trials in question, and represent in most cases a serious miscarriage of justice.
The essay pans the whole world and presents the death penalty practices. In the last paragraph the paper focuses on the USA exclusively.
Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment explores the themes of guilt and the consequences of committing immoral actions. Of all the deep, thought-provoking concepts put forth in Crime and punishment, the idea that guilt can be an adequate punishment more valid than any punishment executed by society as a whole is the most far reaching and supported by the novel. Crime and Punishment follows Rodian Raskolnikov’s life from just a few days before he commits two brutal murders to when he confesses his crimes and is convicted and sentenced to several years in prison. Initially, Rodian had successfully gotten away with the murder of two people. Raskolnikov’s guilt-driven madness has given him an immunity and even investigators he confesses to think he couldn’t be guilty. As a result, his guilt continues to feed on his conscience to the point where he is constantly miserable. Raskolnikov’s true punishment is the futility of his attempt to escape the guilt of his actions without confessing and feeling adequately punished.
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment begins with Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov living in poverty and isolation in St. Petersburg. The reader soon learns that he was, until somewhat recently, a successful student at the local university. His character at that point was not uncommon. However, the environment of the grim and individualistic city eventually encourages Raskolnikov’s undeveloped detachment and sense of superiority to its current state of desperation. This state is worsening when Raskolnikov visits an old pawnbroker to sell a watch. During the visit, the reader slowly realizes that Raskolnikov plans to murder the woman with his superiority as a justification. After the Raskolnikov commits the murder, the novel deeply explores his psychology, yet it also touches on countless other topics including nihilism, the idea of a “superman,” and the value of human life. In this way, the greatness of Crime and Punishment comes not just from its examination of the main topic of the psychology of isolation and murder, but the variety topics which naturally arise in the discussion.
Through suffering and guilt comes a personal need to redeem one's self and once again achieve an inner peace of mind. This process of redemption is not easy, but is worth the prize of being reborn into a new being. When one fully commits him or her self to being saved, there is no stopping that final result. In Crime and Punishment, Dostoyevsky draws from personal experience to create a story based off of suffering, which ultimately exemplifies a message of redemption and rebirth through said suffering.
The books The Last Day of a Condemned Man and In Cold Blood, both narrators tell the tale of two criminals awaiting and serving out their punishment to a capital offence. While The Last Day of a Condemned Man is told in a first person view, In Cold Blood is told from a third person. Although from different views, each tells the trials and tribulations of approaching the death penalty. Whether the death penalty is a humane punishment or not is a very controversial subject. One of the major issues with the death penalty is how it is conducted. Death row is a very flawed system and has been for a long time and both of these literary works show the major problems concerning it.
Yet the banker decided to go on with the bet. Here, you can see that this was an act of pure selfishness as he held the lawyer as a prisoner for so long for no reason. Likewise, in What, of This Goldfish, Would You Wish the way selfishness had taken over Sergei was completely insane. When the young boy had shown up to his door he told him to leave, but the boy didn’t listen, instead he went straight to Sergei’s magical fish which he didn’t know was magical. However, Sergei thought the boy was trying to steal his goldfish and so without the slightest bit of hesitation, he picked the burner from off the stove and hit the young boy on the head. Sergei had taken the life of an innocent boy. Although it was in his power to take the boys life or let him live, his selfishness had taken over him. Which ended in Sergei ending the poor boy’s life. For reasons like so, it is very much prominent that selfishness is dangerous and can kill, even when it is not
"The Death Penalty Essay." Example Essays.com - Over 100,000 essays, term papers and book reports! Web. 14 Jan. 2010. .
Winters, P.A. (Ed.), The death penalty opposing view points (pp. 17-20). San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, Inc.
Some people want to lose all of their human characteristics. Whether it is replacing a body part with a robotic one to become a cyborg, or enhancing their senses with external supplements, the possibilities are endless as mankind strives to phase out of its natural form. But maybe there’s another way to lose humanity. In “The Bet”, Anton Chekhov decides to go a different route to change somebody human into a cold, calculating being. By making a bet and putting a lawyer into fifteen years of solitary confinement, the banker, without a clue, strips the lawyer of his humanity. As the lawyer is in prison, different changes happen to him and several themes arise. In “The Bet”, Anton Chekhov discusses the theme of material existence and ignorance through the passage of
The story starts on a dark autumn night, an ominous setting that appears in many stories. A banker is pacing back and forth in his office remembering some night 15 years ago which is obviously important. The story transitions into a flashback to that night. A party is underway hosted by the banker at which the hot topic was capital punishment. The banker and a lawyer at the party eventually settled on a bet that the lawyer could not stay in solitude for 15 years, and if he did, the banker would give him 2 millions. The rest of the first half of the story goes over what the banker sees the lawyer doing during his imprisonment, and the second half takes you to the present just before the lawyers time is up. Something is odd about Chekhov’s writing throughout the entire story, his description is almost non-existent. It does not seem likely that 2 people would descri...
A group can only be called a team if the members are actively working together toward a common goal. A team must have the capability to set goals, make decisions, solve problems, and share responsibilities. For a team to be successful, trust must be earned between its members by being consistent and reliable (Temme & Katzel, 2005). When more than one person is working on a particular task, inconsistent views or opinions commonly arise. People come from different backgrounds and live through different life experiences therefore, even when working towards a common goal, they will not always see eye to eye. Major conflict that is not dealt with can devastate a team or organization (Make Conflict Work, 2008). In some situations, conflict can be more constructive than destructive. Recognizing the difference between conflict that is constructive to the team and conflict that is destructive to the team is important. Trying to prevent the conflict is not always the best way to manage conflict when working within a team setting. Understanding conflict, what causes it, and how to resolve conflict effectively, should consume full concentration.