Solitary Confinement In Anton Chekhov's The Bet

802 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Cons of solitary confinement

Would you be in solitary confinement 15 years for 2 million dollars or would prefer the death penalty? I would prefer the death penalty. Chekhov on his work The Bet proves how solitary confinement kills u slowly. He proves it by the lawyer making a bet with the banker that we would stay in solitary confinement 15 years for 2 million dollars. Chekhov conveys his message that solitary confinement kills you slowly he dose it by the lawyer agreeing to a bet to stay 15 years in solitary confinement, and the lawyer for the 15 years got to the point that he looked older than he is and he that he doesn't act like a normal human.

Chekhov in his story was proving how solitary confinement is worst that the death penalty, and that solitary confinement …show more content…

Chekhov writes ”Prisoner suffered severely from loneliness and depression”(pg.3). Since the lawyer was in solitary confinement he had to human communication, that made him get depressed and lonely. Solitary confinement has making him suffer mental problems and the banker's opinion about solitary confinement was actually happening. The story says ”At the table a man unlike ordinary people was sitting motionless”(pg.6). The lawyer did not respond to any sound at all. Furthermore, his mental state lost the way he responding to anything because since he was in that room for along time by himself without any odd noise. Also he is just focused on …show more content…

Chekhov proofs his massage that solitary confinement kills u slowly by telling the reader how the lawyer suffered. One main point was how the lawyer looked older than his age. Also the lawyer suffered from mental problems like depression and loneliness. Chekhov on his work “The Bet” tries to show the reader how both the death penalty and solitary confinement are inhumane, and that both kill a prisoner but solitary confinement takes longer to kill the prisoner so it makes him suffer more. He does it to show how today's prison system is making inhumane

Show More
Related

  • Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime And Punishment

    1920 Words  | 4 Pages

    As Rodya analyzes Luzhin’s character, he realizes that intellect unrestrained by moral purpose is dangerous due to the fact that many shrewd people can look right through that false façade. Luzhin’s false façade of intellect does not fool Rodya or Razumikhin, and although they try to convince Dunya into not marrying Luzhin, she does not listen. Rodya believes that Luzhin’s “moral purpose” is to “marry an honest girl…who has experienced hardship” (36). The only way he is able to get Dunya to agree to marry him, is by acting as if he is a very intellectual person, who is actually not as educated as he says he is. This illustrates the fact that Rodya knows that it is really dangerous because he knows that people can ruin their lives by acting to be someone they are not. Rodya also knows that people will isolate themselves from others just so that no one will find out their true personality. This is illustrated in through the fact that Luzhin tries to avoid Dunya and her mother as much as possible. The way he writes his letter, exemplifies his isolation, for Luzhin does not know how to interact with society. He has no idea how to write letters to his fiancée and his future mother in law. This reflects on Rodya’s second dream because he is unable to get Dunya married off to a nice person. He feels isolated from everyone else because his intellect caused him to sense that Luzhin is not telling the truth about his personality. However, it was due to his lack of moral purpose that Rodya berates his sister’s fiancé. He is unable to control himself, and due to his immoral act of getting drunk, Rodya loses all judgment and therefore goes and belittles Luzhin. Although Rodya’s intellectual mind had taken over and showed him that Luzhin wa...

    Read More

  • Research Paper On Solitary Confinement

    1033 Words  | 3 Pages

    Yet, solitary confinement is still considered necessary in order to maintain control within the prison and among inmates. Solitary confinement is seen as an effective method in protecting specific prisoners and altering violent/aggressive disobedient behaviors, (Maria A. Luise, Solitary Confinement: Legal and Psychological Considerations, 15 New Eng. J. on Crim. & Civ. Confinement 301, 324 (1989) p. 301). There is some discrepancy among researchers as to the varying effects on inmates who have undergone an extensive solitary confinement stay. Most researchers find that inmates who had no previous form of mental illness suffer far less than those who do, yet most if not all of these individuals still experience some difficulties with concentration and memory, agitation, irritability, and will have issues tolerating external stimuli, (Stuart Grassian, Psychiatric Effects of Solitary Confinement, 22 Wash. U. J. L. & Pol’y 325 (2006) p. 332). Although these detrimental psychiatric repercussions of solitary confinement currently appear, several researches have made suggestions as to how these may be avoided. These requirements being that

    Read More

  • Comparing The Corner Residents and Dostoevsky’s Underground Man

    2340 Words  | 5 Pages

    Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote these words around 1864 to describe the mental state of a hyperconscious retired bureaucrat whose excessive analysis and inability to act separate him from the mainstream of the society in which he lived. Dostoevsky's underground man, as he termed his character, is characterized by alienation, spite, and isolation. Dostoevsky presents the life of his character as a testimonial to the possibility of living counter to an individual's own best interests.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Jeremy Gawatta's 'Hellhole'

    1395 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Loneliness is a destroyer of humanity” and “The agony of solitary confinement is like being buried alive”, are only some of the thoughts of inmates placed in solitary confinement. In his article “Hellhole”, Gawande elaborates the disastrous consequences that arose from solitary confinement. Gawande begins his article by stating, “Human beings are social creatures” (1), and to exist in society as a functioning human being, social interaction is fundamental. He further states, “Our identities are socially created” (8), therefore, it is through the relationships that

    Read More

  • Freedom of Thought in Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

    621 Words  | 2 Pages

    Solzhenitsyn believed that it was nearly impossible to have truly free thoughts under the prison camp conditions described in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, or in any situation where there is an authoritarian ruler. In a pris...

    Read More

  • Solitary Confinement: A Cruel and Unusual Punishment

    855 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many people have tried to stop the use of solitary confinement by calling it “Cruel and Unusual Punishment. (Holt vs. Sarver, 1969).” People also say that it is a direct violation of our eighth amendment rights. The definition of cruel and unusual punishment is as follows: “Such punishment as would amount to torture or barbarity, any cruel and degrading punishment not known to the Common Law, or any fine, penalty, confinement, or treatment that is so disproportionate to the offense as to shock the moral sense of the community. (Farflex Inc., 2011).” Studies show that solitary confinement can alter the mental state of a prisoner so far that it is detrimental to his or her health; I see no reason why this cannot be classified as cruel and unusual punishment. In an experiment conducted by the BBC’s Horizon group, they studied the effects ...

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Solitary Confinement In Prisons

    1530 Words  | 4 Pages

    Solitary Confinement is a type of isolation in prison which a prisoner is segregated from the general population of the prison and any human contact besides the prison employees. These prisons are separated from the general population to protect others and themselves from hurting anyone in the prison. These prisoners are deprived of social interaction, treatments, psychologist, family visits, education, job training, work, religious programming and many other services prisoners might need during the sentence of their imprisonment. There are roughly 80,000 prisoners in solitary confinement but 25,000 are in long term and supermax prisons. According to the Constitution, “The Eighth Amendment [...] prohibits the federal government from imposing excessive bail, excessive fines, or cruel and unusual punishment”(US Const. amend. VIII). Solitary confinement is suppose to be the last straw for inmates to be in. If they don 't follow it, they can be on death row. Taxpayers pay roughly $75,000 to $85,000 to keep prisoners in solitary confinement. That is 3 times higher than the normal prisons that taxpayers pay for them to be in prison. Solitary confinement was established in 1829 in Philadelphia for experimentation because officials believed it was a way for

    Read More

  • The Prison System: Solitary Confinement

    1476 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since the early 1800s, the United States has relied on a method of punishment barely known to any other country, solitary confinement (Cole). Despite this method once being thought of as the breakthrough in the prison system, history has proved differently. Solitary confinement was once used in a short period of time to fix a prisoners behavior, but is now used as a long term method that shows to prove absolutely nothing. Spending 22-24 hours a day in a small room containing practically nothing has proved to fix nothing in a person except further insanity. One cannot rid himself of insanity in a room that causes them to go insane. Solitary confinement is a flawed and unnecessary method of punishment that should be prohibited in the prison system.

    Read More

  • Why Confinement Is Solitary Confinement

    707 Words  | 2 Pages

    Solitary Confinement is the isolation of a prisoner in a separate cell as a punishment. Aside from the death penalty, confinement is the most extreme punishment that a prisoner can be sentenced to. Prisoners deserve to maintain their human rights while incarcerated just as much as any ordinary citizen in the United States. Solitary confinement is unconstitutional because it violates the fundamental rights of inmates by physically and socially isolating them, which potentially inflicts severe long-term damage on adolescents.

    Read More

  • Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment

    1270 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky gives the reader an inside look to the value system that he holds for himself, as well as the type of characteristics that he abhors in people as well as the characteristics that he admires in people. He uses characters in the novel to express his beliefs of what a person should be like in life to be a “good'; person. Specifically he uses Raskolnokv to show both good and bad characteristics that he likes in people. Also he uses Svidriglaiov and Luzin to demonstrate the characteristics that people should shun and his personal dislikes in people.

    Read More

  • Essay On Administrative Segregation

    1149 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many have been imprisoned, then subject to the horrors of torture known as solitary confinement or administrative segregation (AS) in the Canadian prison system. No matter the crime, it is a harsh punishment to inflict on any human being. The practice typically involves confining a prisoner to a single cell 23 hours daily with no meaningful human contact. Administrative segregation can last for months to years at a time. It is non-rehabilitative as it has negative effects on human beings causing symptoms of depression and self-harm, cognitive disturbances, and psychosis. Additionally, inmates in AS are more likely than the general population to commit suicide. Punishment through administrative segregation is paradoxical to the Canadian prison

    Read More

  • The Dehumanizing Effects of Solitary Confinement

    1115 Words  | 3 Pages

    By doing things, we learn who we are and we learn our worth as a person. The two things solitary confinement does are make people solitary and idle” (Sifferlin, Alexandra). Isolation and confinement remove prisoners’ ability to perform significant tasks and act as a part of society.

    Read More

  • The Negative Effects Of Solitary Prisonation In Prisons

    1427 Words  | 3 Pages

    Solitary confinement does not help challenging prisoners in the long run. Solitary confinement actually has the potential to cause inmates to lose their ability to control and manage their anger. If an inmate continues to be violent, the result is a longer time in solitary confinement. Solitary confinement is inhumane and should be called torture. Putting and keeping an individual in solitary confinement puts them at a very serious risk of developing a mental illness, which may not be recoverable. Solitary confinement causes many effects that range in severity; it is not something that inmates should be subjected to

    Read More

  • Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment

    2299 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Freedom in Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground

    1805 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground, the Underground Man proposes a radically different conception of free action from that of Kant. While Kant thinks that an agent is not acting freely unless he acts for some reason, the Underground Man seems to take the opposite stance: the only way to be truly autonomous is to reject this notion of freedom, and to affirm one's right to act for no reason. I will argue that the Underground Man's notion of freedom builds on Kant's, in that it requires self-consciousness in decision-making. But he breaks from Kant when he makes the claim that acting for a reason is not enough, and only provides an illusion of freedom. When faced with the two options of deceiving himself about his freedom (like most men) or submitting to ìthe wall,î (a form of determinism), the Underground Man chooses an unlikely third option - a 'retort'. I will conclude this paper by questioning whether this 'retort' succeeds at escaping the system of nature he desperately seeks to avoid.

    Read More

More about Solitary Confinement In Anton Chekhov's The Bet

Open Document