The Bet

Throughout the years the short story has been used for numerous reasons. Whether it be passing down culture from generation to generation, or simply the task of trying to teach a lesson, the short story rarely falls short. The Bet is no exception. It shows a number of things, the development of a character, the change over time, a spiritual lesson and a lesson that could be useful to anyone. Some of these things writers take volumes to achieve, but Chekhov manages to do them in just a few short pages.
First you could look at the character of the lawyer, who starts out young and impatient, yet by the end he has turned wise and more patient than a monk. You see this in his progression throughout the story. At the beginning he is willing to give up the best fifteen years of his life for a mere two million. During these fifteen years he manages to keep himself occupied doing various things such as learning the piano, learning languages, taking a spiritual journey with the Old Testament, reading a multitude books and just becoming a very learned person in general. At the end of all these things he comes to a realization of sorts, that now that he has gone through the fifteen years he realizes that he does not want the money and is simply satisfied that his point was proven. The lawyer is a very dynamic character and Chekhov does wonders with hime. Turning him from the young, greedy, worldly, impatient man, and turning him into what could almost be called a sagely old man, where he now is very transcendent, and does not want any sort of worldly effects, and simply wants to see the world through his new perspective.
The evolution of this character essentially sets up the entire “lesson” that is to be learned with this short story. It ...

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...here is the clique that to achieve this one must go on a “journey” that is often very isolated. The theme of materialism vs. intellectualism is the main reason for this story. It shows throughout the story and as it advances so does the theme with the characters. And as the story progresses it becomes more and more prominent as the main theme of the story. Chekhov also develops it very well in the lawyer as the main perpetrator for this theme. With the lawyer being intellectualism then the banker is the materialism. It shows that materialism is supposed to be the “bad” by having the banker attempt to murder the lawyer over “material” items.
All in all The Bet is a very useful and effective short story. It is shown in every aspect that Chekhov put into the story. From beginning to end The Bet shows that the short story is able to be a viable style of writing .