In "The Bet," the story discusses a situation that occurred between a banker and a man who make a bet based on capital punishment, but ends with a twist that turns the story completely around. This story, written by Anton Chekhov, begins with a group of men standing and talking at a party and they converse over the topic of capital punishment. The younger man explains that between the death penalty and imprisonment for life, he would choose the second one. The banker makes a bet on the man's option that he would be imprisoned for 15 years in exchange for two million dollars. The only rule that applies is that he cannot leave a minute early from his imprisonment or he will not win the money. The young man accepts and goes to imprisonment for …show more content…
Meanwhile, over the course of these several years, the banker has blown all of his money and is on the verge of bankruptcy from gambling on the stock market. It is almost time for the lawyer to be released, and once he pays the lawyer, he will be ruined. The banker creates an "escape plan" to keep the money by planning to kill the lawyer. The banker walks into the cell where the lawyer was kept, and sees he now looks like a skeleton. The lawyer tells the banker he now despises the money and wants nothing more than to leave, for he will leave five hours earlier than allotted to win the bet. The lawyer has terminated his eligibility to win the two million dollars, so the banker gets to keep his wealth of two million …show more content…
In both stories, the plots are driven forward with absolutely no concern for emotions in the reader to occur. In "The Bet,' the banker is looking to kill the lawyer to keep his money, and the author only describes the figure trapped in the cell as a skeleton. In "A Respectable Woman," Mrs. Baroda is listening to Mr. Gouvernail talk for hours and the author gives a very faint description of how she feels, as if she wants to kiss him. Both stories are also similar in diction. In both stories, there are almost no adjectives or adverbs used throughout both stories, making the stories both dry and uninteresting. Even in the most interesting parts of the stories, almost no emotion was shown or described. In terms of the reader's reaction, they are very similar. In "The Bet," the reader would be very shocked to find a twist in the story that describes in the end the lawyer had gone through all that time just to leave five hours earlier to receive no money. In "A Respectable Woman," the reader is shocked to find that Mrs. Baroda had changed her mind about Mr. Gouvernail returning next summer. The possibilities are endless as to what she might encounter the next summer, as she almost kissed him the night
Dostoevsky first presents Smerdyakov, in The Brothers Karamazov, in Book 3 of Part 1. The author divulges details of the conception of the fourth son of Fyodor Pavovich Karamazov. Late on a September evening, a drunk Fyodor, by modern standards, "rapes" a homeless woman. Stinking Lizaveta, the victim of Fyodor's violence, was a legend in the town. Regardless of her unattractive and dirty appearance, her poverty, and homelessness, the townspeople regarded her with sympathy and compassion. Fyodor, on the other hand, treated Lizaveta as an insubordinate who was undeserving of even an ounce of respect. He and his friends mock her. He, then, rapes her. And, as if these actions are not cruel and offensive enough, he vehemently denies any of it happening. Later, when Lizaveta gives birth to Fyodor's illegitimate son, it is Grigory and Marfa who take the boy in, baptize him, and decide to raise the child. The townspeople mistakenly credit Fyodor for taking the dead woman's child into his house. All of these disturbing actions on the part of Fyodor are cause for his punishment.
The Brothers Karamazov - Thriller The Brothers Karamazov is an enthralling thriller about the struggle for self-redemption in the eyes of God as well as in the hearts of the Russians. The murder of Fyodor Karamazov, a foolish and heartless savage who betrays his own sons of a father's care, venomously seeps its way into Dmitri, Ivan, and Alyosha's lives causing innocence to request fault and suffering. With intricate characterizations, Dostoevsky magnificently presents the internal agony that derives from a wavering spirit. The religious teachings of the great elder Father Zosima engross the minds of the spiritually inadequate throughout the novel. Dostoevsky essentially carries these guidelines to peaceful immortality by means of the character Alyosha.
Chekhov himself, a renowned actor, used the technique in blockbusters such as Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Spellbound’. The ‘psyco-physical’ approach innovated by Chekhov has been used by many actors such as the Marilyn Monroe, Clint Eastwood, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt, and Jack Nicholson (Backstage.com). Actors such as Jack Nicholson, while accepting his Golden Globe Award in 1999 and Anthony Hopkins, during an interview have both admired Chekhov’s psychological Gesture. Currently, the Chekhov technique has started gaining popularity as many actors seem to be interested in approaching Chekhov’s psycho-physical
Writers may use different techniques to get the same effect out of the audience. In the short story, "Old Mother Savage" by Guy Du Maupassant, a tragic story of a woman who losses everything is told. The story is scary in that it has an ending that one would not expect. Also, it can be looked at as a sad story because the mother seems to be sad throughout the entire story. At the end the only thing that she has to be satisfied about is that her murdering four young men can make other women feel how she felt when she found out about the death of her son. This story can be compared to Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart", when you talk about the strategies that both authors use to make the audience frightened. They both describe scenes in full detail to give the effect of disgust. However, Du Maupassant, makes the audience feel sorry for the mother in this story turning it into a tragedy instead of horror.
Both stories deal with a young girl who, with the help of a little magic, is able to find her prince and live happily ever after. Needless to say on of these versions is much darker than the other, but the story sends an overall good message.
In the beginning of both of the pieces of literature, the main character(s) have not had the experience that will shape their values yet. Rather, as time moves forward in the stories, the
Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavsky, more commonly known in English transliteration as Constantin Stanislavski was a Russian actor and director. He developed the naturalistic acting technique known as the "Stanislavsky method". He was born under the name Konstantin Sergeyevich Alekseyev in Moscow, Russia, in January 1863. He was born into one of the richest Russian families the Alexeyevs. They made their fortune with their factories creating gold and silver braiding for military decorations and uniforms. Stanislavsky was his adopted pseudonym, which he gave himself in 1885, as he had to hide his acting activities away from his family. The idea of becoming an actor was unthinkable for someone of his social status. Therefore, he had to perform
on the fashions of the day, and makes it a point to interject his own
In ‘Paul’s Case’ Paul has created a fantasy world in which he becomes entranced, even to the point of lying to classmates about the tales of grandeur and close friendships that he had made with the members of the stock company. This fantasy falls apart around him as “the principle went to Paul’s father, and Paul was taken out of school and put to work. The manager at Carnegie Hall was told to get another usher in his stead; the doorkeeper at the theater was warned not to admit him to the house” (Cather 8). The fantasy fell apart further when the stories he had told his classmates reached the ears of the women of the stock company, who unlike their lavish descriptions from Paul were actually hardworking women supporting their families. Unable to cope with the reality of working for Denny & Carson, he stole the money he was supposed to deposit in the bank to live the life of luxury in New York. Only a person who felt backed into a corner would attempt something so unsound. After his eight days in paradise, he is again backed into a corner by the reality of his middle class upbringing, and the dwindling time he has before his father reaches New York to find him. The final way out for Paul is his suicide, for which an explanation would be “In the end, he fails to find his security, for it was his grandiose “picture making mechanism” that made his life so deardful.” (Saari). With all the securities of his fantasy life finally gone, his mental instability fully comes to light as he jumps in front of the train to end his
In both of these stories there are certain characteristics of females that are the same, they are inner strength, obedience, honor and respect, the good of the family is better than the good of the individual.
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...
When Anton Chekhov’s play The Seagull premiered at the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on October 17, 1896, critics condemned it as disastrous. However, a production mounted by the Moscow Art Theatre two years later, led to the acclaimed revival of The Seagull as well as the establishment of Chekhov as an accomplished playwright (Bristow, 1977). It is the goal of this essay to discuss the different techniques that Chekhov used in The Seagull, in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the play; specifically focussing on the structure of the play and lastly, the representation of characters and their actions.
There is no better observation of human behavior combining both comedy and tragedy than a person of winning (or almost winning) a lottery. Money gained by chance does not seem to mesh well with human nature. In Chekov’s The Lottery Ticket the situation with Ivan and his wife is no exception.
Murder. Money. Deception. The banker and Sasha are dubious, fueled by money. They would do anything for money, including murder and lying. Sasha and the banker are both dubious; however, Sasha has the greater impact on the narrative because Sasha altered the ending as well as shaping the central conflict.
The story “The Darling” by Anton Chekhov, illustrates a woman that is lonely, insecure, and lacking wholeness of oneself without a man in her life. This woman, Olenka, nicknamed “Darling” is compassionate, gentle and sentimental. Olenka is portrayed for being conventional, a woman who is reliant, diligent, and idea less. Although, this story portrays that this woman, known as the Darling needs some sort of male to be emotionally dependant upon, it is as if she is a black widow, she is able to win affection, but without respect. Only able to find happiness through the refection of the beliefs of her lovers, she never evolves within the story.