The Bet

“The Bet” is one of over 500 short stories by Russian literary giant Anton Chekov. Published in 1889, the story addresses related and intertwined themes of life and death, theoretical versus empirical knowledge, and confinement versus freedom.

Considered a master of short fiction and, along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, a founder of Modernist theater, Chekov is one of the late-19th-century writers who have reached 21st-century readers and audiences most powerfully and widely. “The Bet” is a complex moral tale that follows a banker and a lawyer who enter a bet to prove their beliefs about which is worse, life in prison or the death penalty. Chekov’s unnamed characters embark on a wager in which they each stand to lose a great deal.

This guide refers to 52 Short-Stories: 1883-1898, a collection of Chekhov’s works translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (Knopf, 2020).

The story opens with an old banker recalling a bet he made with a young lawyer almost 15 years earlier. At a party the banker hosted, he and other men discussed whether life in prison or capital punishment is more moral and humane. The guests found capital punishment outdated and immoral, whereas the banker thought it is morally preferable because it is quick.