In the short story The Bet by Anton Chekhow,a lawyer that we later know as the "prisoner" and a banker agree to a two million dollar bet in which the lawyer would spend fifteen years in solitary confinement. Basically the bet was based on the death penalty or life imprisonment, the lawyer choosing life imprisonment over death. Neither the banker or the lawyer had not won the bet beacause they both broken rules by having human contact, writing letters, and also leaving minutes early.
The banker had broken a rule when going to see the lawyer. He wasn't supposed to have any type of human contact.The banker was almost bankrupt from gambling on the stock market. He knew if he would have to pay the lawyer for winning the bet he would loose everything. His only way out of the bet was to kill the lawyer he thought. He had went to the cell and noticed the man was looking like a skeleton. The banker had found a note on the table that the lawyer had written. The note had talked about the knowledge he had gained over all fifteen years of reading many books and such. The note also stated that at twelve o'clock the next day he would have freedom for the first time in fifteen years. After reading the note the banker had kissed the lawyer on the head. While kissing him on the head he never once thought he would be breaking a rule. The rule he had just broken being that he had made human contact.
During the story the lawyer had also broken a rule. The lawyer and banker both had limits. They knew what they were allowed to do and not allowed to do, but somehow they both managed to break the rules. The lawyer was allowed to have books, wine, instruments, tobacco, writing utensils, and food. The lawyer wasn't allowed any human contact or incoming communication and he was not able to leave the cell. Basically he was not allowed to have anything to do with the outside world. He had written letters in different languages which would be having contact, even if it was in a different language it was some kind of contact.
The lawyer leaving his cell was another rule that was broken during the story. The note had said twelve o'clock was the time to leave so therefore the time agreed to leave was at twelve o'clock, no earlier. The lawyer had left five minutes early. Five minutes not thinking it would make a difference but in the story that five minutes had caused the lawyer to lose all the money. This could be a good thing on the banker's part since the banker would have been in debt causing him to be ruined. The banker could have lost everything he had if the lawyer would have waited that five minutes instead of leaving.
In conclusion no one won the bet at the end of the story beacause it was noticable that rules were made but violated by both the banker and lawyer. The rules broken being not having any human contact, writing letters, and leaving earlier then twelve o'clock. The banker had human contact and the lawyer wrote letters and left the cell early.
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