Anton Chekhov's The Bet Essay

In both stories, after the characters are introduced, one begins to see situational changes within the characters. Bartleby, who once was a skillful, efficient worker and a valuable asset to the lawyer, has now ceased working and his superficial façade is none changing. He presents his employer with a constant and passive answer of “I would prefer not to” to all request and inquiries presented by the lawyer. He unwilling leaves the premises of his job and the lawyer try to put up with him but he finds his annoyance of Bartleby’s actions unbearable. Such as when he found that Bartleby was staying the office after all others had gone home and refusal to do any work and take any money from the lawyer and leave. Even the lawyer seems to be walled in by Bartleby and Bartleby’s

Although Chekhov emphasized in the beginning of the text that money holds power as shown by Anna and Modest Alexeich’s relationship, Chekhov shifts the power dynamic by introducing Anna’s beauty and sense of empowerment and now Anna has a new sense of awareness and power. Following the ball, His Excellency “[thanks Anna] for her part in the bazaar” and asked her permission to come again (283). After establishing herself and her influence at the ball, His Excellency’s visit to Anna truly places emphasis on her role at the ball. Having one of the highest member of society personally visit and thank Anna gave her the highest sense of empowerment as this moment proves to be significant. Most notably when her husband looks at her with the “cringingly respectful expression that she was accustomed to see on his face in the presence of the illustrious and the powerful,” and she confidently and clearly articulated the following statement, “Get out, you blockhead!” (283). Compared to the confined and powerless young lady Chekhov presented in the beginning of the plot,

Anton Chekhov’s short story, “At Home,” provides a representation on how societies view morality when faced with the action of discipline. This view is imperative to the story because Chekhov wants the reader to recognize the futile ways societies determine what is morally correct or incorrect, by implementing consequences without considering why an action must be punished. Evgeni Bykovski, an attorney, is faced with this exact problem as he determines how to properly teach and discipline his son, Seriozha, who has been caught stealing, smoking, and lying. Nevertheless, Evgeni finds himself at his most difficult trial because as he ponders how to punish his son, he encounters his own set of crossroads on how societies discipline

A. “‘Tommy, you’re a good little man, but you can’t gamble worth a cent. Don’t try it over again.’ He then handed him his money back, pushed him gently from the room, and so made a devoted slave of Tom Simson” (Harte 77).

In Bartleby, The Scrivener, Bartleby serves as the main character with his distinct nature that everyone is trying to decipher. Despite the attention around Bartleby, much of the story also revolves around the narrator, the lawyer, who tells the story through his perspective; this implies that the lawyer’s ideology and perception of societal norms shape the interactions between the lawyer and Bartleby but also how the story is told. Take for example, if the lawyer disregards Bartleby and fires him on the spot, this story would have ended rather quickly and been much different than it actually is. With this said, the lawyer’s peculiar attraction to Bartleby’s strange behavior can be explained by the lawyer’s innate ideas of social norms and instruction that stems from the behavior of the other scriveners and his own experiences.

Discuss the above quote with reference to your experiences of preparing to direct/design a Chekhov play.

The banker, next, suffered fairly severe Financial consequences if the lawyer did 15 years in solitary confinement. “ He will take my last penny from me” (Chekhov, 3). When the banker promised last 2 million he was a multi-millionaire but during the 15 years, he lost almost all of it. When they lawyer got out of solitary confinement, also, they thought he was crazy. The lawyer suffers not only mental consequences but also physical consequences. “ He was a skeleton with skin drawn over his bones . . . “ (Chekov 54). The lawyer's mental consequences made his physical consequences worse. Clearly, the lawyer made a worse decision that led to horrendous consequences. Although one may be able to regain their wealth, one cannot regain their sanity.

The characters in The Bet made decisions that caused them changes in standing and mentality. The transformations in the characters were obvious and used as a standing point for the plot of the story. A bet changed these men in more than just age and standing creating a foundation that hadn’t been.

His vision consisted of an official persuading captives to admit that they owned foreign currency and to reveal whether their loved ones were committing illegal acts. The man took advantage of the fears that the citizens had of the government to convince others to admit their wrongdoings and face punishment. He said “You’ve been sitting here for more than a month now, and yet you still refuse to hand over the rest of your foreign currency; now, when your country is in need of it, and it’s of absolutely no use to you, you still refuse to comply. You’re an intelligent fellow, and understand all of this perfectly, and yet you still don’t want to meet me halfway.” The dream that Ivanovich had represented the omniscience of the government in its citizens’ affairs and how it used manipulation as a means to advance its agenda. The oppressive regime of the Soviet Union created an encompassing feeling of paranoia that made friends and loved ones betray each other in an effort to avoid

People seem to think that the death penalty is the easy way out of a punishment from the government, but they do not think about all the negative outcomes and effects of being sentenced to life in prison. Most people seem to think getting the death penalty is just simply cruel and unusual punishment, but being stuck in a cell room twenty-four hours a day is not cruel or unusual? Life in prison takes the life out of the convict; most even commit suicide in prison because they no longer have anything to live for. From the story “The Bet” written by Anton Chekhov, he uses the lawyer’s behavior after fifteen years in solitary confinement to show how life in prison could be worse than the death penalty.

He struggles with moralizing over this but knows a change in his fortunes can be had from successful gambling, "I had long ago made up my mind, that never should I depart from Roulettenberg until some radical change had taken place in my fortunes...why is gambling a whit worse than any other method of acquiring money?  How, for instance, is it worse than trade?  True, out of a hundred persons, only once can win; yet what business is that of yours or mine?" (Dostoyevsky 8).

The Cherry Orchard is Russian playwright Anton Chekhov 's last play. It premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre 17 January 1904 in a production directed by Constantin Stanislavski. Chekhov intended this play as a comedy and it does contain some elements of farce; however, Stanislavski insisted on directing the play as a tragedy. Since this initial production, directors have had to contend with the dual nature of this play.

In Anton Chekhov 's “The Lottery Ticket”, we are presented with a couple who, half-believing they have won the lottery, give themselves over to daydreaming what the future may hold with their winnings. The point of view is that of the husband though it is clear, throughout, that his thoughts find their echo in his wife 's. At first his thoughts are pleasant but then, as he takes into account the differences, (some of them supposed), between himself and his wife, knowing the winnings would be his wife 's and not his own, he sees trouble ahead, and becomes resentful of her. Only then does he check the final number to find that they have not won after all, at which point the reality of their relatively impoverished situation takes hold and life, once again, appears gloomy and mundane. In Tillie Olsen 's “I Stand Here Ironing”, a mother meditates upon the history of her now-troubled teenage daughter, a daughter she feels she can do little to help. Her daughter 's temperament clearly arises from a troubled childhood. Abandoned by her father, with competition from other siblings, raised in an impoverished environment, there is little wonder as we read Olsen 's description that the daughter should have turned into a troubled young woman. Her mother in her meditations, however, has clearly felt hopeless throughout. She feels she can do nothing for her daughter now as she has been able to do little for her in the past. She ends her

In Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, Lyubov Ranevsky loses her estate because she is unwilling to resort to commercializing it and renting it out. Ranevsky tells Peter Trofimov, “You see where the truth is, and where untruth is, but I seem to have lost my sight and see nothing… because you’re young, because you haven’t had time to suffer… You boldly look forward, isn 't it because you cannot foresee or expect anything terrible, because so far life has been hidden from your young eyes?” (167). However, in the play, Chekhov attributes the nobility’s blindness to the romantic, superficial aspects of their lives as members of the upper class. They hold on to their memories of the old social order, refusing to accept the inevitable reality that the Cherry Orchard must be sold.

In high school I read a short story called The Bet by Anton Chekhov. The story was about a young lawyer who made a bet with a banker that imprisonment for fifteen years was better than the death penalty. Like Socrates in Plato’s Crito the lawyer was trying to challenge society’s beliefs. While in confinement the lawyer read many books, whose subjects ranged from languages to philosophy. After fifteen years of solitary confinement the lawyer rejects his prize money and defaults on the bet, hours before winning. I wonder if the man had read the Crito. We can reason that Socrates’ could have inspired the man to decide to pick the more brash choice to try and teach his accusers a lesson. The man may have decided to default on the bet when he was so close to winning because he wished to make the lesson the banker learned more memorable and infinite. In the Crito even though Socrates thinks himself to be innocent of the charges brought against him he still refuses to escape prison when presented with the opportunity. This helps him teach his final lesson about the principles he believes are worth dying for. His principles are that the opinion of the many is unimportant, his life is not worth living with a corrupt soul, life is not as important as living justly, the only consideration to take into account is justice, and acting unjustly is always bad and shameful. Even though Socrates and the polis or laws arrive at the same conclusion that Socrates should not escape prison, the