The Bet By Anton Chekhov

In life, people are guided by moral beliefs and principles. Whether their beliefs are good or bad, their decisions are based on them. In Plato “The Crito”, Socrates emphasizes his moral beliefs and principles when he decides not to escape from prison. Although Socrates had the opportunity to escape his death sentence, he chose not to do so because he had a moral obligation to commit a sacrifice.

Crito argues that Socrates should escape jail, and relies on the premises that he must consider the opinion of the public and that Socrates is betraying his children. Crito believes that Socrates is being foolish by remaining in jail and not escaping when given the opportunity. To support this argument, Crito presents two premises. The first of which claims that Socrates

Viktor E. Frankl, an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who also had survived the Holocaust, writes “When we are no longer able to change a situation – we are challenged to change ourselves” (BrainyQuote). Frankl survived genocide against his own people and still chose to have a positive outlook on it because he understands that if he did not, he would continually live an unhappy, upset life. Like Frankl, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, the main character in One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, contains a similar outlook to that of Frankl. The novel takes place during Soviet Russia in a gulag in Siberia, or otherwise known as a labor work camp. The whole book is about only one day that Shukhov lives; from 5 in the morning to 10 at night and all that happens in between. In this labor camp, not only are the weather conditions very cold, making it difficult to work in such circumstances, but also the workers are punished and harshly treated if they do not obey the guards. When placed in this environment, it is easy to be discouraged and miserable, but instead of facing the negatives of his situation, Shukhov remains affirmative in his thoughts – which are most important in order to survive not only physically, but also mentally. This stoicism portrayed in the narrative can also be found in Epictetus’s work, The Handbook. In this text, Epictetus discusses how he believes people can live a happy life, despite the hard conditions they are put through

In order to give a little hindsight, I will discuss the dialogues between Socrates and Crito in Plato’s “The Crito”; the scene beings with Crito waking up Socrates’ in his jail cell and questioning how he seemed so calm and peaceful when the time for his execution was approaching at a rapid pace. Socrates, as calm as ever, replies that he is willing to die if it is the will of God. Crito begins to try to convince Socrates to escape from his cell by using different reasoning’s. Crito explains that if he rejected the idea of escaping and was executed, he would lose a loving and loyal friend and he would have to live with the fault of failing to save his life. On a more ethical level, Crito present more compelling cases: firstly, if he had stayed, he would helping his enemies in wronging him unjustly, and would then be acting unjustly himself; and second, that he

Though Anton Chekhov's "The Bet" was written in a different country at a different time, it portrays a timeless theme; greed is a crippling trait of mankind. This message can be seen through the author's use of characterization of both the lawyer and the banker. The banker was a static character; he was greedy from start to finish. The lawyer was a dynamic character and he saw the wrong in his ways and changed them in the end.

In Plato’s Crito Socrates argues that it would be wrong for him to escape from prison. Speaking to his friend Cirto, Socrates explains that escaping from prison would go against many of his beliefs. Socrates believes in seeking the truth, not repaying a wrong with another wrong, and obeying the laws of the state. He also states that escaping from prison would ruin his reputation and is in best interest for everyone. Crito brings up many arguments to Socrates trying to convince him to escape. Crito tries to appeal to Socrates in many different ways and bombards him with many arguments. Every argument that Crito brings up to Socrates, he answers with carful thinking and analysis. Crito appeals to Socrates emotions by stating that his friends and family will be lost without him. He

Crito and agreement with two guards to help Socrates escape his execution and live in exile, but Socrates refuses to escape. Crito believes that he would be committing two evil he he let Socrates die; “For if you die I might have saved you if I bad been willing to give money, but that I did not care. Now, can there be a worse disgrace than this- that i should be taught to value money more than the life of a friend?” (44) One must value life over money and life over death. Crito continues to try and convince his friend that escaping is the right thing to do. Crito argues that if Socrates is to stay he would be committing an injustice for he is wrongfully sentenced. “Socrates in betraying your own life when you might be saved; this is playing into the hands of you enemies and destroyers; and moreover I should say that you were betraying your children for you might bring them up and educate them.” (45) One must value his family his friends and his children. As Crito stated Socrates choosing to not escape as is an act of him abandoning his wife and children and he should be ashamed. One must also value and obey the law of Athens, this would be one of Socrates arguments of why he would not escape his

On a more ethical level, Crito presents two reasons for why Socrates should escape prison. Crito thinks that it is not just for Socrates to give up his life when he can save it. If he stayed, he would be aiding his enemies in wronging him unjustly, and would thus be acting unjustly himself. Secondly, accepting death means that Socrates is showing no concerns for his family’s fate, and by escaping, he could live in exile and raise and educate his sons. Those reasons are what made Crito believe that Socrates should not give up his life and should escape and live in

A man facing an unjust execution is presented with another option: escape from prison and flee to another providence. Most men would eagerly take this chance to prolong their lives and continue their journey on earth. Most men would do anything to get revenge for the wrong that has been done to them. However, most men are not like Socrates. Socrates did not plead his case by eliciting pity from the jury for an old man and his poor family. He did not beg for a different sentence that would allow him to live. Instead, he let the jury come to its own conclusion while acting with virtue and integrity. He held fast to his principles by remaining in prison to face his execution because that is how a good and just person would behave. Socrates’ decision not to escape in Crito is consistent with his principle that the good and just person never does harm to a large extent because accepting his verdict allows him to reinforce the sanctity of law and to set a prime example for his peers.

In this paper, I will show why Socrates’ arguments on choosing to stay in prison is better than Crito’s argument. As an inexperienced reader in philosophy, I believe it would be difficult for a reader to choose a side. This is because both sides of their arguments can be easily refuted. Thus, the question to be answered is: Whose argument is more effective? Socrates’ arguments yield to specific scenarios that shows how his action could harm the state of Athens and his future life whereas Crito’s arguments are narrower and geared more to himself. Hence, after meticulous analysis, Socrates made the right decision by staying in prison and not letting Crito convincing him to commit an unjust action.

Even though Crito knows that Socrates does not like making decisions like these, he makes a good argument to persuade him to break out. Crito believes that his friend is just giving up, not seeing what the future could hold if he did escape. He even tells him that Thrace will welcome him in and there are people there willing to help him. Crito tells Socrates that he can use his money at will and if he didn’t want to use his money, he could use his friends. Because of Crito’s wealth, it would be easy for Socrates to escape and have a good life after he would escape. Crito thinks that Socrates isn’t thinking straight because he is so devastated that he was put in prison. The “laws of Athens” says that you should stay in jail because____________. Socrates declines his plan to get out because he thinks it is just to stay in jail and suffer the punishments for his controversial crime that put him in

Crito argues that Socrates should escape and go to a well-prepared place for him in exile but he seems more focused to face his execution. Crito argues that by staying in prison, Socrates will be increasing his enemies who are judging him falsely and he will also be leaving behind his family without a father. Socrates opinion is that one should not be worried about the opinion of the people but give more attention to the wisdom and advice of the experts. Therefore, Socrates seeks to find the justification of having to escape from prison and settles with the position that if it will be just then he would go with Crito, but if the case cannot be justified then he will have to remain in prison and face the imminent

Nevertheless, these considerations are serious ones. Socrates himself was entirely convinced that the arguments hold, so he concluded that it would be wrong for him to escape from prison. As always, of course, his actions conformed to the outcome of his reasoning. Socrates chose to honor his commitment to truth and morality even though it cost him his

In Plato’s works Apology and Crito there is an attempt by Socrates to defend himself in court and defend his choice to receive the death penalty when found guilty. Although he makes very valid and strong arguments throughout one can only wonder why such a wise person would choose death over life. The following essay will analyze three quotes from Apology and Crito, find the correlation between them, and reveal any flaws that may exsist inside these arguments made by Socrates.

As Socrates awaits his upcoming execution; he is visited before dawn by a close old friend Crito. Crito has made arrangements to help Socrates escape from prison. Socrates is grateful to his old friend for his willing to help aide him in the escape. However, Socrates is quite willing to await his execution. Crito tries to change Socrates mind about escaping by presenting him with several arguments. The first is that if Socrates choices to stay, his death will reflect poorly on Crito. The people will think that Crito did nothing to save his friend. If Socrates is worried about the risk or the financial cost to Crito; it’s an expense that he is willing to pay, and that he made arrangements for Socrates to live a life of exile in a pleasant