The Theme Of Characterism In The Bet By Anton Chekhov

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

In the novel “Crime and Punishment”, the author, Fyodor Dostoevsky gives the reader a glimpse into the mind of a tormented criminal, by his guilt of a murder. Dostoevsky’s main focal point of the novel doesn’t lie within the crime nor the punishment but within the self-conflicting battle of a man and his guilty conscience. The author portrays tone by mood manipulation and with the use of descriptive diction to better express his perspective in the story, bringing the reader into the mind of the murderer.

The lawyer was depicted by Chekhov as a dynamic character who once allowed greed to dominate his life, despite its obvious destructive tendency. He changed his ways as he experienced the repercussions of greed. “If you mean that seriously,” the lawyer replied, “then I bet I could stay locked up for fifteen years, not five” (960). This use of dialogue showed that the lawyer was willing to give up his youth for money because he thought it was more important. His greed resulted in the waste of his prime years in solitary confinement all for money. The author conveyed through the dialogue between the two characters that the lawyer was just as greedy as the banker; he showed this when the lawyer upped the ante as a response to the banker’s proposition. After years of being locked up all because of a wager the lawyer realized how idiotic he had been. “To show in actual practice how much I despise what you live by, I renounce the two million I once dreamed of, as though of paradise, but for which I feel only contempt now. To forfeit my right to them I shall leave this place five hours before the stipulated time and thus break the agreement” (964).Through the author’s use of characterization and through the thoughts of the lawyer the reader saw how the lawyer changed his entire

Richard Connell creates suspense by emphasizing life-or-death decisions. Therefore it gives his character's life and his readers a sense of urgency. Under these same pretenses he creates a large amount of foreshadowing in his story "The Most Dangerous Game" eluding his character's past to approach their future.

Villains are the characters in stories that act as a source of conflict for the main character. Villains are important to the story, creating many challenges for the protagonists. There are many examples of villains throughout literature, and a very clear example of a villain is in The Most Dangerous Game. In The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell, the character General Zaroff is presented as an evil person with malicious intent. Zaroff is a villain because he is deceptive and selfish. The nature of Zaroff’s villainy allows the reader to understand the theme of the hunter and the hunted in the work.

There are many factors that can create a theme in a short story. Most of the factors are the elements of fiction, which include plot, setting, characters, symbolism, conflict, and point of view. The two stories that will be compared in this essay are “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Story of the Hour” by Kate Chopin. The elements that especially contribute to creating a theme for these short stories are the characters, point of view, and plot.

Richard Connell, in his short story “The Most Dangerous Game” shows that people can change depending on the situation, especially in a life or death situation. Connell shows this through his use of foreshadowing, setting and symbolism.

While reading The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell, there were many ways that the author uses suspense to keep the reader interested and wanting to continue reading. When the author is using these methods of suspense, the reader could be put in many different expressions such as being angry or confused because of a sentence. In The Most Dangerous Game, the two main forms of suspense that the author used made me as a reader feel both confused and interested. My goal in this text is to introduce to you the two forms of suspense that I found most compelling in the story and why they were so effective while I was reading.

There are many ways that a reader can be prepared for the ending of a story, “The Lottery” and “A Rose for Emily” are two very grueling short stories with a long suspense and a similar plot. The narrator’s stance in “A Rose for Emily” was first-person observer, which is defined as a single character point of view in which the narrator was is not involved with the story and the narrator’s stance in “The Lottery” was third-person anonymous which is involves a narrator that does not enter any minds. Both stances conceal the endings and both the stories use imagery and foreshadowing to prepare the reader for the

Plot, theme, and suspense are three elements that stand out in this short story. They each come together to unfold a thrilling, yet meaningful tale. Among this elements, the theme is the component that primarily affects this account. The author, Richard Connell, proposes strength and skill, the effects of war, the loss of civilization, and that pride may lead to an inept consequences are crucial themes of this story.

Short stories usually convey a theme message, a statement which motivates the reader to be a more moral person. In order for the reader to understand this life lesson, authors implant different literary devices such as foreshadowing and conflict into their text. Foreshadowing is the use of clues to suggest events that may occur later in the story, and conflict is when there is a struggle between two opposing forces. In “Charles” by Shirley Jackson and “The Fun They Had” by Isaac Asimov, the authors use foreshadowing and conflict to enhance the story's ultimate meaning.

Not only is money a symbol in the short story, but so is the knowledge that books provide the

“Nothing has ever been more insupportable for a man and a human society than freedom.” –The Grand Inquisitor” “Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.” - Father Zosima. These two quotes voice the polarized philosophies that impregnate the book, The Brothers Karamazov. Ivan, the second of the three sons, and Zosima, the old monk, are huge commentators on the question, “Is the burden of free will to much for a human to bear?”

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

The short story is a concise form of narrative prose that is usually simpler and more direct compared to longer works of fiction such as novels. Therefore, because of their short length, short stories rely on many forms of literary devices to convey the idea of a uniform theme seen throughout the script. This theme is illustrated by using characteristics that are developed throughout the story such as, plot, setting and characters. The three main components are developed throughout the story in order to guide the reader to the underlying theme, which is necessary as a short story lacking a theme also lacks meaning or purpose.