Literary Devices in The Bet by Anton Chekhov Essay Example

In today's day and age we commonly make bets with our friends; maybe about who can run faster or get a better grade on a test. Uncommonly, in The Bet, a short story by Anton Chekov, Chekov establishes which punishment is worse: capital punishment or life imprisonment. To achieve this, the main characters of the story, the banker and the lawyer, set up a bet. Chekov uses literary devices to establish multiple themes as well as connect this story to the gender, class, and power unit. 

Chekov paints multiple pictures for the reader with his use of literary devices. For instance, in the resolution  the banker reads the lawyer's letters and the author states, “He read as though he were swimming in the sea among broken pieces of wreckage, and in his desire to save his life was eagerly grasping one piece after another.”  This use of imagery and figurative language allows the reader to deeply understand and feel for the lawyer. Since the story takes place 15 years in the past and present time, when the story flashes back to the gathering where the bet occurred not much is told about the lawyer. As the reader you can base your opinion of the lawyer off of his choice to escape 14 years and 364 days before he completed his 15 years in solitary confinement. This leads to the question of why? Why did the lawyer choose to give up the 2 million? His naive decisions from the past do not relate with how he felt after 15 years. The lawyer's initial statement was that, “to live anyhow is better than not at all.” He felt like he had nothing to lose by accepting this bet but it made him realize life cannot be lived without the company of others. His greediness and stubbornness was ironic considering he did not want the money in the end. This leads to the theme that greed can corrupt man. As well as, the value of human life. 

Gender, class, and power play a huge role in this story and are shown through the themes and characters. The bet itself was to prove how immoral the death penalty was and how confinement was more equitable. The misunderstanding of the power of money and the power money gives only lead to the banker and lawyers' own downfall due to their selfishness. The banker was planning on killing a man solely because he was naive and in over his head. While the lawyer went “insane” during his confinement. Ultimately, the lawyer realizes that life is not all about money. The reader can only assume the fate of the characters due to the way the author chose to end the story without explaining their lives after the bet. 

In this narrative, literary devices such as figurative language and imagery are used to elucidate the plot. As well as the theme that teaches strong and predominant lessons making the story able to exemplify power relating to our current unit. The Bet shows that despite what an outsider would assume capital punishment could be more preferable than life imprisonment. As for the banker and the lawyer, it took the bet for them to realize what things make life worth living.