1. “The Bet” Introduction
Opening Journal: Does money make the world go ‘round? Explain.

2. What things would you do to become a millionaire?
In an internet poll, 1200 people (about the size of BHS) were asked the questions below. Here are the results…
What things would you do to become a millionaire?
YES
Have a limb amputated
Never see your family again
Give up television for life
Move to another country for good
Have a tattoo put on your forehead
Swim in a tank with a shark
Give up the chance to have kids
Marry someone who weighs 700 pounds
Have a pet put to sleep
Change religions
Lay in a box of scorpions
Have all of your teeth pulled out
Spend five years on a deserted island
Have your tongue removed
Burn your country’s flag
Eat meat containing bacteria

3. What things would you do to become a millionaire?
Reflection: How do your results match up with your partner’s and the internet poll results below? What answers surprise you? Why? What might these results reveal about contemporary society?
What things would you do to become a millionaire?
YES
Have a limb amputated
103 (8%)
Never see your family again
484 (39%)
Give up television for life
711 (57%)
Move to another country for good
258 (20%)
Have a tattoo put on your forehead
391 (31%)
Swim in a tank with a shark
259 (21%)
Give up the chance to have kids
135 (10%)
Marry someone who weighs 700 pounds
461 (37%)
Have a pet put to sleep
420 (34%)
Change religions
264 (34%)
Lay in a box of scorpions
145 (11%)
Have all of your teeth pulled out
321 (26%)
Spend five years on a deserted island
18 (1%)
Have your tongue removed
629 (51%)
Burn your country’s flag
213 (17%)
Eat meat containing bacteria
110 (8%)

4. Author: Anton Chekhov (1860-1904, Russian)
Literary reputation: Recognized as the master of the modern short story; Chekhov’s plays are said to be second only to those of Shakespeare in popularity
Philosophy: Believed that everyday events should be analyzed to reveal the deeper/secret motivations of his characters…so, stories have simple plots and focus on characterization to reveal the depths of human nature; Wanted his works to ask the reader questions, not to provide answers…so endings are often ambiguous
Themes: Heavily influenced by Leo Tolstoy (Russian, ) in the 1880’s so “The Bet” shows Tolstoy’s thematic technique of providing a moral message to readers
Style: Best known for stream of consciousness (narration of character’s thoughts), character epiphanies (realizations) and complex characters

5. Close Reading: Literary Analysis
Literature that has a goal of conveying a moral message is called didactic literature. Stories such as “The Bet” are told as parables or fables where the characters and events represent reality with the goal of moral instruction for the audience. For each passage from the story, explain how the author, Anton Chekhov, uses foreshadowing, characterization and/or irony to convey his moral message(s).

6. Listen to “The Bet” Complete your Plot Pyramid.
Also, answer the discussion questions as you come across them.
I will pause periodically to answer them with you.
Whatever we do not complete is due tomorrow for a grade.

7. Conclusion
In your opinion, was it worth it for the Lawyer to spend those fifteen years imprisoned?

8. “The Bet” Day 2 Guided Discussion

9. Introduction
Chekhov purposefully leaves the ending of this text ambiguous and never says whether the lawyer is right or wrong.
Is the lawyer right or wrong? Vote.
Why? Write your justification on your notecard.

10. Quiz
Clear everything off your desk except your notecard.
Pass up your notecard. Keep your quiz sheet.

11. “The Bet” (1889) - Plot Pyramid
Exposition: The Banker and the Lawyer make a bet that if the Lawyer can stay in solitary confinement for fifteen years, the Banker will have to pay him two millions - rubles
Rising Action: While in solitary confinement, the Lawyer plays piano, eats, drinks, reads, studies, etc. Fifteen years pass and the Banker, in great debt, enters the Lawyer’s lodge intending to kill him but finds a note from the Lawyer.
Climax: The Banker reads the note in which the Lawyer renounces the money, so the Banker decides not the kill the Lawyer and leaves the lodge.
Falling Action: The next morning, the watchman reports seeing the Lawyer leave the lodge early.
Resolution: The Banker enters the lodge, takes the Lawyer’s note renouncing the money and locks it in his safe.

12. 1. Bet Establishment
Banker: “I’ll bet you two millions you wouldn’t stay in solitary confinement for five years.”
Lawyer: “I’ll take that bet, but I would stay not five but fifteen years…You stake your millions and I stake my freedom…”
Narrator: “And now [15 years later] the Banker remembered all this…It was all nonsensical and meaningless. On my part it was the caprice [whim] of a pampered man, and on his part simple greed for money.”

13. 2. Lawyer’s Confinement
“The first year…he refused wine and tobacco…the books he sent for were of a light character…
“The fifth year…he asked for wine…he spent doing nothing but eating, drinking and lying on his bed.”
“The sixth year he began zealously studying languages, philosophy, and history.”
“After the tenth year, the prisoner read nothing but the Gospel...theology and religious history”
In the last two years he read an immense quantity of books indiscriminately [randomly] …his reading suggested a man swimming in the sea among the wreckage of his ship, and trying to save his life by greedily clutching first at one spar [pole] and then at another.”

14. 3. Banker’s Reflections on Pending Loss
Banker: “If I do pay him, it is all over with me: I shall be utterly ruined…Why didn’t the man die? He will take my last penny from me, will enjoy life; while I shall look at him with envy like beggar…No, it is too much! The one means of being saved from bankruptcy and disgrace is the death of that man!”

15. 4. Lawyer’s Physical State
Narrator: “At the table a man unlike ordinary people was sitting motionless. He was a skeleton with the skin drawn tight over his bones…His face was yellow, his cheeks were hollow…His hair was already streaked with silver, and seeing his emaciated, aged-looking face, no one would have believed that he was only forty.”

16. 5. Lawyer’s Philosophy
“I tell you that I despise freedom and life and health, and all that in your books is called the good things of the world…I despise wisdom and the blessings of this world. It is all worthless, fleeting, illusory, and deceptive, like a mirage. You may be proud, wise, and fine, but death will wipe you off the face of the earth…and your posterity, your history, your immortal geniuses will burn or freeze together with the earthly globe.”

17. 6. Lawyer’s Decision
“To prove to you in action how I despise all that you live by, I renounce the two millions…To deprive myself of the right to the money I shall go out from here five minutes before the fixed time, and so break the compact…”

18. 7. Banker’s Reaction
“When the banker had read this he laid the page on the table, kissed the strange man on the head, and went out of the lodge, weeping…his tears and emotion kept him for hours from sleeping.”

19. 8. Banker’s Final Act
“Next morning…the banker went at once with the servants to the lodge and made sure of the flight of his prisoner. To avoid arousing unnecessary talk, he took the writing in which the millions were renounced, and lock it up in the fireproof safe.”

20. Overall Meaning
So, what main moral message is Chekhov trying to teach his readers? Consider…
The Lawyer’s Epiphany: “You have lost your reason and taken the wrong path…so I marvel at you who exchange heaven for earth...I renounce the two millions of which I once dreamed as of paradise and which now I despise.”
The Banker’s Feelings: [After reading Lawyer’s letter] “At no other time, even when he had lost heavily on the Stock Exchange, had he felt so great a contempt for himself.”

21. We will now review the rest of your analysis questions from yesterday.

22. Connecting to the Text: Artwork
History: The painting, Death and the Miser (1488) belongs to the tradition of works that remind the viewer of the inevitability of death. The painting intended to help Christians choose Christ over sinful pleasures.
Analysis: Use your knowledge of this theme from the story as well as skill at analyzing symbols and Christian images to answer the questions about the painting.

23. “Death and the Miser” 1488

24. Check for Understanding…
Explain two specific techniques Anton Chekhov uses in “The Bet” to teach readers a moral message (use specifics from our discussion today).