Anton Chekhov: The Bet

Привет (Privet) Как дела? (Kak dela?)

Anton Chekhov: Russian dramatist and storyteller, developed a new kind of theatre who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics.

THE BET

“The Bet” is the story of a bet that stakes a banker’s two million rubles against fifteen years of a young lawyer’s life.

Capital punishment <> Lifetime imprisonment

The old banker: "I myself have experienced neither capital punishment nor life-imprisonment, but if one may judge a priori, then in my opinion capital punishment is more moral and more humane than imprisonment. Execution kills instantly, life-imprisonment kills by degrees.

The young man of about twenty-five: "Capital punishment and life-imprisonment are equally immoral; but if I were offered the choice between them, I would certainly choose the second. It's better to live somehow than not to live at all."

ANALYSIC

The characters have NO NAME

LITERATURE NOTES

"As a non-native English writer, I regularly practice dictation to enhance my writing skills."

It was a dark autumn night. The old banker was pacing from corner to corner of his study, recalling to his mind the party he gave in the autumn fifteen years ago.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw a pay phone on the street, those things are so obsolete.

I love Russian literature, it’s just…you know…so well written, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov, Alexander Pushkin, Vladimir Nabokov, Ivan Turgenev,…

I know some Russian phrase, the language itself just so beauty, powerful