I was talking with my dear friend yesterday over the phone
from India, I was given to talk with his Father who is an eloquent gentleman in
his eighties. My friend’s Father was an English Professor and is passionate
about books. He put the question to me. “Have you read Chekhov?”” Shamefully I replied
no. my grey matter headed towards more like Pushkin! He asked me to read the
book and come back to him with my opinion, so here is my synopsis.
The Bet
Anton Chekhov
At a dinner party hosted by a Banker, the discussion came up
between the guests regarding the death penalty. One guest, a young Lawyer, was
appalled by the suggestion of such matters and said he would rather spend time
in prison rather than have his life ended. The banker mocked the Lawyer betting
with him that if he spent a few years in a solitary confinement, he would give
him 2,000,000 Roubles! The Lawyer boasted he would in fact be locked away for
15 years. So, the bet was started. The young Lawyer was locked in one of the
lodges in the Bankers large garden.
The banker is a weak man who is nothing without money. The
Loyer is depicted as a very intelligent man hence why he is able to read so
many books whilst in solitary confinement and being able to learn new skills
shows he has an open mind. Some say he threw away his life of 15 years, whereas
others say he enhanced his life by learning music, in his case, the piano. He
learned languages as well as chemistry, medicine, philosophy and many more
subjects, teaching himself that being alone is actually beneficial, though I would
say one has to have a high level of intelligence as if you have a brain which
doesn’t starve for education and the arts, then what would you do for 15 years?
Though the Lawyer went through a few years of depression and
loneliness, he came through the other side when he came to the conclusion that
he had to fill his days with the above activities.
Conclusion, the Lawyers moral compass was towards avarice
and may be this was because of greed, or naivety but it does show that life’s experiences
are more valuable than the gift of fortune. When I say experiences, one can
receive values and knowledge from books and convers, in the Lawyers case,
reading took him all over the globe and beyond with his biblical studies.
Moral of this short story. There are other things in life
that make people rich rather than money such as experiences wisdom and moreover
self-belief and the ability to be gifted with forgiveness! And imagination
comes in useful too as during those lonely times, you can recall on fables perhaps
or imagine oneself a Knight on horseback or a God making decisions that are far
beyond human ability
Personal
note
I would have to give him some money. If I were the Banker,
my life would be of someone imprisoned for each day I would take a breath, as
to live with such guilt to be a part of that man’s life locked away, would
slowly kill me though of course the Lawyer would argue that his days were spent
wisely.
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