The Bet

“It’s better to live somehow than not to live at all.”

The story begins at a dinner party where a heated debate arises between a banker and a young lawyer about the morality of capital punishment versus life imprisonment. The banker argues that execution is more humane, while the lawyer insists that life imprisonment is preferable, claiming he could endure solitary confinement for fifteen years. The banker, confident in his position, impulsively bets two million rubles that the lawyer cannot last five years in isolation.

The lawyer, determined to prove his point, agrees to the wager. The terms are strict: he must remain in a small lodge on the banker’s estate without any human contact, though he is allowed books, musical instruments, and wine. The banker, initially amused, grows uneasy as the years pass. The lawyer, at first struggling with loneliness, gradually adapts to his solitude, immersing himself in literature, philosophy, and music.

As the years go by, the lawyer undergoes a profound transformation. He reads voraciously, shifting from light literature to complex philosophical and theological works. His letters to the banker reveal his intellectual and spiritual evolution—from arrogance to despair, and finally to enlightenment. Meanwhile, the banker’s fortunes decline, and he realizes that paying the two million rubles would ruin him.

On the night before the fifteen-year term ends, the banker, desperate and contemplating murder, sneaks into the lodge. He finds the lawyer emaciated and aged, asleep at his desk. A note lies nearby, declaring that the lawyer has renounced the bet. Having attained wisdom through suffering, he despises material wealth and plans to leave before the deadline, forfeiting his claim to the money.

Relieved but ashamed, the banker locks the note away. The next morning, guards report that the lawyer has escaped. The banker, now free from his debt, is left with a deep sense of guilt and the haunting realization of his own moral decay.

Key Ideas

• The futility of material wealth in the face of true enlightenment.
• The psychological and spiritual effects of prolonged isolation.
• The moral degradation of greed and desperation.
• The contrast between intellectual pride and genuine wisdom.
• The arbitrary nature of human justice and punishment.