The Bet, Comprehension Level Questions

The Bet                

Extract I

It was a dark autumn night. The old banker.............for Christian States.

11.    Who hosted the party? What type of people attended the party? What does the extract given above tell us about the mood of the host?

The party was hosted by the old banker. The autumn party was attended by many journalists and intellectuals.The story ‘The Bet’ is written in a flashback style. It begins with a banker, recalling the occasion of the bet, he made with a lawyer, fifteen years ago on a dark, autumn night. The host is in a reflective mood. 

2. What was the topic of discussion at the party? What alternative was suggested for the topic being discussed?

The guests at the party began a discussion on capital punishment. The alternative suggested was life imprisonment. 

3.  What was the opinion of the majority of guests present at the party on the topic being discussed?

Most of the guests gave their opinion against death penalty as they considered it out of date, immoral and unsuitable for Christian States. 

4. What was the host’s view on capital punishment? How did he justify his point of view?

The host argued that capital punishment was more humane as it killed a man at once, than the life imprisonment that killed a man slowly.

 5.  What were the young lawyer’s views on the topic? What are your views on capital punishment? Give two reasons to justify your point of view.

The young lawyer opined that the death sentence and the life imprisonment are equally immoral, but if he had to choose between the death penalty and imprisonment for life, he would certainly choose the second. To live anyhow is better that not at all.

Write your views on capital punishment and two reasons to justify your point of view.

Extract II

And this wild, senseless bet was carried out!............poison your whole existence in prison. I am sorry for you. 

1.      State what the bet was. Why was it described as wild and senseless?

The banker offered the lawyer a bet for two million roubles, provided the lawyer would remain in solitary confinement  for five years. The lawyer accepted the challenge and set the term of his voluntary captivity for fifteen years, at the end of which he would receive  two million roubles.

 The bet was described as wild and senseless because the banker staked his money and the young man his freedom. The bet couldn’t prove that the death penalty is better or worse than imprisonment for life.

2. The banker was delighted at the bet. What does it tell about the character of the banker?

The banker was delighted at the bet because he had millions beyond his reckoning. It shows the impulsive nature of the banker. The banker is mean and heartless as is proved by the unreasonable conditions he sets for the bet. 

3.  Why did the lawyer accept the bet? What trait of the lawyer is revealed from his accepting the bet?

He accepted the bet to prove that to live anyhow is better than not at all.

He is greedy for money- he forgoes his youth and agrees to remain in captivity for fifteen long years.

4. How did the banker warn the lawyer at supper? Why did he feel sorry for the lawyer?

 The banker enquired from the young man if he wished to withdraw his words. The banker told him that two million was a trifle for him, but the lawyer was losing three or four of the best years of his life. He opined that the lawyer wouldn’t remain in solitary confinement not more than three or four years. The thought that the lawyer has the right to step out in liberty at any moment will poison his whole existence in prison. The banker considered that the voluntary confinement is a great deal harder to bear than compulsory. 

5. What question did the banker ask himself after warning the lawyer at supper? Ultimately what was his motive in risking so much money on a bet?

The questions the banker asked were the following:

ü What was the object of that bet?

ü What is the good  of that man’s losing fifteen years of his life and my throwing away two million?

ü Can it prove that the death penalty is better or worse than imprisonment for life? 

The banker was impulsive by nature. He wanted to prove that the young lawyer was wrong. He wanted to prove that his opinion was right. Finally, he fails to find any meaning or purpose in the bet. The questions the banker asked to himself substantiate it. 

6.What were the views of the banker and the lawyer about the bet after fifteen years?

The lawyer finally realises the futility and fleeting nature of worldly possessions. Everything appeared to him worthless, fleeting, illusory and deceptive, like a mirage. He believes that money is of no significance to him anymore. He despised freedom and life and health, and all that is called the good things of the world.

Fifteen years before, the banker’s  millions had been beyond his reckoning. After fifteen years, he was afraid to ask himself which were greater, his debts or his assets. He was remorseful and sorry for the bet and muttered, “Cursed bet!” In order to save himself from bankruptcy and disgrace, he decided to kill the captive.

7   7. What are your views on the bet? Whom of the two- the banker or the lawyer staked more on the bet?

Write your own answer.

Extract III

In the second year the piano was silent..........could be heard crying.

1.  What was the prisoner’s attitude to music in the second year? Why?

In the second year, he ceased being interested in music and turned to reading classics. He couldn’t avoid the bouts of depression.

 2. What difference in the reading habits of the prisoner occurred in the second and in the fifth year of his confinement?

In the second year the prisoner asked only for the  classics. He did not read books in the fifth year. 

3.  The prisoner asked for wine in the fifth year. What was his attitude to wine in the first year? Why?

Wine , he wrote, excites the desires, and desires are the worst foes of the prisoner; and besides, nothing could be more dreary than drinking good wine and seeing no one. 4. What were the activities in which the prisoner indulged himself in the fifth year?

In the fifth year music was audible again and the prisoner asked for wine. Those who watched him through the window said that all that year he spent doing nothing but eating and drinking and lying on his bed, frequently yawning and angrily talking  to himself. He did not read books. Sometimes at night he would sit down to write; he would spend hours writing, and in the morning tear up all that he had written. 

5. What would the prisoner do with his writings in the morning? Why?

Sometimes at night the prisoner would sit down to write; he would spend hours writing, and in the morning tear up all that he had written. He was feeling lonely, depressed and dissatisfied. He was struggling to adjust with the life of solitary confinement.

 6.  The prisoner was heard crying in the fifth year. What does it tell us about his mental state?

As a prisoner, he tries to spend his time by playing on the piano, by reading books, drinking wine, sleeping, smoking and eating. Even then he could not avoid the bouts of depression. He was depressed and feeling lonely.

Extract IV

“Let them read them.........to be fired in the garden. 

1. To whom does the first “them” in the first line of the extract refer to? What does the prisoner want them to read?

‘Them’ refers to language experts. The prisoner spent many years reading volumes of  books and now he has written a letter in six languages to prove his potential. He wants the language experts to read the letter written by him six different languages. 

2.  How does the given extract show that the prisoner developed a great interest in learning languages from the  sixth year of his confinement? When the prisoner took interest in different languages, what difficulties did the banker face?

In the second half of the sixth year the prisoner began zealously studying languages, philosophy and history. He threw himself eagerly into these studies so much that the banker had enough to do to get him the books  he ordered. In the course of four years some six hundred volumes were ordered at his request. It was during this period that the banker received the letter from the prisoner. 

3.  Give the meaning of :

“The  same flame burns in them all”

Same type of courage and passion in each and everyone’s heart.

 4.  Which desire of the prisoner as referred to in the extract was fulfilled? Why did the banker order two shots to be fired in the grader?

The desire to show the letter to language experts and to let them read the letter carefully and if they find no mistake in the letter, the lawyer implores the banker to fire a shot in the garden to prove the lawyer’s letter was without any mistakes.

5   5.  The prisoner read different types of books in the last two years of his confinement. What does this fact show about the character of the prisoner?

During his last years in the prison, he studies Theology and the Gospel. He experiences all human pleasures, from human love and the enjoyment of natural beauty to the exercise of tyrannical power by reading books and rejects all the experiences on the basis of what he has read.  He moves from one enthusiasm to another and discards one by one those sources of human happiness that he is permitted under the terms  of his agreement. Finally, he realises the futility and fleeting nature of worldly possessions.

Extract V

Desperate gambling....................let me help you.

 1. What led to the decline of the banker’s fortune? How did this change affect the banker’s  character?

Desperate gambling on the stock exchange, wild speculation and the excitability which he could not get over even in advancing years, had by degrees let to the decline of his fortune. The proud, fearless, self-confident millionaire became a banker of middling rank, trembling at every rise and fall in his investments.

2. Why did the old man describe the bet as cursed? How did this change affect the banker’s character?

Desperate gambling on the  stock exchange, wild speculation and the excitability which he could not get over even in advancing years, had by degrees let to the decline of his fortune. When he realised that it was time for him to give two million to the lawyer, he considered  the bet a ‘cursed bet’ because if he pays the lawyer two million, he will be bankrupt.

3. Who did the old man wish to have died? Why?

The old man wished the death of the lawyer. If the lawyer is alive, the banker will have to give him two million which he promised  fifteen years ago. If he pays the lawyer two million, he will be bankrupt.

 4. What would the prisoner do with the money he would take from the old man?

The old man assumes that the prisoner would take away his last penny from him. He will marry, enjoy his life and he will gamble on the stock exchange. The old banker will be a beggar, but the lawyer would show pity, being indebted to the old banker.

5. Why did the old man say that he would look at the prisoner with envy? What does this show about the character of the old man?

The old man was envious because the prisoner was only forty years old. The old man thought that the prisoner would take his last penny, would marry and would enjoy his life. While the banker would envy him like a beggar.

This shows that the old man was mean, heartless and remorseful.

 6. What solution did the old man devise to save himself from paying money to the prisoner? How does the solution devised by the old man create suspense in the story?

The solution that the old man considered was to kill the lawyer and throw the blame on the watchman.

There is an element of suspense in the story. The atmosphere of suspense intensifies when the banker breaks the seals off the door of the lodge, which is graphically described in the following:

“ Then the banker cautiously broke the seals off the door and put the key in the keyhole. The rusty lock gave a grating sound and the door creaked. The banker expected to hear at once footsteps and a cry of astonishment. But three minutes passed and it was as quiet as ever in the room. He made up his mind to go in.”

Extract VI

Fifteen years' imprisonment had taught..........he made up his mind to go.

11.  What was the impact of fifteen years of confinement  on the prisoner, as mentioned in the above extract? Why didn’t the prisoner respond to the banker’s tapping at the window?

He was a skeleton with the skin drawn tight over his bones, with long  curls like a woman’s and a shaggy beard. His face was yellow with an earthy tint in it, his cheeks were hollow, his back long and narrow, and the hand on which his shaggy head was propped was so thin and delicate that it was dreadful to look at it. His hair was streaked with silver.

Fifteen years’ imprisonment had taught him to sit still. 

22. What was the banker’s state of mind when he broke the seals off the door? Why was he in such a state of mind?

The banker wanted to kill the lawyer and to throw the blame on the watchman. The banker thought that he would turn bankrupt if he parted with two million because by then his fortunes had changed for the worse due to his wild speculation. He was envious of the  prisoner, who would regain his freedom.

33.    What does the author want to convey by using  the expressions ‘rusty lock’, ‘grating sound’ and ‘creaking door’?

The author uses these words to convey the message that the door was not opened during the fifteen years of the bet.  After fifteen years, when the banker tried to open the door the lock was rusty and there was grating and creaking sound.

44. Whose footsteps did the banker expect to hear? Why?

The banker expected to hear the footsteps of the lawyer because he thought that the lawyer would be anxious and impatient to put an end to his solitary confinement.

55.   What did the banker think that the prisoner would be dreaming of?

The banker thought the prisoner might be dreaming of the millions.

Extract VII

The banker went at once with the servants to the lodge......fireproof safe.

11. Who informed the banker about the disappearance of the prisoner from the lodge? How long did the prisoner stay in confinement?

The watchman informed the banker that the lawyer has left the garden house. He stayed for fifteen years. However , to deprive himself of the right  to the money, he left the garden house five hours before the time fixed.

22. The prisoner could have won two million roubles but he renounced them. Why?

Through books, he had lived a fanciful life and had become wiser than all other men. But now  he despised books, wisdom and blessings of the world which were worthless, fleeting and illusory. In order to prove  all this, he said that he would renounce the two million roubles, which he had earlier considered as paradise.

33.   What was the effect of the prisoner’s note on the banker?

On reading the note, the banker kissed the lawyer on the head and left the place, came home and cried on his pillow.

44.   Why did the banker keep the note in the safe? What does it tell about the character of the banker?

5. What lesson did the prisoner and the banker learn at the end of the story? 

At the end of the story, the banker follows a self-protective  gesture and hides the note of the lawyer  to  avoid the  arousal of unnecessary suspicion or talk of the people.

At the end of the story, the prisoner realised the worthlessness of the material world and rejected all the pleasures he has experienced and renounced the two million roubles he could have won, as stipulated in the bet. The banker, after seeing the emaciated condition of the prisoner and reading his note, became remorseful for his inhuman bet and felt great contempt for himself.

6.  Do you think The Bet is an appropriate title for the story? Give two reasons to justify your answer. 

 The Bet is an appropriate title for the story because:

(a) the entire story revolves around the ‘bet’ between two people—a  banker and a lawyer. The banker staked two million roubles, whereas the lawyer staked his freedom and his youth for fifteen long years in confinement.

(b) symbolically, human life itself is a bet, where we stake everything to achieve material possessions, but realise their futility only after losing everything, i.e., life itself.