Page 75 - DENG101_Communication Skills-I

Communication Skills-I

Notes Among the guests was a young lawyer, a young man of five-and-twenty. When he was asked his

opinion, he said:
“The death sentence and the life sentence are equally immoral, but if I had to choose between the
death penalty and imprisonment for life, I would certainly choose the second. To live anyhow is
better than not at all.”
A lively discussion arose. The banker, who was younger and more nervous in those days, was
suddenly carried away by excitement; he struck the table with his fi st and shouted at the young
man:
“It’s not true! I’ll bet you two million you wouldn’t stay in solitary confi nement for fi ve years.”
“If you mean that in earnest,” said the young man, “I’ll take the bet, but I would stay not fi ve but
fi fteen years.”
“Fifteen? Done!” cried the banker. “Gentlemen, I stake two million!”
“Agreed! You stake your millions and I stake my freedom!” said the young man.

And this wild, senseless bet was carried out! The banker, spoilt and frivolous, with millions
beyond his reckoning, was delighted at the bet. At supper he made fun of the young man, and
said:

“Think better of it, young man, while there is still time. To me two million is a trifle, but you
are losing three or four of the best years of your life. I say three or four, because you won’t stay

longer. Don’t forget either, you unhappy man, that voluntary confinement is a great deal harder
to bear than compulsory. The thought that you have the right to step out in liberty at any moment
will poison your whole existence in prison. I am sorry for you.”
And now the banker, walking to and fro, remembered all this, and asked himself: “What was the

object of that bet? What is the good of that man’s losing fifteen years of his life and my throwing
away two million? Can it prove that the death penalty is better or worse than imprisonment for
life? No, no. It was all nonsensical and meaningless. On my part it was the caprice of a pampered
man, and on his part simple greed for money ...”

Then he remembered what followed that evening. It was decided that the young man should
spend the years of his captivity under the strictest supervision in one of the lodges in the banker’s
garden. It was agreed that for fifteen years he should not be free to cross the threshold of the

lodge, to see human beings, to hear the human voice, or to receive letters and newspapers. He
was allowed to have a musical instrument and books, and was allowed to write letters, to drink
wine, and to smoke. By the terms of the agreement, the only relations he could have with the
outer world were by a little window made purposely for that object. He might have anything
he wanted - books, music, wine, and so on - in any quantity he desired by writing an order,
but could only receive them through the window. The agreement provided for every detail and

every trifle that would make his imprisonment strictly solitary, and bound the young man to stay
there exactly fi fteen years, beginning from twelve o’clock of November 14, 1870, and ending at
twelve o’clock of November 14, 1885. The slightest attempt on his part to break the conditions,
even if it’s only two minutes before the end, released the banker from the obligation to pay him
the two million.
(Source: Adapted from “The Bet” by Anton Chekov)

Keywords

Capital Punishment: Putting a condemned person to death
Caprice: sudden, unpredictable or whimsical change of mind

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