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Conflicts are an important part of a story. They determine the plot and
how the different parts of the story will be laid out. It can also help determine
the characterization of the protagonist and the people around him. Through
the conflict, we see how the various characters would respond to the
situation and how they’d cope with the problem at hand. Conflicts can be
when the problem takes place inside the character. This happens when the
The story of The Bet is about two persons with opposing ideas agreeing
on a bet that one of them can live in jail for 15 years. His prize for winning
would be 2 million dollars and in this story, we see the conflicts being laid
out.
The Bet captures the essence of both conflicts. In a way, we can see
the story. Such conflict is seen when the banker was pondering on what he
had done. “Why did I make this bet? What’s the good…” (par. 14) We can
outcome of the bet they agreed on 15 years ago. Later on into the story, the
banker can be seen crying because of what had happened on that same day.
“When he got home, he lay on his bed, but his tears and emotion kept him
for hours from sleeping.” (par. 41) The banker can be seen trying to make
sense of his mind. We see that he regret what he had done and was greatly
relieved when the lawyer had terminated their agreement. He had mixed
emotions, ranging from guilt, anger, happiness and confusion, all because he
when the lawyer, on his own free will, decided to lose the bet. In the start of
the story, he clearly stated that he would rather live even in prison than die.
Nearing the end of the story, we see that he forfeits himself in the
agreement. “To prove to you in action how I despise all that you live by, I
renounce the two million of which I once dreamed of as paradise which I now
despise…” (par. 40) we see that after the 15 years he spent in jail, he had
now a sudden change of sides. From the lawyer who’d actually choose to live
15 years in prison, he’d turned into a man who hated the very idea of life.
Here, we see that he had finally chosen the stand of the banker, and that he
The story of The Bet also shows an external conflict against the
society. In the start of the story, we see that the characters where against
the ideals of the society. The lawyer stated that capital punishment is
immoral and would rather it be removed. Another guest said “They’re both
equally immoral because their purpose is the same – to take life away…”
(par. 3) This shows that the people in that party had conflicting ideas, and
some were against the norm set by society. At the near end of the story, the
Lawyer is again seen opposing the standards the society laid out for us,
stating that life itself is not worth it. “… that I despise freedom and life and
death, and all that in your books is called the blessings of the world.” (par.
35) As seen in this line, the lawyer is bashing the society for being selfish
and ignorant, and we see that this itself is a conflict involving the ideas
Similarly, we can also see the same conflicts in the book Oedipus Rex.
Oedipus was trying to go against his own fate. When he was fated to kill his
own father and marry his mother, he tried to escape this and live a new life.
When he found out that the prophecy was fulfilled, he was torn inside,
unsure of what to do next. The external conflict here was when Oedipus was
marked as an error in the society. Because of the society, what Oedipus did
was wrong. Even though he had no control of what was going to happen, it
We see that the story of The Bet encompasses both an internal and
external conflict, and that Anton Chekhov was able to show how these could
affect the storyline. Anton was able to show the importance of a conflict in a
story, and how the internal or the external conflict can somewhat be related
to each other. He showed that these two could coexist and support the main