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The Bet: Conflict

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

divided into 2 different groups: internal and external. Internal conflict is

when the problem takes place inside the character. This happens when the

character struggles between two opposite thoughts or feelings. External

conflict is when the problem occurs between a character and an outside

force, such as nature, another character, or the society.

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

both an internal and an external conflict manifested in the different parts of

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

see an internal conflict happening within the banker as he thinks of the

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

was unsure whether what he did was right or wrong.

Another instance of the portrayal of what an internal conflict is was

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

renounces his first choice.

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

between the mores of society against a man.

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

was still a fault of his that those events had transpired.

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

plot of the story.

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