Outline for the Bet

The Bet

I. Introductory Paragraph consists of 3-5 sentences. A typical college paper should be 5-7 sentences long

A. Anton Chekhov once said that “You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible”.

B. This pessimism and adherence to religion formed the core of the writing that cemented Chekhov’s faith in the literary world.

C. In “The Bet”, the intelligent author, Anton Chekhov, surreptitiously depicts the worst of human nature; demonstrating his convoluted view through numerous paradoxes (BP1), emphasizing the value of human life (BP2), and advocating nihilism to protest against the atrocities caused by the Russian Tsarist government (BP3).

II. The horrendous depiction of human nature is seen in his work through Chekhov’s own convoluted view, including the many paradoxes that surrounded the lives of both him and his characters.

A. “He had a religious education but became an atheist; he wrote literature initially for money for which he later became immortalized; he was trained as a physician but treated peasants without pay; he was promiscuous as a bachelor only to be cuckolded when he became a husband; and his plays were initially booed off stage only to be admired ever since” (Trepanier).

B. Though his words flowed with pessimism and despair, in reality, his work as a doctor was far from it as he alleviated the needs of thousands of poor for not even a single penny.

C. Chekhov’s ideals and morals were that of a Christian without the revelation yet he was an atheist with a Christian upbringing and led him to become a philosopher.

D. These paradoxes not only symbolized the inability of Chekhov to choose between different paths, but also symbolized the stagnation of the Tsarist government and its inability to make clear-cut decisions on the improvement of its own infrastructure.

E. “Chekhov was first prompted to write less by an urge toward artistic expression than by the immediate need to support his family....