Summary

The Bet begins with a heated discussion about which is more moral capital punishment or life-imprisonment at a party .At the party a twenty-five year old lawyer, he said that he would choose the life-imprisonment because it’s better to live somehow than not to life at all. This response causes the banker who was younger and more nervous suddenly lost his temper and bet the lawyer two million dollars in five years solitary confinement. The lawyer accepts the bet, but pushes it to fifteen years in hopes of making a point.

During the years of imprisonment the lawyer began to read in earnest to endure the solitary confinement. His reading opened his mind and gave him wisdom. The more he read the books the more his wisdom increased. And he began to see the weaknesses of mankind. The banker enjoys his wealth and his obsession for money proves to be the cause of

his failure as he slowly loses everything he has. He nearly killed the lawyer in his desire to avoid losing his money. After the lawyer escaped, the banker did not even have the moral nature to let others know why the lawyer escaped. The banker won only in the sense that he did not lose money, but he lost so much more of himself.

In his fifteen years of solitude, the lawyer has come to the realization that money is of no significance in comparison with true meaning of life. All in all, the life of a human is far more valuable than money.