The BEt

Ironic Examples in “The Bet”
Irony is the use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning or, A literary style employing such contrasts for humorous or rhetorical effect. In the short story “The Bet” by Anton Chekov, the author uses irony to make the story more capricious in the banker’s decision to kill the prisoner rather than pay him, in the prisoner’s decision to repudiate the two millions, and in the actual note the prisoner writes.
One first example of irony that is used in the short story is when the banker decides to kill the prisoner because he cannot meet the expense of the two million dollars. The night before the lawyer is set to be free, the banker is thinking of the things he could do to demolish the bet. “If I do pay him, it is all over with me: I shall be utterly ruined [ . . . ]. The one means of being saved from bankruptcy and disgrace is the death of that man.”(Chekov 163)
This is an example o...