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The Destructive Pride In The Bet

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To have pride is to be satisfied and pleased with oneself and their achievements. Pride is found in everyone; however the extent of pride one has varies. Having pride can be helpful, as being satisfied with oneself helps to build mental health or stand up for their beliefs. Contrarily, having excessive pride can be destructive in cases such as not accepting help when it is needed or not backing out of a dangerous situation. In “The Bet”, the banker and the lawyer met one night at a party. The topic of discussion was whether capital punishment or life imprisonment was more humane. The banker, siding with capital punishment, bet the lawyer, who sided with life imprisonment, that he could not last five years in solitary confinement having no contact with the outside world. “The Bet” clearly demonstrates that pride can be extremely destructive when not balanced with reason.

The banker and lawyer first reveal the destructive nature of pride through the bet itself and the extreme terms that each agrees to. If the lawyer could remain in solitary confinement for five …show more content…

This was especially seen as the bet neared its conclusion almost fifteen years later as the banker’s pride still resided with him. The lawyer upheld his end of the bet yet the banker no longer had the two million dollars he had promised. Instead of accepting defeat, the banker planned to kill the lawyer and blame it on the watchman so he would ultimately win. When he arrived he discovered a letter of the lawyer renouncing the money, and in turn his excessive pride was dissolved as he was content leaving only with the fact that he proved his point. Nonetheless, the banker could not shake his own pride and locked away the lawyer’s letter so no one would ever know he did not officially win the bet. Keeping this secret, the banker had to live with his guilt for the rest of his life. The banker’s actions exemplify how destructive excessive pride can

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