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Literary Devices
Definition of Allusion
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals, historical events, or philosophical ideas... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to... read full definition
Part 2
Explanation and Analysis—Jesus Christ:
There are several subtle allusions to Jesus Christ throughout “The Bet,” such as the fact that the lawyer spends one of his 15 years of imprisonment reading the New Testament (the part of the Christian Bible that contains the teachings of Jesus Christ). These allusions encourage readers to see the lawyer as Christ-like. This especially comes across in the narrator’s physical descriptions of the lawyer when the banker sees him after 15 years of imprisonment:
Before the table sat a man, unlike an ordinary human being. It was a skeleton, with tight-drawn skin, with a woman’s long curly hair, and a shaggy beard.
The specific language the narrator uses to describe the lawyer—as someone “unlike an ordinary human being” who has “a woman’s long curly hair, and a shaggy beard”—captures his Christ-like physical qualities. This comparison is only furthered when the banker reads the note that the lawyer left for him and discovers that, like Christ, the lawyer has come to renounce earthly pleasures, insisting that people who prioritize such pleasures "have bartered heaven for earth."
That said, while Christ renounced greed, he also encouraged kindness and love. The lawyer’s nihilistic philosophy lacks this element—he directly states that “everything is void, frail, visionary and delusive like a mirage.” His letter is not quite religious gospel as much as it is an angry screed.
Related Themes:
