The Gambler is a short novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky about a young tutor in the employment of a formerly wealthy Russian general. The novella reflects Dostoyevsky's own addiction to roulette, which was in more ways than one the inspiration for the book: Dostoyevsky completed the novella under a strict deadline to pay off gambling debts.
Plot
summary
The
first-person narrative is told from the point of view of Alexei Ivanovich, a
tutor working for a Russian family living in a suite at a German hotel. The patriarch
of the family, The General, is indebted to the Frenchman de Criet and has mortgaged
his property in Russia to pay only a small amount of his debt. Upon learning of
the illness of his wealthy aunt, “Grandmother”, he sends streams of telegrams
to Moscow and awaits the news of her demise. His expected inheritance will pay
his debts and gain Mademoiselle Blanche de Cominges's hand in marriage.
Alexei
is hopelessly in love with Polina, the General's stepdaughter, and swears an
oath of servitude to her. He told her while on a walk on the Schlangenberg (a
mountain in the German town) that all she had to do was give the word and he
would gladly walk off the edge and plummet to his death. This leads to her
asking him to go to the town's casino and place a bet for her. He refuses at
first but, when goaded and reminded of his oath of undying love and servility,
he succumbs and ends up winning at the roulette table. He returns to her the
winnings but she will not tell him the reason she needs money.
She
only laughs in his face (as she does when he professes his love) and treats him
with cold indifference, if not downright malice. He only learns the details of
the General's and Polina's financial state later in the story through his
longtime acquaintance, Mr. Astley. Astley is a shy Englishman who seems to share
Alexei's fondness for Polina. He comes from English nobility and has a good deal
of money.
One
day while Polina and Alexei are on a walk they see Baron and Baroness
Wurmerhelm. Polina dares him to insult the aristocratic couple and he does so
with little hesitation. This sets off a chain of events that details
Mademoiselle Blanche's interest in the General and gets Alexei fired as the tutor
of the General's children. Shortly after this, Grandmother shows up and surprises
the whole party of debtors and indebted. She tells them all that she knows all about
the General's debt and why the Frenchman and woman are waiting around the suite
day after day. She leaves the party of death profiteers by saying that none of
them are getting any of her money. She then asks Alexei to be her guide around
the town famous for its healing waters and infamous for its casino where the
tables are stacked with piles of gold; she wants to gamble.
After
being ushered to the roulette table, she plays and wins 13,000 Friedrich's
d'ors (70008000 roubles), a significant amount of money. After a short return
to the hotel, she comes back to roulette tables and she starts to get the bug;
before she leaves the town, she's lost over a hundred thousand roubles in three
days.
When
Alexei gets back to his room after sending Grandmother off at the railway
station, he's greeted by Polina. She shows him a letter where de Criet says he
has started legal proceedings to sell Generals' properties mortgaged to him,
but he is returning properties worth fifty thousand roubles to General for
Polina's benefit. de Criet says he feels he had fulfilled all his obligations
that way. Polina tells Alexei she is de Criet's mistress and she wishes she had
fifty thousand to fling at de Criet's face. Upon hearing this, Alexei runs out
of the room and to the casino where he in a feverish rush of excitement wins in a few hours two hundred thousand florins (100 000 francs) and becomes a rich man.
When he gets back to his room and the waiting Polina, he empties his pockets
full of gold (Alexei estimates the weight to be some 4 kilos) and bank notes onto
the bed. At first, she accuses him of trying to buy her like de Criet, but then
she embraces him. They fall asleep on the couch. The next day, she asks for fifty
thousand roubles (25 000 francs) and when he gives it to her, she flings that
money at Alexei's face and runs off to Mr. Astley (they had been secretly
meeting and exchanging notes and she was supposed to meet him the night before but
has come by mistake to Alexei's room). He doesn't see her again.
After
learning that the General wouldn't be getting his inheritance and that Prince
Nilski is penniless, Mademoiselle Blanche leaves the hotel with her
mother/chaperone for Paris and seduces Alexei to follow her. Alexei goes with them,
and they stay together for almost a month, he allows Mlle Blanche to spend
his entire fortune on Mlle Blanche's personal expenses, carriages and horses,
dinner dances, and a wedding party. After getting herself financially secure,
in order to get an accepted status in the societies, Mlle Blanche unexpectedly
marries the General, who has followed her to Paris.
Alexei
starts to gamble to survive. One day he passes Mr. Astley on a park bench in
Bad Homburg and has a talk with him. He finds out from Astley that Polina is in
Switzerland and actually does love him. Astley tells that Grandmother has died
and left Polina and the children financially secure. The General has died in
Paris. Astley gives him some money but shows little hope that he will not use
it for gambling. Alexei goes home dreaming of going to Switzerland the next day
and recollects what made him win at the roulette tables in the past.
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