How we cite our quotes: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"With a clear conscience I tell you, as before God, who beholds me, that I despise freedom and life and health, and all that in your books is called the good things of the world." (2.13)
Did the lawyer think that "life and health" were "the good things of the world" before he was imprisoned? Meaning, did he learn that these things were supposed to be "the good things" from books, or is this a life conviction that has been overturned by his imprisonment? Are "life and health" something he is now giving up, or something he had already given up when he went to that party where they made the bet?
Quote #5
"I despise your books, I despise wisdom and the blessings of this world. It is all worthless, fleeting, illusory, and deceptive, like a mirage." (2.16)
For the lawyer, the "blessings of the world" really have been a "mirage." He's read about them, but he hasn't lived them (although he might say otherwise). So maybe that makes them easier to throw away—because it's a way to convince himself that winning the bet was worth it, and he wasn't missing out on anything so great anyway by hanging out in his prison cell for over a decade. Maybe this is all a way to deal with what the banker predicted—that voluntary confinement is way worse than forced imprisonment.
Quote #6
When the banker had read this he laid the page on the table, kissed the strange man on the head, and went out of the lodge, weeping. At no other time, even when he had lost heavily on the Stock Exchange, had he felt so great a contempt for himself. When he got home he lay on his bed, but his tears and emotion kept him for hours from sleeping. (2.19)
Why is the banker weeping—what is the overwhelming emotion he is experiencing? Is he moved by the prisoner's commitment to rejecting everything material? Is he just crying from relief at not having to kill him and getting to keep his money? Why does he feel "contempt for himself"? And seriously, guys, why won't Chekhov just come out with it?