Introduction: The Gambler, or in Russian Игрокъ, is a short novel Written by Dostoevsky about his gambling addiction and his experience of being addicted to roulette. The book is about a young tutor employed by a formerly rich aristocratic Russian General, and it is about his and everybody else's addiction to gambling and shows the downward spiral that is gambling and how it affects everyone. The novel is set in hotels and casinos in a German city and most of the themes pretty much mirror the experience Dostoevsky had.
The Background: Dostoevsky first was introduced the sad addiction of gambling in the year of 1863 when he was in Wiesbaden From that time till 1871. He played at many places when he was addicted to gambling including Baden-Baden, Homburg, and Saxon-les-Bains frequently, often beginning by winning a small amount of money and losing far more in the end. He first mentions his interest in gambling in a letter he sent to his first wife's sister on 1 September 1863 describing his initial success and how he thinks that he can beat the system and that he has figured it all out. The letter reads as follows:
To Varvara Dmitriyevna, (His wife's sister), on the first of September.
"During those four days, Varvara Dmitriyevna, I had a good look at gamblers. There were several hundred of them placing their stakes there and, I give you my word, there weren't more than two of them who knew how to play. They all were losing their shirts, because they didn't know how to play. But there was a Frenchwoman and an English lord — those two knew how play and they were not losing; on the contrary, they almost broke the bank. Please do not think that, in my joy over not having lost, I am showing off by saying that I possess the secret of how to win instead of losing. I really do know the secret — it is terribly silly and simple, merely a matter of keeping oneself under constant control and never getting excited, no matter how the game shifts. That's all there is to it — you just can't lose that way and are sure to win. But the difficulty is not in finding this out, but in being able to put it into practice once you do. You may be as wise as a serpent and have a will of iron, but you will still succumb. Even Philosopher Strakhov would have succumbed. And so, blessed are those who do not gamble and look upon roulette with disgust, as the most idiotic thing there is."
Something to keep in mind about the contents in this letter is that, in the book of the Gambler there is two characters resembling exactly as he described them, that being an English man and a French Woman. And it is also important to note that in this letter, when he wrote it, he had promised to send Varvara some of his earnings that he made while gambling, which he did do, however he later gambled all of the winnings he had anyway and then had to ask his wife to send him some of the money that he sent her from his earnings. At around the same time he had written the aforementioned letter, (but afterwards), he wrote in reply to his brother, Mikhail, about his gambling losses, in a letter, and asked for some money from him. At this time as well he was in Turin, the Italian city, and had recently pawned his watch for some money, and his mistress at the time was also with him, (Polina Suslova), who had to pawn her ring as well. The following is written to his brother:
To Mikhail Dostoevsky, (His Brother).
You ask in your letter how a man can gamble away his last kopek, especially when he is traveling with someone he loves. Let me tell you, my dear Misha, that in Wiesbaden I devised a system of play which I put to the test and won myself 10,000 francs. But the next morning in my excitement I failed to stick to my system, and lost right away. In the evening I went back to my system, stuck strictly to it, and quickly and effortlessly won 3,000 francs again. Now, tell me yourself, after this happened how could I help getting carried away, how could I fail to believe that as long as I held hard and fast to my system, happiness was in my grasp? And I need money — for myself, for you, for my wife, to enable me to write my novel. Here people win tens of thousands just like that. Yes, I came here hoping to save you all and to stave off misfortune. And then, too, I had faith in my system. And what's more, when I got to Baden, I walked up to the roulette table and won 600 francs within a quarter of an hour. That whetted my appetite. Suddenly I started losing; I could no longer restrain myself and lost everything I had with me. After I sent you the letter from Baden, I took the last money I had and went back to play. I started with four napoleons and won 35 napoleons within half an hour. This extraordinary piece of luck went to my head, and I risked those 35 napoleons and lost the whole 35. After paying the landlady, we had six gold napoleons left for hour journey. In Geneva, I pawned my watch."
In this following letter it contains Dostoevsky asking his former literary friend Ivan Turgenev, (who would later become his rival in a certain sense, and whom was also considered one of the great Russian writers still to this day), for some money for himself after losing it all on the roulette table. At this time as well, his brother had died a year before, and the magazine they started had failed and put them in debt. And at this time he flees to Europe again to escape his creditors, and did so by using the money he earnt from a sketchy deal with Stellovsky. This contract would make him loose all of his rights for his works for the next 9 years at the time. In the letter Dostoevsky asks Turgenev for money:
To Ivan Turgenev, August 3rd, Wiesbaden:
But two years ago in Wiesbaden I won around 12,000 francs [$47,105] within a single hour. Although this time I did not expect gambling to be a panacea, it would have been very pleasant indeed to win 1,000 francs [$3,925] or so to tide me over for at least three months. I arrived in Wiesbaden only five days ago, and I have lost everything already, just everything, including my watch, and I even owe money to the hotel. I feel loathsome, and ashamed to be bothering you with my affairs. But I really have no one else right now to whom I can turn and, in the second place, you are much more intelligent than the others, and so it is morally easier for me to turn to you. Here is what I have in mind: I am asking you, as one human being to another, for 100 (one hundred) thalers [$1,488]. I am expecting a bit of money from Russia, from a magazine (Library for Reading), which they promised to send me when I left, and also from one gentleman who must help me. It is quite unlikely that I can pay you back before three weeks; then again, it might be earlier. In any case, a month at the latest. I feel horrible inside (I thought it would be worse) and, above all, I'm ashamed to bother you, but what can you do when you are drowning?"
After this letter was written, Dostoevsky was sent money from Turgenev. By now Dostoevsky has recently married his new wife Anna, a stenographer who helped him to finish writing The Gambler (to satisfy his contract) whilst also in the middle of writing Crime and Punishment. In the spring of this year they both travel to Europe to escape continued harassment from Dostoevsky’s creditors, but this time on a more permanent basis. During this time he frequently leaves his new wife to visit gambling casinos in an attempt to win enough money to free himself of his debts and return to Russia with his wife. This following letter is one of the many he sends to his wife after loosing money in gambling:
To Anna Dostoevskaya, Wednesday, 22nd of May 1867 in Bad Homburg:
Forgive me, my angel, but I must go into some of the intricacies of my venture, of the game, so that you will see more clearly what it is all about. Already on twenty or so occasions I have observed as I approached the gaming table that if one plays coolly, calmly and with calculation, it is quite impossible to lose! I swear — it is an absolute impossibility! It is blind chance pitted against my calculation; hence, I have an advantage over it. But what usually happened? As a rule, I would start with forty gulden, I would take them out of my pocket, sit down, and stake one or two gulden at a time. Within a quarter of an hour, I would usually (always) double my money. This was the moment to have stopped and left, at least until the evening, so as to calm one's excited nerves (furthermore I have made the observation — and thoroughly substantiated it — that I can never maintain my coolness and detachment in gambling for longer that half an hour at a time). But if I left the table it was only to go out for a smoke and then rush back to the game.
Why did I do it, knowing almost for sure that I wouldn't be able to restrain myself, i.e., that I would lose? It was because I told myself, on getting up in the morning, that this would be my last day in Homburg, that I would be leaving on the morrow, and that therefore I couldn't waste any time in getting to the roulette table. I pressed myself hard to win as much as I could in a single day (since I was to leave the next day), and I lost my composure, became tense, started to take chances, became exasperated, laid my bets haphazardly because my system had broken down then — and lost (because anyone who plays without a system, relying upon sheer chance, is a madman). The whole mistake was for us to have parted and that I didn't bring you along with me. Yes, yes, that's what it is. So here I am, missing you badly, while you are almost dying without me. My angel, I repeat — I am not reproaching you for anything and you are even dearer to me for being so miserable without me. But judge for yourself, my sweet, by what happened to me yesterday, for instance.
After mailing my letter in which I asked you to send me money, I went to the casino. I had only twenty gulden left in my pocket (that I had kept for an emergency), and I risked ten gulden. I made an almost superhuman effort to stay calm for a whole hour and to play systematically, and ended up winning thirty gold Fredericks, i.e. 300 gulden. I was so elated and felt such a terrible and maddening urge to finish with it all that very day, to win at least as much again, and leave this town right away that, without giving myself a chance to draw breath and recover my senses, I rushed back to the roulette table, started laying stakes in gold — and I lost everything, the whole lot, down to the last kopek; or to be more exact, I was left with two gulden for tobacco.
Anya, my darling, my joy! Try to understand that I have debts that I must pay and that people will say that I am a scoundrel. Try to understand that I shall have to write to Katkov and then sit around in Dresden and wait. I simply had to win. It was essential! I am not gambling for my amusement. Why, that was my only way out — and now everything is lost because of a miscalculation. I am not blaming you, but I'm cursing myself for not having brought you along with me. If you gamble in small doses every day, it is impossible not to win. That is true, absolutely true, and experience has proved it to me twenty times over. And it is with this knowledge that I am leaving Homburg as a loser; and I also know that if I could give myself just four more days, in those four days I surely could win everything back. But I most certainly won't go and gamble now!
My sweet Anna, please understand (I implore you once more) that it is not you, not you, whom I'm blaming. On the contrary, I blame myself for not having brought you along..."
The Characters:
Alexei Ivanovich: Alexei is the main character of this short novel and it is all written from his perspective in a format of a journal. Alexei is a nobleman and is the tutor of the general's young children, Nadjenka and Misha. He is pathologically in love with the woman Polina Alexandrovna.
The General: Sagorjanski, is a 55-year-old widower who is in love with Mademoiselle Blanche.
Polina Alexandrovna Praskovja: Polina is the step-daughter of the general and she is the woman whom the narrator is in love with. She is a manipulative person and takes advantage of the vulnerable narrator and she also just doesn't care about gambling. I have drawn resemblance of her character to the mistress of Dostoevsky's, I am only speculating, but her name is the same as Polina Suslova, and maybe Dostoevsky's relationship mirrored much of the character in the book and he may of felt like she took advantage of him, still I am only speculating.
Maria Filippolovna: Maria is the sister of the Generals.
Marquis des Grieux – The "little Frenchman", called "Monsieur le Comte" by the servants. He holds forth about finances at the dinner table and wants the general to receive his inheritance so that he can be repaid.
Mr. Astley: A wealthy English man who has a large influence on Alexei.
Mademoiselle Blanche de Cominges: Mlle is the love interest and fiance of the generals. She is a French noblewoman of about 25 years. "tall and well built, with shapely shoulders ... her hair is black as ink, and there is a terrible amount of it, enough for two coiffures ... She dresses showily, richly, with chic, but with great taste". She only pays attention to the general when the prospect of his inheritance is mentioned.
Antonida Vasilevna Tarasevitcheva: Antonida is the aunt of the General. "...formidable and rich, seventy-five years old ... a landowner and a Moscow grande dame ... perky, self-satisfied, straight-backed, shouting loudly and commandingly, scolding everybody..." She ends up taking a liking to Gambling, which brings on dire consequences.
The Plot Summary:
The first person narration is told by the point of view of Alexei Ivanovich in the format of a diary about past events. Alexei is working in a Russian family's house as a children's tutor, and the family live in a suite in a German hotel. The paterfamilias of the family, (the general), is indebted to the French man Marquis des Grieux, and had mortgaged his property in Russia in order to pay him back, albeit it is still a very small amount. When the general hears of the sudden illness of his old and wealthy "grandmother", (who is his aunt), he starts to send telegrams to Moscow to hear of hear demise, and thus getting her inheritance which would pay off his debts, and which would also benefit his new and young fiance who is waiting as well to get the inheritance so they can get married.
The Main Character, Alexei, is hopelessly in love with the generals step daughter. Her name is Polina and she then asks him at the start to go to the casino and place a bet for her. After he hesitates to do so, he goes, and then he wins big at the roulette table. He returns with the earnings to her, but then when he asks why she needs such a sum of money, she doesn't respond. At the start of the book she laughs at him when he confesses his love for her, and then now when he asks why she needs the money she laughs at him again and exudes a disposition of apparent indifference. Alexei only learns what type of financial situation Polina's step father is going through towards the latter end of the book, and he learns this through his Englishman friend Mr. Astley. Mr. Astley haunts Alexei throughout the book and it seems that he has the same interest for Polina; he comes from English nobility and is very wealthy.
When Polina and Alexei are on a walk on the Schlangenberg, (which is a nature reserve in Germany), he swears a oath of obedience and servitude to Polina and says that if she had said the word, he would of jumped off the edge to his death. ."two days ago on the Schlangenberg you challenged me, and I whispered: say the word and I'll jump into this abyss. If you had said the word then I would have jumped." Later on Polina dares him to insult the newly arrived aristocratic Baron's that had arrived in the city, whom they just saw getting out of their carriage, and then he does so. Soon after he does so he gets fired by the general because of the close relationship between the people he had insulted. Shortly after everything that happened, the generals aunt or "Grandmother" shows up in the town they were staying in and she surprises everyone. She says that she heard all of the telegrams that were sent to Moscow and that she knows why there is a French man and woman always standing outside his suite day after day. She knows that the general is waiting for her death. She then leaves the party of death-waiters and says that nobody is getting her inheritance. She then unexpected asked Alexei to wheel her around town in her wheelchair. The town is infamous for its healing waters and the casino. She then asks Alexei to wheel her to the casino; she wants to gamble.
Then there ensues a gambling scene with Alexei trying to get her stop, but she doesn't and ends up winning very big. He then ends up takin her back to the hotel, but it is already too late because she has already became addicted to gambling. After three continuous days of gambling, she ends up loosing over a hundred thousand Roubles in total. After the main character sends the Grandmother to the rail station, he is greeted by Polina in his room. She then shows him a letter from Des Grieux, in which he says he is exercising everything in his legal rights to sell the generals properties mortgaged to him, but that he is also returning all of the properties worth fifty thousand Roubles to the general for the benefit of Polina. Polina then admits to Alexei that she is the mistress of Des Grieux and that she wishes that she had 50000 Roubles to fling in the face of Grieux. Upon hearing this, the narrator runs over to the casino, where, over a few hours he ends up winning over 200000 Florins, (which was about 100000 Francs). He then becomes a rich man. He runs back to his room where he finds the waiting Polina on the couch, and then he empties all of the contents of his winnings onto the table in front of her eyes. At first Polina accuses him of trying to but her out like Des Grieux does, but then she soon embraces him warmly. They fall asleep upon the couch. When they wake up the next day she askes Alexei for 50000 Roubles, and then when he does so, she flings it all in his face and then runs off to Mr. Astley. Then Alexei doesn't see her again. After learning that the General won't be getting his inheritance, Mademoiselle Blanche leaves for Paris with her mother and seduces Alexei to follow her. They stay together for almost a month; he allows Mlle Blanche to spend his entire fortune on her own personal expenses, carriages and horses, dinner dances, and a wedding-party. And then after getting herself finically secured, Mlle Blanche marries the General, who has followed her over to Paris.
At this point Alexei has to gamble to survive and live. Then one day, he passes by Mr. Astley. in a park in Bad Homburg and has a conversation with him. He says that Polina is actually in Switzerland and that she really loves him despite all of her abusive behavior. The English man then says that the General's mother has died and has left his children and Polina safe money-wise. The general then dies in Paris. Alexei then gets given some money from Mr. Astley but he isn't hopeful that Alexei will use it in a non gambling way. The book ends with Alexei dreaming of going to Switzerland and the way he used to win money in the past at the Roulette table.
The End...