
The Gambler
'The Gambler' 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 Grieux 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 niece. She asks him to go to the town's casino and place a bet for her. After hesitations, 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 long-time acquaintance, Mr. Astley. Astley is a shy Englishman who seems to share Alexei's fondness of Polina. He comes from English nobility and has a good deal of money.
One day while Polina and Alexei are on a walk he swears an oath of servitude to her. He tells 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. Thereafter, 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 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.
Book Details
Language
EnglishOriginal Language
RussianPublished In
1866Genre/Category
Tags/Keywords
Authors

Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Russia
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, sometimes transliterated as Dostoyevsky, was a Russian novelist, philosopher, short story writer, essayist, and journalist. Dostoevsky's literary works explore human ps...
Books by Fyodor DostoyevskyDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
Related books

Discouraging Model by James Whitcomb Riley
A Discouraging Model is a collection of poems by James Whitcomb Riley, known for his use of Hoosier dialect and his portrayal of rural life in Indiana...

Emily of New Moon by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Ten-year-old Emily Starr is an orphan who moves in with her aunts in the small town of New Moon. As she navigates the challenges and joys of preteen l...

Coming of Bill (or: Their Mutual Child; or: The White Hope) by P. G. Wodehouse
The Coming of Bill chronicles the life of Kirk Winfield and his wife Ruth, focusing on the raising of their son, Bill. The story delves into the compl...

Diggers in the Earth by Eva March Tappan
This captivating book delves into the profound influence thoughts can have on children's lives. Written by Eva March Tappan, it presents a journey of...

The Portrait of Mr. W. H. by Oscar Wilde
The story is about an attempt to uncover the identity of Mr. W. H., the enigmatic dedicatee of Shakespeare's Sonnets. It is based on a theory, origina...

Through the Fray by G. A. Henty
Ned Sankey, a spirited and determined boy, navigates the tumultuous backdrop of the Luddite riots in early 19th-century Yorkshire. His life takes a tr...

Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods by Laura Lee Hope
Bunny Brown and his younger sister, Sue, embark on exciting adventures and escapades in the picturesque setting of the Big Woods. Accompanied by their...

Opal Serpent by Fergus Hume
In the heart of London, a pawnbroker is found murdered, his death shrouded in mystery. An enigmatic opal serpent brooch pins his lips together, adding...

Precipice by Ivan Goncharov
The Precipice is a story of romantic rivalry and the societal pressures faced by a gifted young man in 19th-century Russia. The novel explores themes...

The Begum's Fortune by Jules Verne
The Begum's Fortune also published as The Begum's Millions, is an 1879 novel by Jules Verne, with some utopian elements and other elements that seem c...
Reviews for The Gambler
No reviews posted or approved, yet...