112.Rising Above Loss: Dostoyevsky's The Gambler

21 1 0
                                    

                               The Quest for Redemption in Dostoyevsky's  The Gambler

         "Can I fail to understand that I am a lost man, but—can I not rise again! Yes! I have only for once in my life to be prudent and patient and – that is all! I have only for once to show will power and in one hour I can transform my destiny! The great thing is will power" (179).These tragic words from Fyodor Dostoyevsky's  The Gambler echo the despair of hero Alexey Ivanovitch who futilely attempts to vanquish his overwhelming obsession for gambling. The author establishes a tone of loss and betrayal as he recounts the protagonist's psychological quest for love and redemption. Unlike Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment who recognizes his problem and works toward his own salvation from prison, Alexey is unable to break his self-destructive pattern, even when it costs him the respect of his peers and the affection of his beloved Polina Alexandrovna. Reflecting on his condition, the main character thinks to himself, "I am living, of course, in continual anxiety. I play for the tiniest stakes, and I keep waiting for something, calculating, standing for whole days at the gambling table and watching the play; I even dream of playing—but I feel that in all this, I have, as it were, grown stiff and wooden, as though I had sunk into a muddy swamp" (172). Trapped in his own unwillingness to emerge from his moral quagmire, the subject manifests symptoms of denial, reassuring himself that he "can make a radical improvement in [his] circumstances" and that he "shall rise again from the dead!" (174). Just as the brothers Karamazov suffer from the genetic proclivity toward violence, so is he is caught in the web of his own predisposition, or addiction, for gambling. In Crime and Punishment, the author's allusion to the Raising of Lazarus aptly applies to Raskolnikov; however, in The Gambler Alexey Ivanovith tragically cannot rise from the ashes of his own obsession. Alexey attempts to justify his misfortune through projection, by claiming that his beloved Polina would realize he "was above al these stupid ups and downs of fate" (170). The greater tragedy, however, lies in the hero's delusion that he can transform. The subject denies his condition, rationalizing that he may yet "rise from the dead" and that "there are still the makings of a man in him" (170). Although his beloved Polina admits her love for him, the young man cannot tear himself away from the gambling table. His friend Astley tells Ivanovitch, "You have not only given up life, all your interests, private and public, the duties of a man and a citizen, your friends (and you really had friends)—you have not only given up your objects, such as they were, all but gambling—you have given up your memories. I remember you at an intense and ardent moment of your life; but I am sure you have forgotten all the best feelings you had then; your dreams, your most genuine desires now do not rise above pair, impair, rouge, noir, the twelve middle numbers, and so on, I am sure!"(174). In this respect, those who love the hero also suffer his loss because of the addiction. Ironically, the prize alone is not the goal that drives the character's compulsion, but the excitement associated with winning itself. In fact, Alexey gives much of his winnings to Polina (146-147), Mlle. Blanche, and Madame Cominges (156-158). Alexey, in essence, fails to realize that his money cannot purchase the happiness he desires. The thrill of winning even overshadows his love for Polina! The hero reflects that once he began winning, his love for her "retreated, so to speak, into the background." This realization fills the protagonist with misery and guilt (154); however, the very next moment, he encounters the lovely Mlle. Blanche who inspires him to forget his desperation entirely in favor of temporary ecstasies of physical gratification (155). In essence, only after wasting his fortune on the luxuries of those who do not appreciate him does the protagonist sense the boredom and emptiness that his winnings have induced (160-161). Tragically, the excitement of the game becomes the foremost object of his desire. The hero risks and loses everything in hopes of repeating that one moment of intensity. Alexey cannot tear himself from the Casino, even at the appeal of Antonida Vassilyevna Tarasyevna who encourages him to visit her in Moscow and abandon the foolish practice (119). Sadly, however, the protagonist only appreciates companionship, entertainment, and love through their relationship to gambling, which he perceives as a means of enhancing the quality of each. Unable to sustain the intensity of that winning moment, and bored with the mundane affairs of the affluent, the young tutor loses all other interests in life (162). Consequently, the subject experiences isolation and despair that detaches him from society (161-162). He undergoes an emotional breakdown after Polina rejects a fortune he has won. He does not understand that she wants his undivided attention, not his earnings or second place status to his obsession. The young lady becomes delirious, laughing and crying at the same time, embracing him and turning him away. Little does the hero realize that his love for her, coupled with his insatiable obsession, has driven Polina into a mental crisis resulting in temporary insanity (152-153). Astley asks the young man if he realizes that his behavior has induced her illness and possible death, but the protagonist fails to understand the magnitude of the question. He is too blind to see the young woman's emotional predicament: that falling in love with a gambler can never provide a secure and meaningful relationship (155). Instead, Alexey becomes so engrossed in his own self-pity that he fails to see any purpose in life. As result, the hero marries Blanche who spends "the last remains" of his hundred thousand francs and then promptly dismisses him (162). Alone once more, the protagonist finally begins to consider the "loathsomeness" of his "present condition" and the need for spiritual transformation, yet still cannot break his habit (169-170). Thus, the cycle repeats itself. Each time after losing, the hero loses one job after another, each time taking a more inferior position. First, he serves as a valet to the councilor Gintse, whom he describes as a scoundrel. He next goes to prison for unpaid gambling debts (170). After a series of wins and losses, Alexey encounters his friend Astley who informs him that Polina is improving and still loves him as before (178-179). Unfortunately, the hero deludes himself into believing that he can overcome his addiction, but sadly not today. Dostoyevsky ends the novel tragically and ironically as Alexey declares, "Tomorrow, tomorrow it will be all over!" (180).

                                                           Works Cited for Dostoyevsky's The Gambler

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. The Gambler. Translation and Introduction by Constance Garnett. Notes by            Gary Saul Morson. New York: Modern Library, 2003.

Quest of the Spirit: From Suffering to AcceptanceWhere stories live. Discover now