The Gamblers (Gogol)
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The Gamblers (Russian: «Игроки») is an 1840 play by Nikolai Gogol.[1]
Plot
Ikharev, a gambler who had just won 80 thousand rubles checks into an inn in a small Russian town. Three gamblers staying there meet him over a game of cards and quickly identify him as a fellow card sharp. They propose to join forces: Mr. Glov, a rich landowner is in town waiting to collect 200,000 rubles from a bank. He has to go back to his estate leaving his hotheaded son in charge. Glov Jr. quickly loses the 200,000 rubles to the gamblers. Since he doesn't have the money yet he gives them a promissory note. The 3 gamblers need cash immediately so they offer Ikharev a deal: he would give them his 80,000 cash winnings and he can keep the 200,000 note. Ikharev muses that he made as much money in a day as others make in a lifetime. Once the trio leaves town Ikharev is told "the Glovs" were their accomplices in an elaborate confidence game to part him with his winnings. He realizes he cannot go to the police as he was complicit in a rigged card game.
References
- ^ Vasiliĭ Vasilʹevich Gippius, Robert A. Maguire Gogol 1981 p.90 "In The Gamblers Gogol made even greater use of traditional materials and departed even further from them. It has not been precisely determined just when this play was written. There are some grounds for dating it as 1840: after returning ..."
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