In the sixth year of his imprisonment, the lawyer obsessively studies languages. After successfully learning how to write in six languages, he sends the lawyer a note celebrating this feat, using a metaphor in the process:
“My dear gaoler, I am writing these lines in six languages. Show them to experts. Let them read them […]. The geniuses of all ages and countries speak in different languages; but in them all burns the same flame. Oh, if you knew my heavenly happiness now that I can understand them!”
In this passage, the lawyer metaphorically insists that the "same flame" burns inside all the geniuses who have ever existed. Though this language is vague, what the lawyer is likely referring to is the “flame” of artistic spirit and literary talent. In other words, while in the past he wasn’t sure of the genius or talent of authors writing in other languages, he now understands firsthand that they are as gifted as any Russian writer.
This moment is significant because it demonstrates how, through books, the lawyer has been able to experience joy even while cut off from the outside world. That he can experience “heavenly happiness” after being imprisoned in one wing of a house for six years suggests that confinement isn’t as confining as many (including the banker) believe it to be. Here, Chekhov raises questions about what the real “prison” is—is it a room one is locked in, is it society, or is it life itself? This is a question he intentionally leaves open-ended at the conclusion of the story.
