Final answer:
The story 'The Bet' explores the idea that life's intellectual pursuits gain their meaningfulness through relationships with others, aligning best with option a) from the given choices.
Step-by-step explanation:
The theme of the story "The Bet" largely affirms that pleasures, wisdom, and knowledge find their greatest value when complemented by human interaction. This aligns most closely with the provided option a) Pleasures, wisdom, and knowledge are meaningless unless accompanied by human interaction. Life consists in relationships with others.
Considering the evidence provided, it's clear that literature is not about conveying a single, straightforward moral, but rather about exploring the complexities of human existence. "The Bet" by Anton Chekhov delves into these complexities by utilizing its central narrative - a bet between two individuals over the value of solitary confinement versus the freedom of interaction - to comment on the importance of human relationships.
The story does not suggest that life is pointless without love (option b), nor does it claim that taking risks in relationships is the ultimate concern (option c), nor that human interaction is simply a coping mechanism (option d). Instead, it posits that life's greatest rewards, including wisdom and knowledge, derive their true significance from our connections with others, much like the rope-weaving of ancient peoples and the universal pursuit of love touched upon in various parts of the reference material.