Anna karenina - persnajele

ANNA KARENINA

de Lev Tolstoy

1. PERSNAJELE

Anna Karenina - A bright, beautiful, socially prominent woman in her late twenties or early thirties, Anna lives in Petersburg with her husband Karenin and her son Serezha. Charming and charismatic, she is a grand dame in Petersburg Society, but feels dulled by her mundane life. Her inner passions are strong, and after they are drawn out by Count Vronsky, they tend to govern her behavior.

Constantine Dmitrich Levin ('Kostya') - A powerfully built, wealthy young man in his early thirties, Levin owns a large farming estate. He is considered unusual by his peers because he prefers country life to city life, would rather run his large farming operation than pay social calls, and is awkward in Society. Levin is passionately in love with Kitty Shcherbatskaya, deeply committed to the land, and frequently troubled by internal philosophical conflicts. He is unconventional in the truest sense of the word, and needs to work ideas out in his own way before he feels comfortable with them.

Count Alexey Kirilich Vronsky - Rich, handsome, and elegant, Vronsky has begun a brilliant military career and plays his romantic, sophisticated role to the hilt. Socially graceful, he tends to define himself by his social role, and his self-conception shifts as that role changes: he is an officer, then a lover, then a painter, and so on. Vronsky lives his life by a certain code, but follows the code thoughtlessly, and sometimes acts selfishly. He loves Anna from the moment he meets her, but values his masculine freedom very highly.

Alexey Alexandrovich Karenin - Anna's husband, Karenin is a powerful, influential government official near the top of Petersburg Society. A man of great intellect, he is cunning and often cold. His high-pitched voice and cowardice frequently undermine his legitimate mental strength, and his isolation from his own feelings renders him powerless to act when his wife falls in love with Vronsky. Karenin's speech is marked not only by his shrill voice but also by his tendency to accentuate unusual words in a sentence, and he has a bad habit of cracking his fingers while he thinks.

Prince Stephen Arkadyevich Oblonsky ('Stiva') - Anna's brother, Oblonsky is a charming, good-hearted rascal, a handsome aristocrat who inspires affection in all who meet him. He is unfaithful to his wife, irresponsible toward his children, and in constant financial difficulty. Nevertheless, he cares deeply for his friends, and though he is sometimes outrageous, his energetic desire to spread his own happiness makes him impossible to dislike.

Princess Catherine Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya ('Kitty') - The youngest daughter of Prince Shcherbatsky and his wife, Kitty is a beautiful, naive young woman with a pure heart. She enjoys the love and attention she inspires in Society, but is equally willing to withdraw from city life when compelled by her love for Levin.

Princess Darya Alexandrovich Oblonskaya ('Dolly') - Oblonsky's wife and Kitty's sister, Dolly is the eldest daughter of Prince Shcherbatsky. She is a wounded wife, hurt by Oblonsky's infidelity, but she loves her husband and is a devoted mother to their many children.

Sergius Ivanich Koznyshev - Levin's half-brother, Koznyshev is an influential and well-respected Moscow intellectual.

Sergey Alexeyich Karenin ('Serezha') - Anna and Karenin's young son.

Prince Alexander Shcherbatsky - Kitty's and Dolly's father, the Prince is a wry and intelligent old man who loves his daughters dearly.

Princess Shcherbatskaya - Kitty's and Dolly's mother, the Princess can be somewhat scheming and cold, but she also loves her daughters and tries to act always in their best interest.

Nicholas Levin - Constantine Levin's brother, Koznyshev's half-brother, Nicholas is a ruined man. He has squandered his fortune, behaves crudely, and associates with strange characters. As the novel opens, his health is already poor.

Countess Lydia Ivanova - A very influential figure in Petersburg Society and Karenin's close friend, Countess Lydia Ivanova has pretensions to be an intellectual. In reality, she is shallow and fashionable, and adopts whatever ideas appear to be popular. Most significant is her adoption of the new ecstatic Christianity which becomes fashionable in Petersburg.

Mary Nikolaevna - Nicholas's lover, a woman from the streets.

Agatha Mikhaylovna - Levin's old nurse, now the housekeeper at his country estate.

Princess Elizabeth Federovna Tverskaya ('Betsy') - Cousin to Anna and Vronsky, Betsy is a clever, shallow, and popular woman in liberal Petersburg Society. She conducts a love affair of her own, and facilitates Vronsky's relationship with Anna.

Nicholas Ivanich Sviyazhsky - A Marshal of the Nobility in Levin's province, Sviyazhsky owns a large estate. He claims to be interested in modernizing Russia, modeling it after the West, but he leads his life according to custom and tradition.

Varenka - The young ward of a French noblewoman, Varenka lives a pious life helping the sick and unfortunate. She befriends Kitty when they meet in Germany.

2. REZUMATUL OPEREI

Anna Karenina is a novel about love and marriage among the Russian aristocracy in the 1870s. Anna, a young, elite woman married to a powerful government minister, falls in love with the elegant Count Vronsky; she becomes pregnant by him, and leaves her husband Karenin and her son Serezha to live with her lover. Despite the intervention of friends such as her brother Oblonsky (himself a frequent adulterer), she is unable to obtain a divorce, and lives isolated from the Society that once glorified her. As a man, Vronsky enjoys comparative social freedom, which plunges Anna into increasingly intense fits of jealousy. Under the pressure of her constant suspicion, Vronsky's love for her begins to sour; finally, unable to bear her plight, Anna throws herself on the tracks beneath an oncoming train, and dies.

As this story occurs, a thoughtful, passionate young man named Levin seeks to marry the Princess Catherine Shcherbatskaya, affectionately known as Kitty. His first proposal is rejected because Kitty believes that Vronsky, who flirted with her before he met Anna, intends to marry her. Devastated, Levin withdraws to his country estate and works on a book about agriculture. But through another appearance of Oblonsky, the couple reunite, and discover that they are deeply in love; Levin's second proposal is joyfully accepted. They marry, live happily in the country, host their families during the summers, and have a son. Levin's philosophical doubt and religious skepticism trouble him despite his domestic happiness, but he finally recognizes that the capacity for goodness is innate. He rededicates himself to living for his loved ones, and to giving his life meaning by advancing the will of God.

3. REZUMATUL MAI AMANUNTIT(PE CAPITOLE) AL OPEREI

a) Primul volum, partea 1

Prince Stephen Oblonsky's wife Dolly has discovered his affair with their children's French governess, and his household is in uproar. On the advice of his valet, Matthew, Oblonsky begs his wife's forgiveness, but she angrily repeats her intention to take the children and move to her mother's house. Oblonsky is upset, but he is happy to learn that his sister Anna Karenina, the wife of a powerful government minister in Petersburg, will be visiting the next day. He is glad to leave his house, going to work at his post as head of a distinguished Government Board in Moscow.

After a committee meeting, Oblonsky meets his friend Levin, newly arrived from the country with some urgent matter to discuss--but is too shy to discuss it. Oblonsky, remembering that Levin is in love with his sister-in-law Kitty Shcherbatskaya, arranges to meet his friend later that evening at a park where Kitty goes to ice-skate. Levin goes to visit his half-brother Sergius Ivanich Koznyshev. At Koznyshev's house he has a philosophical argument with his brother and a professor, then talks with his brother alone about their other brother, Nicholas, the outcast of the family.

Levin then leaves for the park, where he skates with Kitty and receives mixed signals from her regarding his unvoiced desire to marry her. When Oblonsky arrives, they leave for a sumptuous dinner at a restaurant, the Angleterre. Over dinner, Levin acknowledges his intention to propose to Kitty, and Oblonsky tells him of a potential rival: Count Vronsky, a brilliant young officer and aide-de-camp with a position at the Emperor's court.

At the Shcherbatskys' house later that evening, Kitty rejects Levin's proposal; though she is fond of Levin, she hopes to marry Vronsky. When Vronsky and some other guests arrive, Levin lingers to learn more about his rival, and is mocked for his simple country habits by the Countess Nordston. That night, Kitty's parents argue over her future: her mother, Princess Shcherbatskaya, hopes she will marry Vronsky, while Prince Shcherbatsky prefers Levin.

The next morning Prince Oblonsky goes to the railway station to meet Anna, and he encounters Vronsky, waiting there to meet his mother. When the train arrives, Anna and Vronsky's mother are waiting in the same compartment. Though she is a married woman, Anna's beauty and grace inspire strong feelings in Vronsky. When a drunk station watchman is run over and killed by a passing train, Vronsky leaves 200 roubles for his widow, hoping, at least in part, to impress Anna with his generosity.

At Oblonsky's, Anna convinces Dolly not to leave her husband, and befriends Kitty. But at a ball the next night, she dances with Vronsky, and it becomes clear that the two are completely taken with one another. Kitty feels devastated, and realizes that Vronsky never intended to marry her.

After a short visit to his impoverished, crude brother Nicholas, Levin leaves Moscow for his country estate, where he is cheered by the simple comforts of his home. Distressed over her improper behavior at the ball with Vronsky, Anna leaves for her home in Petersburg the next day. She encounters Vronsky on the train, however, and he reveals that he has fallen in love with her. When she arrives at home, the familiar routine of her social life distracts her from her troubling new feelings for Vronsky, but she finds that her friends, her husband Karenin, and even her beloved son Serezha, seem dull and flawed to her.

For his part, Vronsky returns to his home, where he dines with his wild but charming friend Petritsky and the Baroness Shilton, Petritsky's lover. Vronsky plans to begin moving in the social circle where he is most likely to encounter Anna.

b) Primul volum, partea a 2-a

Kitty Shcherbatskaya's broken heart causes her to sink into ill health, and her family decides to take her abroad. After an emotional conversation with Dolly, who suspects her husband of committing further infidelities even after their reconciliation, Kitty decides to help nurse the Oblonskys' children through their scarlet fever. Her own health does not improve, and during Lent she is taken to Germany.

In Petersburg, Anna consorts with grand Russian Society in order to be near Vronsky, for whom her feelings become gradually stronger and clearer. He organizes his own social life around hers, frequenting the opera with a cousin, the Princess Betsy, whom he entertains with anecdotes about Petritsky's scandalous behavior. One evening at Princess Betsy's house, while the Princess Myagkaya entertains the others with her blunt sense of humor, Anna and Vronsky become involved in a private, emotional conversation in the presence of Karenin, Anna's husband.

Karenin does not take personal offense, but because the others all seem disapproving, he decides to talk to Anna about the incident. When he confronts her that night, she cheerfully pretends to misunderstand his charges, leaving him frustrated and confused. From that moment, Anna's wall of willful deceit separates her from Karenin, and she and Vronsky draw closer. When their affair is finally consummated, though, Anna is overwhelmed by shame, and dreams of being married to both Vronsky and Karenin.

In the meantime, spring has arrived, and Levin busies himself with life on his large farming estate. He finds that work helps to distract him from thoughts of marriage and of Kitty, and he loans his ailing brother Nicholas money to travel abroad. Oblonsky arrives at Levin's estate, to do some shooting and to finalize the sale of one of his forests to a dealer named Ryabinin. The deal, which is highly unfair to the naive Oblonsky, angers Levin. Before leaving, Oblonsky tells Levin the news of Kitty's ill health and Vronsky's retreat to Petersburg.

As Petersburg Society absorbs the knowledge of Anna's affair with Vronsky, Vronsky prepares to ride in the annual horse race for officers of his regiment. His friend Yashvin bets heavily on him. Before the race, Vronsky visits Anna, and learns that she is pregnant. He proposes that they should run away together, but she refuses. Vronsky then hurries to the track; he meets his brother, who disapproves of his affair with Anna. Before a large crowd at the race, Vronsky easily gains the lead, but he makes a mistake during a hurdle that causes his horse Frou-Frou to fall and break her back.

Before the race, Karenin consults a doctor about his failing health, but receives little coherent news. At the track, Karenin sits apart from Anna and watches her; he sees her staring excitedly at Vronsky. Watching her distress at Vronsky's fall, he forces her to travel home with him and confronts her again about her infidelity. She confesses her love for Vronsky, and Karenin threatens a divorce.

The Shcherbatskys and Nicholas Levin travel to the same German resort, coincidentally, and the latter quarrels with his doctor and acts unpleasantly to everyone. Kitty befriends a girl named Varenka and her adoptive mother, Madame Stahl. Their deep piety affects her strongly, and she aspires to lead a more Christian life. But when Petrov, an invalid artist she has been caring for, seems to fall in love with her--angering his wife--she begins to doubt her effectiveness in that new life. When her father arrives from travels in Germany, he laughs at the vanity of Madame Stahl's religion, and Kitty resolves to stop imitating Varenka and to be herself again. Cured by her trip abroad, she returns to Moscow in good spirits, hoping soon to visit her sister Dolly, who vacations at her estate in Ergushovo with her children.

c) Primul volum, partea a 3-a

In the summer, Levin's half-brother Koznyshev comes to visit Levin at his estate. Unlike Levin, who actively works at running his farm, Koznyshev considers the country a place for rest and relaxation. He criticizes what he perceives as Levin's lack of social ambition, and cannot understand Levin's desire to spend a day mowing with the peasants in the fields. Nevertheless, he is affected by Levin's exuberance following that day's work, and the two manage to enjoy one another's company.

Having traveled to Petersburg for an official function, Oblonsky sends Dolly and the children to their country house in Ergushevo. After a trying week, they adjust to life away from Moscow, attending Communion and getting along well despite the inconveniences of country life. Levin visits, and Dolly insinuates to him that Kitty might accept if he proposed to her again. He leaves, embarrassed, and travels to another village to deal with the sale of his sister's hay-harvest. On the way he stops with a happy peasant family who run a successful farming operation; they affect him greatly, and he considers adopting their way of life. Just then, he sees Kitty as she passes in a carriage, and realizes he is still in love with her.

Karenin coldly considers his options for responding to Anna's confession, and decides among several alternatives that she should remain with him as his wife, outwardly preserving the status quo. He writes her at their country house to tell her of his decision, and returns to his official duties.

Before she receives his letter, Anna decides that she will leave both Karenin and Vronsky and flee with her son. When she receives Karenin's note, she rushes to look for Vronsky at a croquet match, hoping he will help her decide what to do. Vronsky is not there, but she encounters some charming socialites-- including Stremov, her husband's political enemy--and finds momentary relief in their company.

While she waits, Vronsky spends the morning putting his financial affairs in order; he is deeply in debt, and has a limited income. His old friend Serpukhovskoy arrives to visit the regiment; Serpukhovskoy has been promoted to General, and Vronsky is jealous of his success. After receiving a note from Anna, he goes to the croquet garden, where he advises her to stay with Karenin. He incorrectly assumes that Karenin will challenge him to a duel, and thinks that the duel will settle matters.

But Karenin has no intention of fighting a duel, and continues to be absorbed in his government work. He achieves a triumph over his political enemy, and in his exultation he forgets about his marital crisis. He is surprised when Anna arrives, but tells her firmly that she will stay with him and not see Vronsky at their house. He then leaves to perform some duties at work.

As the summer passes, Levin works hard to avoid Kitty. He goes to visit a friend named Sviyazhsky at a neighboring estate has a conversation there with a landowner about peasant labor. This conversation intrigues him, and renews his interest in the relationship between the land and the peasants. The landowner favors the reintroduction of serfdom, which had been abolished some years before, but Levin believes the way to motivate peasants to work hard is to give them an incentive to work hard, not to force them. Returning home, he conceives a new system under which he and the peasants will own the land cooperatively. But the peasants resist the change and Levin's ambitions progress only haltingly.

At the end of September, Nicholas comes to visit Levin; he is very sick, and it is clear that he will soon die. Neither Levin nor Nicholas mentions that however, and instead they quarrel: Nicholas claims that Levin's new system of agriculture is simply a perversion of communism, which deflates Levin's confidence in his innovation. Nicholas leaves, and Levin travels abroad, convinced that he too is doomed to die.

d) Primul volum, partea a 4-a

Anna and Karenin continue to live in the same house; Anna continues her affair with Vronsky in secret. One evening, Vronsky goes to Anna's, having received a note saying that Karenin will be out of the house for the evening. To his surprise, he nearly knocks up against Karenin in the doorway. Karenin storms past coldly, and Vronsky goes inside to talk to Anna, and find that her increasing jealousy and pregnancy make her seem less attractive. Anna tells Vronsky of a senseless recurring nightmare in which a muttering old peasant crouches down and fumbles with something on the ground; Vronsky remembers having the same nightmare, and feels horrified.

Karenin is outraged that Anna violated his command not to meet Vronsky at their house, and angrily informs Anna that he intends to leave and divorce her, sending Serezha to his sister's. He goes to see a lawyer about divorce proceedings, and learns that he will have to provide physical evidence of adultery to gain a divorce. He leaves to consider, and is soon called away to some distant provinces on a political matter.

On the way he stops in Moscow, where he meets Oblonsky and Dolly. Oblonsky is planning a dinner party, and makes the social rounds to invite his guests, among whom are Kitty and Levin. When Oblonsky invites Karenin, Karenin tells him of his intention to divorce Anna. Saddened, Oblonsky treats Karenin with affection, and urges him to come to the dinner party and discuss the matter with Dolly.

Though Dolly is unable to convince Karenin to cancel his action for divorce, the dinner party is a splendid success. Karenin and Koznyshev discuss politics and philosophy with another intellectual named Pestsov, and Levin and Kitty delight in their reunion, each seeing love in the other's eyes. Playing a game in which they write down only the first letter of each word in a sentence, they express their feelings; Levin learns that Kitty will now marry him, and he passes a sleepless night before going to meet with her parents in the morning. They happily agree that Levin and Kitty should be married, and an engagement is set. Levin shows Kitty his diaries confessing his prior sexual experiences and his agnosticism, and though she is hurt, she forgives him. They anxiously await their wedding.

After the party, Karenin receives a telegram from Anna. She claims to be dying, and begs his forgiveness. He rushes home to Petersburg, where he finds her very ill, having just given birth to Vronsky's daughter. Vronsky weeps by her bedside, his love for Anna entirely renewed by his fear of losing her. Delirious, she begs Karenin to forgive her and to forgive Vronsky, and he does so, deeply moved. He experiences his forgiveness as a great joy, and over the ensuing weeks renews his acquaintance with his son and develops a deep affection for Anna's new daughter.

Seeing Karenin's generosity, Vronsky is so ashamed that, when he returns home, he tries to kill himself with his revolver. The bullet misses his heart, and he slowly recovers; he is soon offered a prestigious military post in Tashkent.

Anna too recovers, but finds Karenin's goodness and generosity stifling; she endures his presence in the house as a misery. Seeing the strange position his sister is in, Oblonsky visits and tries to convince Karenin to begin a more amicable divorce proceeding, freeing Anna to be with Vronsky. Karenin finally agrees, and upon hearing this news Vronsky immediately resigns his commission from the military, refusing his new post, and rushes to be with Anna. Surprisingly, Anna tells Vronsky that she is unable to accept Karenin's generosity: though she will leave for Italy with Vronsky, she will not divorce her husband. She is worried about Serezha, but finally leaves him with Karenin and travels abroad with her lover.

e) Al doilea volum, partea a 5-a

Levin and Kitty, deliriously happy, prepare for their wedding; Levin is forced to endure the ritual of taking communion. When the day of the wedding arrives, the ceremony is delayed for some time because Levin has sent his shirts home to the country. When a shirt is finally found, Levin rushes in, and the pair enjoys an elaborate wedding.

Vronsky and Anna travel happily together in Europe for three months before stopping at a small town in Italy. Here, Vronsky meets a Russian intellectual named Golenishchev, who encourages his new interest in painting. They meet a famous painter named Mikhaylov, whose work Golenishchev knows and dislikes. Despite Golenishchev's disapproval, Vronsky is impressed with Mikhaylov's technique, and commissions him to paint a portrait of Anna. But Vronsky's interest in painting soon fades, and he and Anna tire of the Italian town. They plan to return briefly to Petersburg, where Anna hopes to see her son, before spending the summer on Vronsky's country estate.

Now married for three months, Levin and Kitty gradually adapt to their new domestic life. They quarrel frequently, reconcile passionately, and try to understand one another as husband and wife. When Levin receives word that his brother Nicholas is dying, he leaves immediately for Nicholas's bedside; he wants Kitty to stay behind, but she convinces him to let her go with him. Nicholas is gripped by the final stages of consumption, an emaciated invalid. He lingers for several agonizing days before he dies. During this time, Kitty does everything in her power to make Nicholas comfortable, and despite his grief Levin appreciates her from a new perspective. Shortly after Nicholas's death, they that Kitty is pregnant.

In Petersburg, Karenin adapts to a humiliating life as an object of social mockery with a career in decline. He is sustained by the Countess Lydia Ivanova, a quasi-intellectual socialite who imparts to him her fashionable view of emotional Christianity. Though he senses the hypocrisy of the ecstatic religious posture, he assumes it to save face and console himself. When Anna and Vronsky arrive in Petersburg, Anna writes to the Countess to arrange a meeting with Serezha. But the Countess, who has told the boy his mother was dead, convinces Karenin to deny her that meeting.

Serezha does poorly in his studies, suffers through an awkward relationship with his moralizing father, and misses his mother deeply. On the morning of his birthday Anna slips into the house early to see him, and he is overjoyed. But Karenin comes to the nursery, and Anna is forced to leave; the child remains behind, weeping.

Vronsky feels frustrated by his inability to reintroduce himself and Anna to Petersburg Society, and makes Anna jealous by consorting alone with old friends such as Yashvin. More socially prominent old friends such as Princess Betsy treat them coolly and avoid them. Desperate for human interaction apart from Vronsky, Anna attends the opera, where she creates a scandalous stir. She is insulted by a socialite named Madame Kartasova, and leaves humiliated. Though Vronsky had warned her not to go, she blames him for her humiliation, and he is forced to coddle her jealousy by reassuring her endlessly of his love. The next day, they leave for the country.

f) Al doilea volum, partea a 6-a

That summer, Levin and Kitty's house is crowded with visitors: Dolly and her children, Princess Shcherbatskaya, Koznyshev, and Kitty's old friend Varenka all stay with the newlyweds. An attraction springs up between Koznyshev and Varenka. Kitty and Dolly eagerly hope Koznyshev will propose, but Kitty's mother continually warns Kitty not to become excited, as excitement is bad for her health during her pregnancy. One afternoon, while the party is out picking mushrooms, Koznyshev nearly does propose, but he is too awkward and uncertain to say the words aloud, so the attempt fails.

The summer is complicated by the arrival of Oblonsky with a foppish young visitor named Vasenka Veslovsky, who flirts with Kitty and makes Levin extremely jealous. Levin, Oblonsky, and Veslovsky go on a long hunting trip, after which Levin feels better about the young man--but no sooner do they return than Veslovsky again begins flirting improperly with Kitty. After consulting Dolly, Levin finally throws Veslovsky out of his house. Oblonsky is shocked, but the rest of the group feels relieved.

Oblonsky brings news that Anna and Vronsky are living at Vronsky's country estate, a day's travel from Levin's. Though she worries about her children the whole way there, Dolly makes the trip to see her sister-in-law. She finds Vronsky and Anna living a luxurious life surrounded by visitors: Princess Barbara, Levin's friend Sviyazhsky, and Veslovsky all stay with the couple. Vronsky has dedicated himself to the role of large landowner, building a hospital for the peasants and getting involved in local politics through Sviyazhsky. Anna professes to be very happy.

But Dolly senses unease beneath the surface of their lives--aside from Sviyazhsky, their visitors are mostly hangers-on, and Vronsky begs Dolly to convince Anna that she should accept Karenin's old offer of a divorce. Dolly does her best, but Anna is resolutely decided against a divorce. In the course of their conversation, Anna reveals that she can never have another child. Before going to Vronsky later that night, Anna takes morphia, a narcotic drug, to soothe her nerves. Dolly leaves Vronsky's estate feeling uncomfortable and out of place, but on returning to Levin's house she cheerfully defends Anna and Vronsky from the other guests.

As Kitty's pregnancy advances, she and Levin move to Moscow to wait for the birth of their child. Soon it is time for the Nobility Elections in the province where Vronsky, Levin, Koznyshev, Sviyazhsky, and Oblonsky have estates, and they all journey to that province to attend the elections. Vronsky worries that Anna's stifling jealousy will cause trouble for his journey, but she seems cold and disinterested when he leaves.

The other men are passionately absorbed, but Levin feels bored and baffled by the peculiarities of the Nobility Elections. He cannot understand the endless debate, the political wrangling, and the fascination with positions he considers to be meaningless. Levin encounters Vronsky and is rude to him. At the elections Sviyazhsky runs to unseat the old Provincial Marshal, Snetkov, but both Sviyazhsky and Snetkov are defeated by a venomous young nobleman named Nevedovsky. Vronsky throws a party for the victor, and realizes a strong new interest in politics among this circle of noble landowners.

Vronsky remains away from home one day more than he had planned, and Anna has a fit of jealousy, writing him a note that forces him to travel home at once. There, he tries to console her, but feels increasingly stifled by her constant need for his presence. For her part, Anna realizes he craves freedom, and realizes that her jealousy is eroding the foundation of their relationship. But she is too lonely and isolated by her position as an adultress to act otherwise.

Princess Barbara reveals that Anna took morphia every night during Vronsky's absence. Anna finally agrees to write to Karenin and ask for a divorce, and the couple moves to Moscow at the end of November.

g) Al doilea volum, artea a 7-a

Levin and Kitty stay for two months in Moscow awaiting the birth of their child, which is past due. Kitty and her father meet Vronsky; Kitty treats him politely but indifferently, and is very pleased not to be upset by the meeting.

Levin is ill at ease in the city. He works intermittently on his agriculture book, makes an awkward social call to the Bols family, and associates with intellectuals, including his old university friend Katavasov and the respected scholar Metrov. He befriends Lvov, the husband of Kitty's sister Nataly, and takes Nataly to a concert. He meets Oblonsky at a social club, and at his behest makes peace with Vronsky. After an evening spent drinking, a tipsy Levin allows Oblonsky to take him to see Anna.

Levin is charmed by Anna and greatly enjoys her company. When he returns home, Kitty--who was deeply hurt when Anna took Vronsky from her--is upset that he saw her. He stays up with Kitty till three in the morning before she is pacified.

For her part, Anna likes Levin but is not terribly interested in him. All her thoughts are for Vronsky, whose freedom is driving her mad with jealousy. By this point, he is openly repelled by her jealousy, returning late from the club and treating her with frustration and confusion; she worries that his love for her is diminishing. With her worry, her jealously, temper, and paranoia reach new heights. Her relationship with Vronsky is crumbling. There is still no word from Karenin regarding her request that he honor his promise to divorce her.

That night Kitty goes into labor. Levin's mind is plunged into chaos during the twenty-two hour ordeal: he wakes the doctor, procures opium from the chemist, and bothers Dolly, Kitty's mother, and the midwife, Mary Vlasevna, with interruptions and outbursts. The baby, a boy, is born healthy, and the couple names their son Dmitry. Levin is surprised by his feeling of vulnerability and his overriding concern for his new child's well being.

Oblonsky, meanwhile, is broke, and travels to Petersburg to attempt to procure a highly salaried position in a railway concern to alleviate his financial troubles. While there, he attempts to convince Karenin to divorce Anna. Karenin delays his answer, and Oblonsky has a talk with Serezha, who has grown interested in school life and managed to suppress his feelings for his absent mother. Oblonsky, however, reminds him of her, and after his uncle leaves the boy cries bitterly.

Oblonsky visits Karenin and Countess Lydia Ivanova to try to procure an answer from Karenin. He finds them in the company of Landau, a French mystic who purportedly speaks divine truths while asleep. Based on Landau's sleep- talking, Karenin refuses to divorce his wife.

In Moscow, Anna and Vronsky quarrel incessantly. She is continually jealous and hostile, and he is disgusted and confused by her behavior. They talk of moving back to the country; when he puts off their trip a day to visit his mother, Anna flies into a rage. She thinks often about dying, thinking that her death might be the only way for her to recapture Vronsky's love. She tries to console herself by sponsoring an English orphan girl, but Vronsky calls that attempt unnatural. Anna visits Dolly to confide in her, but Kitty is at Dolly's house; seeing Kitty fills her with shame, and she finally snaps.

Recalling Vronsky's former infatuation with Kitty, Anna is again overcome by jealousy. She rushes to the Nizhni rail station, where Vronsky had taken a train to visit his mother. On the way she descends into a mental state very close to madness, in which she imagines that all people hate one another and all life is misery and torment. She boards a train at the station, but gets out at the first stop. Despairing, desperate, and almost insane with misery, she throws herself onto the tracks under an oncoming train. She is struck, and dies begging God for forgiveness.

h) Al doilea volum, partea a 8-a

Two months later, in the middle of the summer, Koznyshev prepares to visit Levin in the country. Katavasov plans to accompany Koznyshev. The latter recently published a book on European government, but it received little notice, and its only printed review was negative. He is therefore glad when a movement to liberate Slavic peoples ruled by the Turks in Serbia and Herzegovinia sweeps through Russia; the topic had been a favorite of his, and he now devotes a great deal of energy to the cause.

At the train station, Koznyshev and Katavasov meet Oblonsky, and also several Volunteers leaving to fight the Turks. To their surprise, Vronsky is among the Volunteers. As Vronsky's mother reveals to Koznyshev, her son was in agony for months after Anna's suicide, and only the cause of fighting for the Slavs has renewed his interest in living. When Koznyshev speaks to Vronsky on the journey, he finds him aged and careworn, his face bearing signs of long suffering. When Vronsky sees the rail moving beneath the train, he breaks down crying and thinks that Anna's victory over him is complete.

When Katavasov and Koznyshev arrive at Levin's, they find a bustle of activity. Kitty spends her time raising and nursing the new baby, and also entertaining her father, Dolly, and the Oblonsky children, who again spend the summer on Levin's estate. Levin himself performs his customary tasks on the farm, and has developed an interest in beekeeping, but philosophical troubles and religious doubts plague his mind. He feels as though he cannot answer his fundamental questions about God and the meaning of existence, and that lacking an answer for those questions, he can hardly go on living. But he does go on living, and is not unhappy except when he is thoughtful.

The day of Katavasov and Koznyshev's arrival, Levin experiences an epiphany while talking to a simple peasant laborer named Theodore. Theodore alludes to the fundamental differences between men that distinguish their moral behavior, and Levin realizes that despite his differences from all other men, in his heart he--and everyone else--knows what goodness is, and how to behave in accordance with God's will. He decides to dedicate himself to living for God, and in fact realizes that he had already so dedicated himself by seeking happiness in his wife, his child, and the well being of those around him.

But when he sees Koznyshev he is unintentionally cold to him, and he worries that his new spirituality may not change his outward behavior. A powerful thunderstorm descends on the grounds, and Levin remembers that Kitty has taken the baby for a walk in the forest. Terrified, he rushes out to find them. Lightning strikes a tree in front of him, shattering it, and when it falls he is horrified that it might have fallen on Kitty and the baby. Luckily, he finds them safe and well under a different group of trees, and is overcome with gratitude that they are unhurt.

That evening the baby shows the first signs that he recognizes his father and mother. The day ends with Levin's realization that his new faith is his alone, that he cannot pronounce judgment on another's relationship to God. He decides to keep his epiphany to himself, realizing that though it may not alter his external behavior, he will nevertheless treasure the personal meaning and value with which it will enable him to invest his life.

4. COMENTARIUL TEXTULUI (PE CAPITOLE)

a) Primul volum, partea 1

Anna Karenina is first of all a novel about love and marriage, and it is therefore completely appropriate that it begins with household chaos caused by a discovery of infidelity. The introduction of the Oblonskys--and the social circle in which they move--allows Tolstoy to begin outlining each of his characters' attitudes toward the novel's most important themes.

As we see from the outset of Chapter 1, Oblonsky treats both love and marriage quite casually. His affair with the governess causes him no guilt; he is only sorry to have been caught. 'He could not feel repentant that he, a handsome amorous man of thirty-four, was not in love with his wife . . . He repented only of not managing to conceal his conduct from her.' He cares for his wife and children, and feels very sorry for them, but neither the personal feeling of love nor the social institution of marriage can motivate him to behave more responsibly.

Dolly, on the other hand, loves her husband and is loyal to her marriage, and though she threatens to leave him over his infidelity, she never really means to make good on her threat. Anna easily convinces Dolly that her duty to her family and love for her husband should allow her to forgive him.

For her part, Anna begins the novel well-established in marriage, the wife of one of the most important figures in Petersburg; her status earns her the title of grande dame. But her meeting with Vronsky and the passion he stirs in her undermine her loyalties, and though she initially resists that passion, she begins to surrender on the night of the ball; after that, her commitment to her marriage is essentially doomed. It is interesting that Anna's flirtation with Vronsky at the ball is shown not from either of their perspectives, but from Kitty's. Anna Karenina pays particularly close attention to those who are wronged by the socially inappropriate behavior of lovers, and when Kitty is 'seized with despair' at the ball, we realize that Vronsky's and Anna's behavior will not come without consequences. It is also highly ironic that Anna plays the role of peacemaker between Oblonsky and Dolly. She travels to Moscow to save their marriage, and there she meets the man who will destroy her own.

Levin and Kitty have more idealistic opinions about marriage than their counterparts in this section. Unlike Anna, for whom marriage is a duty, or Oblonsky, for whom marriage is an impediment to pleasure, Levin and Kitty each consider marriage as simply the social manifestation of an inner love. Levin's passionate, independent spirit allows him to be carried 'into a fairyland' by the sight of Kitty, and Kitty's naivet allows her to picture marriage as a 'brilliant vision of happiness.' Unfortunately, in this section Kitty is still swept away by the elegant Count Vronsky, who loves his life as a bachelor, considers love a pleasant diversion, and, until he meets Anna, has no intention of changing his views.

On the whole, Part I serves to introduce the main themes and characters of the book, describe their relationships, and set in motion the events that will become the main plot. The Anna and Vronsky story will run parallel to the story of Kitty and Levin, and Anna's entrance in this section distracts Vronsky from Kitty, allowing the two stories to occur side by side.

Additionally, a key moment of foreshadowing occurs in Chapter 18, when the watchman is run over by the train shortly after Anna's arrival at the station. Toward the end of the novel, Anna will commit suicide by throwing herself under a train.

Finally, Part I begins to introduce the reader to the meaning of the term Societyballs, drawing-rooms, social propriety, and the hypocrisy of the upper class. The window into Society gives the reader a lingering look at the financial position of the upper class--Oblonsky is forced to work as a minor government official for a salary, due to his high expenses and low income. Levin's commitment to living in the country and running his farming estate connects the financial position of the aristocracy to agriculture, a connection that will be explored at length during the remainder of the book.

b) Primul volum, partea a 2-a

The role of family as it influences personal feeling and social behavior is an important theme throughout Part 2. In the first three chapters, Kitty's family decides to take her abroad to help her recover from her broken heart. Later, Anna is held back in her love for Vronsky by her consideration for her son, who could be ruined socially if Anna is revealed as an adulteress. In Chapter 24, Vronsky's brother tries to convince Vronsky that his behavior with Anna is rash, and brings word that their mother feels the same way. Finally, Anna's discovery that she is pregnant, making a kind of family out of herself, Vronsky, and their child, deeply complicates the lovers' position in Anna's mind. Only Vronsky is unaffected by familial duty. Angered by his brother's intercession, he disregards the news of Anna's pregnancy in his excitement about the race and feels very uneasy around Anna and Karenin's son, Serezha.

The introduction of Karenin in this section further emphasizes the opposition of social institutions and personal feeling, a major theme throughout Anna Karenina. Karenin is a powerful government official, wholly devoted to his duties to Society and the state; he is cut off from his own feelings, and at first is more baffled than anyone else by Anna's relationship with Vronsky. He finds nothing wrong with their animated conversation at Betsy's, but because the rest of the company seems to disapprove, he decides he should reprimand Anna. It is important to him that he follow accepted forms, both in thought and behavior, and though he threatens to divorce Anna when she confesses her affair, his commitment to external propriety will ultimately stop him from acting on that threat. He is committed to the social institution of marriage, but he shows no sign of being in love with his wife. After her initial deception following the conversation at Betsy's, Karenin and Anna's relationship remains much the same outwardly, while inwardly they grow much more distant.

By contrast, Vronsky's personal feelings are more precariously balanced between the personal and the social. Petersburg Society, which is ostentatious, amoral, and hypocritical, often serves as a sounding board for this imbalance between love as a feeling and love as a social behavior; Vronsky has a conversation at Princess Betsy's in which the social behavior of marriage is considered better off without passionate inner love.

Kitty's meeting with Varenka taps the reserves of inner goodness she needs to get over Vronsky's callousness. Attending to sick people diverts her attentions, and the love she inspires in Petrov helps to restore her self-confidence. When he laughs at Madame Stahl's vanity and hypocrisy, Kitty's father provides her the bridge she needs to cross, from imitating Varenka back to being herself.

The theme of money and aristocracy returns in this section with Oblonsky's sale of the forest to Ryabinin. Oblonsky accepts Ryabinin's offer without realizing its unfairness, which enrages Levin; living in the country and running his estate has given Levin a sharp business sense, and it angers him to see the upper class of which he is a member sink further into financial hardship and debt simply because princes such as Oblonsky have no idea what things are worth. Oblonsky never really worries about money; as long as he has cash readily available, it will never occur to him to maximize his profits or think about the long term.

c) Primul volum, partea a 3-a

In Part 3 the theme of love and marriage is almost subordinated to Tolstoy's examination of Russia's economic situation, particularly the plight of the upper class and its relationship to agriculture. Levin and Koznyshev argue about the peasants; Koznyshev idealizes them as 'the people,' but Levin sees them the same way he sees all other human beings--good qualities mixed with bad. Nevertheless, he is deeply interested in the relationship of the peasants to the land, and is very attracted to the simple lifestyle they lead. He joyfully mows with them in the fields, and greatly enjoys his visit to the happy peasant family in Chapter 11. But he is still a member of the upper class: at Sviyazhsky's house, he argues quite naturally with a landowner about the merits of serfdom, a slave-like condition from which the peasants had recently been freed, and though Levin does not favor the reintroduction of serfdom, he acknowledges the merits of the landowner's argument.

Karenin's decision to force Anna to stay with him, preserving the appearance of their marriage at the expense of their happiness, emphasizes his commitment to propriety and external life. He follows an elaborate, formulaic thought process before reaching his decision, first rejecting a duel and then a divorce. But all his thoughts are only justifications for his suppressed spite. When he returns to his official work, he is able to repress his feelings about Anna and Vronsky to the extent that he almost forgets them.

Family considerations remain important to Anna: she initially plans to leave her situation behind, fleeing with her son. But her consuming passion for Vronsky makes that choice impossible even before she hears Karenin's decision, and her dependence on Vronsky to make a decision for her illustrates the extent to which he has become the center of her life, splitting her apart from her son and her former priorities. Vronsky, however, remains interested in the details of his external social life: he worries about money, envies Serpukhovskoy his success, and thinks about his career, all before he goes to see Anna.

Levin's avoidance of Kitty affords him the opportunity of fantasizing about a peasant life, but when he sees her again, he realizes that he cannot escape either his feelings for her or his own role in life; as he says, 'Beautiful as is that life of simplicity and toil, I cannot turn to it. I love her!' His renewed commitment to his own place in the world resembles Kitty's in the previous section: just as she realizes she cannot be like Varenka, Levin realizes he cannot be a simple peasant. An important theme in Anna Karenina is that of making choices, of settling on a path and following it to its end; Levin calls it 'the power of living.' Both Levin and Kitty must reconcile their inner feelings with their external social positions, and choose their own lives, before they can meet again and rediscover their love.

Levin's low spirits at the end of Part 3 result from his belief that Kitty does not love him and from his brother's illness. Nicholas has been a rude and unpleasant figure from the beginning of the book, but Levin nevertheless loves and pities him, and feels that Nicholas's death must foreshadow his own. Though Nicholas is impolite in his criticism of Levin's ideas about agriculture-- calling them a 'distorted' version of communism--Levin is kind-hearted enough to mourn his brother's illness. He feels that only his work can save him until his death arrives in turn.

d) Primul volum, partea a 4-a

A suffocating pressure is placed on Anna's marriage by her husband's decision to preserve external appearances, repress her affair with Vronsky, and remain together in the same house. Rather than serve as the outward social manifestation of inner feelings, the institution of marriage now acts to repress and contradict true sentiments. This arrangement cannot possibly last, and when Vronsky and Karenin meet in the doorway, Vronsky continues into the house toward Anna, while Karenin leaves. From that moment, both socially and emotionally, Anna belongs to Vronsky.

The nightmare of the crouching peasant foreshadows Anna's death, much like the death at the train station shortly after Anna's entrance in the book. Her last vision on earth, which we read in Part 7, is a bearded peasant stooping over, working on railroad tracks.

Karenin begins divorce proceedings with the intention of ruining Anna, but the lawyer--a sniveling, unpleasant little man--makes the procedure sound so difficult that Karenin decides to think it over. Later, his passionate forgiveness of Anna as she lies on what he believes to be her deathbed reveals some of the intricate complexities of his character. His isolation from his feelings is shattered by the trauma of Anna's illness, and he is overcome with emotion. The joyful forgiveness he finds in his heart reveals him to be, at his base, a good man; but his sudden access of feeling causes him to abruptly lose all consideration for public opinion, living in a bizarre arrangement in which he lives with Anna as her husband, but sanctions her affair with Vronsky. The public ridicule that results from this behavior--from his acting based solely on his feelings--will prove to be his undoing.

Vronsky's suicide attempt prefigures Anna's later suicide. It also shows that he is unable to understand Karenin's goodness. The socially untenable position Karenin creates by staying in the house with Anna--and Vronsky's child--allows Vronsky to fulfill Karenin's prediction that he would humiliate him. When Anna leaves with Vronsky, Karenin appears pathetic and ridiculous, and his downfall is nearly complete. Had he balanced it with a consideration for his external life, Karenin's access of inner feeling might have saved him from his external coldness, but instead it shames and ruins him.

Unlike Karenin, Levin and Kitty have each learned from their ordeals, and their inner lives are in harmony with their social roles. Their joyful reunion and engagement contrasts strongly with Anna and Vronsky's illicit, consuming passion: Anna and Vronsky ruin their lives to be together, while Kitty and Levin seek to build a life together.

During Levin's sleepless night, he again encounters Sviyazhsky, his friend from the country whom he visited in the previous section. The character of Sviyazhsky gives Tolstoy the chance to parody the 'westernizers' then prominent in Russian intellectual society. In the 1870s, the cultural future of Russian society was murky; some wanted Russia to embrace its Eastern, Slavic roots, while others--among them the great novelist Turgenev--wanted to pattern Russia after the countries of Western Europe. Sviyazhsky is obsessed with the 'modern' life of the West, and seeks to reform Russian society by modeling it after the societies of England and Germany. As Tolstoy writes, Sviyazhsky disbelieves 'in the possibility of discovering anything that had not already been discovered in Western Europe.' But Sviyazhsky's reforms and ideas run completely counter to the conventional traditionalism with which he lives his life. Sviyazhsky's oblivious hypocrisy becomes a tool for Tolstoy, used to make the westernizing movement appear hypocritical and subtly ridiculous.

e) Al doilea volum, partea a 5-a

The incident with Mikhaylov provides Tolstoy with the opportunity to examine art from two sides, that of its technique and that of its content. An instinctive artist, Mikhaylov is more interested in perfectly portraying his painting's subject than in the manner of portrayal itself; as he considers in Chapter 11, the role of the artist is to remove 'the wrappings that obscure an idea' and allow the idea itself the utmost clarity. Vronsky, on the other hand, is interested in the technique used to portray a subject more than in the subject itself. This view pains Mikhaylov. The contrast in their views is interesting not only because Tolstoy himself writes with a style of extreme clarity and probably shares Mikhaylov's view, but also because the disparity between external presentation and inner quality is central to much of Anna Karenina.

Even in this section, Society is based solely on external presentation. Adultery is quite common among the upper class in Petersburg, but because Anna openly admits her love for Vronsky, she is shunned. Princess Betsy, for instance, carries on a flagrant affair, and helped Anna meet with Vronsky when their love was secret; but now that Anna has left Karenin, Betsy acts dismissively toward Anna as though she is morally outraged. This cynical commitment to the external stifles the inner quality of characters like Anna, causing her humiliation, loneliness, and the crippling jealousy that begins in this section to threaten her relationship with Vronsky. Anna's disgrace at the opera leads to her fiercest outburst yet, demonstrating the link between her social isolation and the inner disharmony that ruins her.

After their marriage, Kitty and Levin work to balance their inner feelings with the requirements of their marriage, and though they quarrel more often than they might have expected, for the most part they succeed. Where Anna and Vronsky-- and particularly Anna--are cut off from Society and left to live solely within their own feelings, Kitty and Levin run an estate and a household, entertain visitors and rather than simply drowning in passion, they learn to live with one another and make a life with one another. The everyday requirements of marriage surprise Levin, who did not expect 'the poetic, charming Kitty' to worry about household details like furniture and dinner. Despite their quarrels, their growing knowledge of one another makes them happy: Levin finds Kitty's 'sweet absorption' with her household duties to be one of his new 'enchantments.'

The trauma of Nicholas's death brings husband and wife closer together, as through a shared ordeal their love for one another strengthens and grows. Levin orders Kitty to stay behind, and to stay away from his sick brother, but her presence offers Nicholas his most potent relief from pain. Kitty taps her remarkable inner reserves, doing everything she can to help Nicholas, and surprising Levin again. After Nicholas's death, the couple learns of Kitty's pregnancy, another event that draws them closer and makes each more complete in their respective roles as husband and wife.

Karenin's personal degradation is now complete. Since losing Anna, he has tumbled from his position atop Petersburg Society and become a laughingstock. His official career has stalled. His pathetic adoption of the Countess Lydia Ivanova's ecstatic Christianity--which he does not find convincing but pretends to believe to preserve his social dignity--shows him desperately clinging to the appearance of uprightness and wisdom, though he is well aware of his public humiliation. Just as Anna's struggle with a broken external life causes her inner misery, Karenin's broken inner life leads to his external downfall. Each character is out of balance, and the victim in this case is Serezha, who feels painfully uncomfortable with his father and passionately misses his absent mother.

Part 5 also serves to introduce the theme of Levin's religious doubt. Book II of the novel opens (just as Book I did) with an epigraph from St. Paul's letter to the Romans: 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay.' But the role of God in setting consequences for characters' actions has not been emphasized overtly in the novel, and Levin's awkward communion ritual initially seems to undermine it further. Levin's chief sin, as he tells the priest, is doubt: he does not believe in God fully, and though he is torn by internal conflict about morality and the meaning of existence, science and skepticism render it impossible for him to find solace in Christianity. But his doubts will need to be satisfied before the novel can find its moral conclusion.

f) Al doilea volum, partea a 6-a

With Vronsky and Anna's move to Vronsky's country estate, their external circumstances become most similar to Levin and Kitty's, and the contrast between the two couples becomes most telling. They each entertain guests, but while the Levins are surrounded by family and close friends, Anna and Vronsky are surrounded by superficial socialites--and are forced to mingle with lower classes, inviting their architect and the local doctor to dinner. Levin and Vronsky each manage their own estate, but where Levin acts sincerely and concentrates on running his farm, Vronsky simply plays the role of large landowner, building his hospital, acting as a great philanthropist, and developing an interest in politics. The guests at Levin's live simply, picking mushrooms for entertainment and enjoying one another's company; the guests at Vronsky's live lavishly, racing horses, boating, and enduring awkward conversations.

Each couple also endures unreasonable jealousy, but where Levin confronts his jealousy straight on, realizes Kitty's innocence, and throws Veslovsky out of his home for courting his wife, Anna continues to give in to her jealous rages, and drives Vronsky further and further away from her. At the Nobility Elections, Levin is baffled by the meaningless social formulas that drive the candidate's meaningless ambitions, while Vronsky gets caught up in the competetive excitement. Levin is unable to pretend to feel other than he does about Society, while Vronksy's feelings, apart from his love for Anna, are dictated primarily by his social circle.

Koznyshev's failure to propose to Varenka in Chapter 5 reintroduces the larger theme of commitment to one's choices, what Levin called 'heart' in Part 3. Koznyshev wants to propose to Varenka, but the social circumstance of their conversation--they are talking about mushrooms--makes it awkward for him to introduce the subject, and he can find neither the words nor the courage. Though he is a very intelligent man, Koznyshev's inner strength is insufficient to overcome his social embarrassment. Where Levin simply blurted out his first proposal to Kitty, Koznyshev shies away from the subject and loses his moment forever, with the understanding that 'all was over.'

This section, tracing as it does Kitty's pregnancy, strongly reemphasizes the theme of family as a component of marriage and love. Dolly is continually hurt by Oblonsky's infidelities, but her love for and duty to her children makes it impossible for her to think seriously of leaving him. Levin is sometimes annoyed by Kitty's extended family summering at his estate, but he grudgingly enjoys their company, and they give a kind of support to the everyday life of his marriage. Anna, on the other hand, remains disinterested in her daughter, and misses Serezha, her legitimate child, powerfully. She tries to fill the void by supporting an English family abandoned by its father, but this desperate attempt to form a personal connection outside of Vronsky fails to bring her real peace.

g) Al doilea volum, partea a 7-a

As Section 7 develops, Anna reaches the lowest depths of her isolation and despair. Her inner guilt over her betrayal of Karenin, and her sense of herself as a fallen woman, make it impossible for her to trust Vronsky, and she reasons that if he loves her less, it must be because he loves another woman more. She reads voraciously and tries to flirt with every man she meets--including Levin-- but cannot escape a growing preoccupation with her own death. She thinks dying might redeem her sin toward her husband and child, and also renew Vronsky's love for her. Again she dreams of the old man with the tangled beard leaning over and muttering, and wakes in a cold sweat.

Anna's suicide is preceded by a period of inner chaos and self-torture, as she travels through the streets thinking hopeless confused thoughts about everyone she sees. Her meeting with Kitty at Dolly's house is a reminder of her guilt and her shame. The complete obliteration of her external life apart from her love affair with Vronsky, her unrelenting sense of shame, leave her with nothing more than a desire for release from pain: 'There!' she cries, looking at the oncoming train, 'into the very middle, I shall punish him and escape from everybody and from myself!' Her inner life and her external life are hopelessly out of balance; her passion has devoured her capacity for calm; even the drugs have begun to give her nightmares. Death is the only rest she can find. That she dies asking God for forgiveness is testament to her inner sense of guilt-- and the supernatural foreshadowing of her dreams is given flesh, as her last sight is of the muttering peasant, working near her at the rails.

Just as Nicholas's death preceded the news of Kitty's pregnancy, Anna's death precedes the baby's birth. Kitty's pregnancy is bracketed by death, and the birth of the baby is the one bright spot in this dark section of the novel. Levin is overwhelmed and surprised by the event after his weeks in the social whirl of city life, and experiences it with almost painful intensity. Levin's commitment to his loved ones is so strong that he terrified of even the possibility of their suffering. He is utterly unlike Vronsky, who is intentionally cold toward Anna though he knows it hurts her, and utterly unlike Anna herself, whose suicide is partially an attempt to torment Vronsky.

Oblonsky's failure to convince Karenin he should divorce Anna is, in one sense, irrelevant; Anna's suicide is not based on Karenin's refusal. But the attempt is nonetheless significant, simply because it shows the results of Karenin's downfall. This formerly confident and powerful man is reduced, by a pretense of dignity, into taking advice from an utterly ridiculous spiritual hoax, the sleep-talking medium Landau. All the outward signs of Karenin's former greatness have vanished, and lacking the inner resources to deal with his crises, he is sustained only by Lydia Ivanova. He is left, in his final scene, a hypocrite, a coward, and a fool.

h) Al doilea volum, partea a 8-a

Section 8 essentially functions as an epilogue to the novel. Its events do little to further the main plot, which ended properly with Anna's death, but it serves two main functions. It concludes the story of Vronsky, showing the consequences of Anna's suicide for the man who most deeply loved her. And it describes Levin's salvation from his spiritual and philosophical doubts, through an epiphany that answers many of the thematic questions posed by the rest of the novel.

Levin's realization that knowledge of goodness is innate--that 'goodness is beyond the chain of cause and effect' within each individual--is central to Tolstoy's thematic intention for Anna Karenina, and casts light on each character's story. Tolstoy's postulation of a fundamental moral sense within each person explains the shape of each character's life, and offers a mechanism by which inner feelings may be reconciled with external life. Levin, for instance, despite his philosophical doubts, lives according to his innate sense of goodness, prioritizing his family and his work, and he finds happiness with Kitty. But Anna acts against her inner moral sense, betraying her marriage because of her overriding passion for Vronsky. Her inner shame (as much as her outward isolation) leads her to death.

It is perhaps not quite this simple: the question remains whether the harsh judgement visited on Anna is fair, when her sin is no less than those of happier characters such as Oblonsky. But whether the social institutions that condemn her are right or wrong, Anna Karenina is more than a glorification of romantic passion, justifying Anna's behavior by her love. The epigraph, 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay,' indicates that the harmful consequences of Anna's actions, as well as her initial violation of her innate moral sense, are inexcusable, and demand her death. And Levin's epiphany indicates that, within the sphere of marriage and social obligation, an inner feeling of commitment and duty must at least mitigate the heedless obedience of passion, whether that duty is fair, unfair, or even tragic.