Anna Karenina
By Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)
"All happy families are alike but an unhappy family
is unhappy after his own fashion."
1. Leo Tolstoy is the name of the 19" century Russian novelist. He is popularly well-known as a novelist specially for writing War and Peace. Besides, Resurrection is another famous novel written by him. But at the same time, we can't refuse the necessity and the significance of the novel Anna Karenina for having an exact idea about Russian life, culture and society. In fact, Anna Karenina is such a brilliant novel which reflects the decadent Russian society through the illicit love affair of the hero and the heroine..
2. Anna Karenina is a novel of dream, desire, and expectations having the cultivation of illicit love-affair between the hero and the heroine. Anna as a heroine believes in extreme romanticism which is related to passion and sensation. Anna wants to pass her time with her husband peacefully and delightfully. Karenin as a husband loves his wife very much but Anna cannot realize his love. He expresses his feelings about Anna in this way:
"I am your husband and I love you more than life."
But Karenin cannot give her enough time as he likes to invest his valuable time for the welfare of the people of St. Petersburg. In fact, Karenin is a philanthropist and human thinker who prefers social welfare. Anna criticizes Karenin in the following way:
"He is not a man, not a human being, he is a doll. No one knows him but I know him."
The fact is that Anna, the wife of Karenin is only 23 years old but her husband is more than 50 years old like Chillingworth in “The Scarlet Letter”. Karenin really loves his wife very much.
3. Anna feels very boring and monotonous life with Karenin as he doesn't know the very technique of capturing the heart of his wife. She says:
"He is not a human being but a machine, a cruel machine when he is angry."
Anna has a son named Serioza who is 8 years old. Sometimes she wishes to escape from the reality of life but she can't because of Serioza. So it is clearly proved that Anna as a mother is highly responsible, sensible, affectionate and lovable to her son.
4. Once Dolly, the wife of Oblonsky, wrote a letter to Anna to solve the conjugal problem between Oblonsky and Dolly. In fact, Oblonsky made an illicit love affair with a lady of this society. Being very insulted and irritated she has requested Anna to come to her house and to solve her conjugal problem. Finding no other alternative, she has decided to go to the house of Oblonsky and Dolly. While she was going, she stopped at the Moscow Railway Station where Vronsky, the hero of this novel was waiting for a train. Both of them looked at each other and fell in love at the very first sight.
5. Anna who is mentally ready to solve the conjugal problem between Oblonsky and Dolly is seriously obstacled by the extreme handsomeness of Vronsky at the Moscow Railway Station. Vronsky, the hero of the novel is very young and energetic army officer but he has willingly taken his early retirement. Both Anna and Vronsky are puzzled and spell bound to look at each other. Anna who is very unhappy in her conjugal life has considered Vronsky as her life partner. So the mentality of solving the conjugal problem between Oblonsky and Dolly has become a boomerang.
6. In the novel Anna Karenina, there is another significant and important character named Levin who is the mouthpiece and spokesman of Leo Tolstoy. In fact, Levin is highly philanthropic and humanitarian as he likes to improve the social condition by using his merit, labor and energy. Levin as a human thinker believes in the scientific cultivation. As an agro-based philosopher, he always wishes to improve the condition of the farmers of Russia. Actually, he believes in the philosophy that if the farmers are economically developed, the whole country will be automatically developed. So it is clear and vivid that Levin doesn't believe in subjectivity rather he believes in objectivity and universality.
7. Levin has fallen in love with Kitty sister of Dolly. but Kitty has rejected the proposal of Levin as she herself has fallen in love with Vronsky. But Vronsky is not so impressed by the beauty and style of Kitty rather he prefers Anna to make his beloved. Being rejected Levin is very frustrated and broken-hearted. He comments about women:
"Woman is such a creature that the more you study her, the more interesting she becomes."
Kitty becomes sick because of frustration. Once, Dolly tempts Levin to propose Kitty again. Kitty thinks that she is not of that class of Vronsky and not suitable for him. This time she accepts the proposal of Levin. Now she also loves Levin. She comments about Levin:
"She loved him because she understood him completely."
In the meantime, they got married and started a happy conjugal life. Kitty was not so charitable and was not so concerned about the wretched condition of the people of her society whereas Levin was a very industrious and kind-hearted who wanted to change the life of the downtrodden and persecuted people of Russia. Levin says to Kitty:
"You must believe me that nothing in the world is achieved without effort, not even love."
Later Levin notices that gradually Kitty is also becoming a sacrificing soul for the welfare of the mass people of the society.
8. Karenin, the husband of Anna, is a man of social dignity and responsibility as he cherishes philanthropy in his mind. As a political figure, he likes to invest his merit and labor for the improvement of that society. Because of his excessive devotion to work, Anna says:
"Women hate men for their vice but I hate him for his virtues. I cannot live with him."
Anna always expects more time and love from her husband but the result goes against her. When Anna has seen Vronsky at the Moscow Railway Station, she has started to love him which actually goes forward to the illicit love affair. People are making rumor because of the illicit love affair between Anna and Vronsky and in this way the image of dignity and the social position of Karenin has been degraded. People have already started to criticize Karenin for his henpeckedness.
9. Once Karenin decides to take a step against his wife and he fervently requested his wife not to jeopardize his personality in front of the people. Anna has also realized the reality that such illicit love affair can't go on in such a way and decided to make a gap with Vronsky. In fact, Anna is thinking not only about the dignity of her husband but also about the future of her son Serioza. But Anna could not keep up the request of her husband because when she heard about the accident of Vronsky, she rushed to the spot. It means that it was really the spontaneous overflow of her love towards Vronsky. She blames and criticizes herself-
"Had I been in his place, I should have killed and torn that wife of mine into pieces long ago."
In fact, here Anna's sense of realization, sense of self-criticism and sense of penance are vividly reflected.
10. If we want to compare and contrast between Anna-Karenin and Levin-Kitty, we come to see that the conjugal life of Anna and Karenin is based on adultery, infidelity and immorality. On the other hand, the conjugal life of Levin and Kitty is the reflection of morality, idealism, mutual-trust and understanding.
11. Both Anna and Vronsky are infatuated and engrossed with each other and they decided to elope to Italy. Going to Italy, the illusion has started to disappear because of the reluctance and indifferent outlook of Vronsky towards Anna. Anna is pregnant for the second time but this pregnancy is not for Vronsky rather Karenin is the real father of the would be child. But Vronsky has mentality to take the responsibility of the child. When Anna becomes the mother of a daughter, Vrosnky seems to be more indifferent and more reluctant to take the responsibility of her daughter.
12. Anna becomes very shocked and pessimistic as she harbours nostalgia in her mind. She wants to go back to St. Petersburg to see her son Serioza. She requested Vronsky to take her to her own city but Vronsky is very irritated with the childish treatment of Anna. Finding no other alternative, Vronsky is forced to create the opportunity for her to see Serioza but Serioza could not come out from the house.
13. Being rejected and heart-broken, Anna has decided to commit suicide. She believes that suicide is the only alternative in her life as she is isolated from her husband Karenin as well as Vronsky. Vronsky is fed up to see and to bear the acute problem of Anna. When Anna has wished to commit suicide, Vronsky says:
"I am not holding you. You are at liberty to go where you please!"
Hearing the answer from Vronsky, Anna speaks like a mad. She says:
"Where am I? What am I doing? Why?"
Ultimately Anna has jumped over a running train and committed suicide but before committing suicide she says:
"God, forgive me everything"
14. Eventually, we can comment that Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is certainly a tragic novel as we have seen the tragic death of our beloved heroine.
