Anna Karenina is not merely a love story; it’s about society’s expectations, the pressure on women, the elusiveness of love and fleeting passion, and the ongoing search for meaning in this life. It’s one of the great romances written by Leo Tolstoy in Russian and world Literature.
The story takes place in Russia during the 19th century. It is phenomenal because of its complexity, making us question whether love can exist without duty, what the repercussions of the fleeting passion are, whether passion can be mistaken for love, whether society’s expectations ground the heavenly love, and whether to build a meaningful life, we should accept the consequences of our choices and responsibility. This post includes spoilers.
Imagine Leo Tolstoy sitting in his dacha (a summer house), reading Pushkin. In his book, he reads: “The guests were gathering at a summer house…” This simple phrase comforts him, in a way, enlightens, and puts a beginning to his world-famous novel Anna Karenina. Another interesting thing happens to him, which sparks his imagination. Maria Sukhotina, a woman familiar to him, who left her husband for another man, throws herself under the train. The above events leave an unforgettable mark on Leo Tolstoy, and he starts working on his novel.
Anna Karenina isn’t merely a romance; it’s written in the realism genre because, in addition to love, feelings, emotions, and passion, it unveils important societal problems, norms, and expectations of 19th-century Russian society. It is psychological and reflects much on society, its norms and expectations, love, passion, and consequences.
Anna Karenina is an intelligent, beautiful, and passionate woman, married to Alexey Karenin, a high-ranking, cold, rational, obsessed with social prestige official. She travels from Europe to Russia to visit her brother to save his marriage to Dolly, his wife, after he cheats on her. However, on the train, she encounters Count Vronsky, a young, charming, ambitious, beautiful-looking officer, and she cannot hold herself from falling in love with him. This fateful encounter carries severe repercussions for her and her reputation in society. What starts with a fleeting sympathy grows into a passionate romance, transitioning into a huge societal scandal and drama. Anna is portrayed as a fallen woman, leaving her with heavy feelings of guilt, remorse, and shame. Moreover, she realizes that what she considers the biggest love worth fighting for is merely a temporary attraction for her lover, Vronsky. His love starts to fade, while her husband doesn’t let her see her son, as if only she doesn’t return. She feels trapped, overwhelmed, and betrayed, as if she’s standing on the edge of a cliff and there’s no one to save her from herself. Was her love worth all the sacrifices she made? She wishes she had never known Vronsky; unwilling to continue this kind of solitary life, she takes her life, throwing herself under a train. Anna Karenina is a beautiful soul, passionate but ultimately doomed by love and societal expectation. That is a tragic ending to this epic story.
Another key figure in this story is Levin, a speaking character for Tolstoy himself. Meanwhile, we have Levin—a country landowner who represents Tolstoy himself. Through hard work and family, he pursues truth, meaning, and purpose in life. Through marriage, responsibility, loyalty, working on the land, working hard, he finds peace, which makes us question the following: Are these fleeting allures of love and passion truly worth it; or is it much happier to leave a stable, meaningful, virtuous life in the pursuit of good?
Love. Passion. Desire. Destruction. In the novel, the love described between Anna and Vronsky is more of a short-term, obsessive love that burns mainly on the sexual attraction; it is doomed and irrational, passionate, but dangerous. What once started as the allure of beauty, a breath of fresh air for Anna from her mundane routine and loveless life, sharply turns into toxicity and obsession. What once freed her, in the end, puts her into a cage; overwhelms her with paranoia, insecurities, fear of abandonment, and losing meaning in life. She’s helpless and so lonely in her desperation, which makes their love with Vronsky dark, consuming, and poisonous. It is very different from the pure, steady, long-lasting love slowly built between Levin and Kitty. Their relationship is built more on understanding, mutual respect, and a desire to build something that lasts, filling it with deeper meaning. Tolstoy’s point is that love without responsibility leads to suffering. Passion makes one feel as high as a kite, but without trust, commitment, and structure, it will eventually fall.
Societal Norms. Expectations. Judgement. Tolstoy questions the rigid norms of 19th-century Russian society, when hypocrisy and double standards are flourishing. Why Oblonsky, who cheats on his wife out of an instinctive behavior is forgiven, or never even ashamed by society, while Anna, who got to experience her very first love and follows her heart is so heavily judged without leaving her with no other choice then to end her life in the world where no one, at least tries to understand her. Why don’t we label men as “fallen” as well?
She is not wanted anywhere, by no one: not her husband, not society, not even by Vronsky, who, as a matter of fact, seduced her first. Why does society not judge him as well? In the same harsh way, they punished Anna. It is not the affair that kills her, but the burden of guilt, shame, isolation, gossip, and exile.
Exile. Isolation vs. Connection. In the novel, Tolstoy emphasizes the importance of connection and how isolation can perish one’s soul. When we see how Anna loses connection with her husband and son, cuts ties with society, and eventually grows distant from Vronsky, we understand that it is not love but loneliness that killed her. She was in her despair all alone, rejected by everyone; she was drowning in the ocean of misunderstanding. She couldn’t conceal her sins, but she was still a human who made a mistake. Aren’t we allowed to make mistakes? She was exiled from society, not wanted, not loved, isolated, and lonely. That’s the reason why she perished so fast, leaving behind only ashes. Here, Tolstoy draws a line of comparison with Levin, who realizes that happiness cannot be obtained through one person alone or solely by love. He finds comfort in everything: nature, work, his marriage, and family life, and through a deep connection with the world and an act of living, he finds peace and his place in life. Sometimes, we find happiness in everyday things, peace, and the routine we are already used to.
Mukhabbat Fayzullaeva – Prose Editor & Blogger: Mukhabbat is a Junior at Lewis University, majoring in English with a concentration in writing. She aspires to be a writer and has written three novels in Russian. Her favorite hobbies are reading books and writing. She also loves to play piano and dance. She’s driven by literature, and her favorite authors include Joanne Rowling, Dostoevsky, Theodore Draizer, Fredrick Backman, and John Green. Her favorite movies are La La Land and Breakfast at Tiffany’s.