Summary
The Shcherbatskys are concerned about Kitty’s health,
which has been failing ever since the ball at which Vronsky slighted
her. Though secretly convinced that love is the cause of Kitty’s
ill health, the Shcherbatskys consult numerous doctors. Dolly attempts
to talk with Kitty about her feelings. Kitty is initially resistant
but then breaks down in tears. Dolly intuits that Kitty has rejected
Levin only to be forsaken by Vronsky, and that the pain of this
turn of events has devastated her.
Anna frequents a different social circle now, preferring
the company of Vronsky’s worldly cousin Betsy Tverskoy to that of
her former companion, the morally righteous Lydia Ivanovna. At a party,
rumors about Anna’s liaison with Vronsky spread, and Anna falls
prey to some vicious gossipers, though others defend her.
Anna and Vronsky meet at Betsy’s. Anna begs Vronsky to
drop their relationship and ask for Kitty’s forgiveness. Vronsky
affirms his hope for happiness with Anna, as her eyes assure him
that she loves him. Karenin enters but soon leaves, while Anna decides
to stay at Betsy’s for supper. At home Karenin meditates on his
feeling that something is amiss. He feels jealous, though he knows
jealousy is illogical. When he tries to picture Anna’s personal
life to himself, he becomes confused and uncomfortable.
When Anna arrives home from Betsy’s, her husband confronts her,
warning her about the risks of her behavior. Anna becomes mildly
indignant, affirming her right to a little merriment. Karenin states
that some things should lie hidden in one’s soul, implying that Anna’s
attraction to Vronsky is one such thing. Karenin tells Anna he loves
her, but she wonders what this means. She tells him she wants to
go to bed, and withdraws.
The narrative skips forward almost a year, to the point
at which Anna and Vronsky have finally consummated their affair.
After the deed is done, Anna sobs, saying that all she has now is
Vronsky. She tries to drive away her thoughts. Sleeping, she dreams
that both Karenin and Vronsky are her husbands.
Meanwhile, Levin’s sadness about Kitty’s rejection lingers.
He busies himself with farm planning on his estate and sends his brother
Nikolai, who suffers from tuberculosis, off to a spa in Europe for
treatment. Levin feels frustrated with his farm work and with the
stubbornness and stupidity of his peasant workers.
When the bell rings one day, Levin wonders whether his
brother Nikolai has come for a visit. He is pleased to see that
it is Stiva Oblonsky. Levin, grateful for a potential source of
information about Kitty, takes Stiva out to hunt birds. Unexpectedly,
Levin blurts out a question about Kitty, unable to restrain his
curiosity. When Stiva replies that Kitty is ill, Levin is oddly
pleased, thinking that he has had an effect on her.
On the way home, Levin and Stiva discuss a forest that
Stiva plans to sell. Levin claims the deal is shady and accuses
the merchant buyer of intending to cheat Stiva. Visiting the merchant
along with Stiva, Levin refuses to shake the merchant’s hand. Stiva
makes the sale anyway, and later playfully accuses Levin of snobbery.
Analysis
In these chapters we see a number of characters who recognize,
or deny, their feelings. Emotional self-knowledge becomes a crucial theme.
Anna and Levin are at one end of the emotional spectrum, acknowledging
what they feel and accepting the troubling consequences that accompany
their feelings, come what may. Other characters, however, are less
able to admit their inner emotions to themselves or to others. Kitty,
with her evasive and roundabout attitude toward Levin, serves as
a direct contrast to Anna and her unquestioning acceptance of her
feelings for Vronsky. The image of Levin haunts Kitty both while
he courts her and after she rejects him, but all the while she is
unable to admit to herself that she cares for him. Kitty’s alleged
illness is a clear cover-up for and result of her emotional pain.
She thinks she feels humiliation when in fact she feels a deep affection
that reveals itself as Anna Karenina unfolds. Kitty’s
conversation with Dolly, in which Kitty breaks down in tears on
the subject of Levin, marks one stage in Kitty’s gradual acceptance
of her feelings. For Kitty, this is a slow process. The difference is
striking: Anna acknowledges her love for Vronsky in a matter of days,
whereas Kitty takes years to accept her feelings for Levin.
Karenin contrasts even more extremely with Anna’s and
Levin’s emotional self-honesty. Whereas Kitty stifles her feelings,
Karenin locks them away entirely, even going so far as to reject
the very idea of emotional truth. After Anna returns home from Betsy’s,
Karenin, in reference to Anna’s fantasies about Vronsky, tells her
that some things in a person’s soul are best kept hidden. This word
choice is revealing: Karenin does not mind that his wife may have
feelings for another man—he only objects to her acting on them in
a way that other people can see. For Karenin, repression is a way
of life: he has kept his feelings so quarantined that his approach
to life and love is wholly, coldly rational. When coming to terms
with his jealousy of Vronsky, Karenin does not succumb to passion
or violence but tries to convince himself that jealousy is “illogical,”
as if his troubles with Anna were a math problem rather than a deeply
personal matter. This dry, analytical approach defines not only
Karenin’s relationship to his wife but also his profession and attitude
toward his work. Much like his character Levin, Tolstoy hated bureaucrats
such as Karenin, rejecting their way of transforming the whole of
life into equations, rules, and quotas. For Tolstoy, such cold rationality
was anti-Russian. He believed that those like Karenin presented
not merely romantic failure but a social threat as well.
The most crucial plot event in the novel—the consummation
of Anna’s and Vronsky’s love—passes almost unnoticed. Whether Tolstoy
chose to leave this love scene undeveloped for reasons of censorship
or artistry, the event is marked only by an ellipsis between Chapters
10 and 11. Whatever the reason, this omission forces us to see that
titillation is not Tolstoy’s aim in writing the novel. Anna Karenina is
a novel of ideas much more than a tale of lust. As such, it focuses
on the thoughts and feelings this love affair elicits rather than
on what actually happens in the bedroom. The bleakness of Chapter
11, the scene immediately after the affair begins, highlights how
far from sexy the situation is. Vronsky’s seduction of Anna is marked
by sadness rather than happiness, contrary to all our expectations.
Anna is not joyful but grieving, sobbing and declaring that she
has lost everything—right at the moment when she gets everything
she has wanted. Anna’s emotions are those of a jilted lover, not a
fulfilled one. We realize what a tragic figure Anna is and see that her
love is marked not by pleasure but by desperation.
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