Summary
Levin’s half-brother, Sergei Koznyshev, takes a break
from his intellectual work by visiting Levin at his country estate.
Whereas Koznyshev sees the countryside as a place of leisure, Levin
sees it as a place of hard labor. The brothers also have different
attitudes toward the peasantry: Koznyshev is naïvely affectionate,
whereas Levin has a close familiarity with the peasants that makes
him occasionally critical. But if one were to ask Levin whether
or not he loved the peasantry, he would be unable to answer.
On his walks with Levin in the country, Koznyshev waxes
lyrical about the beauty of nature, while Levin prefers simply to
look at his surroundings without comment. The men discuss the zemstvo board
and the sad state of local affairs. Koznyshev wonders why nothing
good comes from the money landowners pay to local bureaucrats, as
there are no schools, doctors, or midwives to show for these payments.
He chastises Levin for withdrawing from the zemstvo, where
he might have exerted a positive impact. Levin asserts that such
bureaucratic work was futile and frustrating for him. The next day,
Levin works through his troubles by doing hard labor, mowing his
fields alongside forty-two peasant men. The work exhilarates him,
and he feels a higher force moving his scythe. Back home, Koznyshev
hands Levin a letter from Dolly, in which she writes that she is
at her nearby estate of Yergushovo.
Dolly has moved to the country to reduce household expenses, but
she finds the hardships of rural life almost unbearable. Only with
the help of the nanny, Matryona, is Dolly able to set up house decently.
One day, Levin visits Dolly, who eagerly broaches the subject of
Kitty. Levin reveals that he had proposed to Kitty and been refused.
Contrary to Levin’s assumption, Dolly did not already know about
his rejected proposal. Dolly affirms that Kitty is suffering even
more than Levin. Dolly attempts to talk about the future of a relationship
between Levin and Kitty, but Levin gets angry, saying that such
possibilities are dead forever.
The next day, Levin inspects his hay reserves, finding
that the peasants have been cheating him of a considerable portion
of his income, although they all cheerfully deny his claim. Despite
this annoyance, Levin feels that the countryside is where he belongs
and that he is not destined to marry. But when he glimpses Kitty
passing by him in a carriage one day, his love for her suddenly
returns.
Karenin sticks to his routine doggedly after Anna’s revelation
of her adultery, attempting to live as if nothing has changed. Inwardly, however,
the pain he feels and represses leads him to curse Anna as a “depraved
woman.” He also grows more distant and cold toward his son, Seryozha.
Karenin recites to himself the long list of men whom women have
ruined over the course of history, from ancient to modern times.
He considers challenging Vronsky to a duel but rejects the idea
out of fear of pistols. Karenin reasons that the best punishment
for Anna is to keep her bound to him, unable to divorce. He writes
a letter to her explaining this plan to her formally.
Anna is utterly surprised by Karenin’s decision, disappointed that
the divorce for which she yearns will not come to pass. She is enraged
at the prospect of prolonging her life of lies with Karenin. She
writes a letter to him, telling him she is leaving the house and taking
her son with her, but in the end she does not send the letter.
