Anna Karenina: The Woman Who Dares Anna is not a villain. She is not a saint. She is a woman who falls in love. Her husband, Alexei Karenin, is cold and bureaucratic. He does not love her. He loves his career. Anna’s affair with Vronsky begins as passion. It becomes obsession. She leaves her son, Seryozha. She is shunned by society. She cannot divorce. She cannot marry Vronsky. She becomes jealous. She takes morphine. She throws herself under a train. Her death is the novel’s climax. Tolstoy does not judge her. He pities her. The reader pities her. She is a victim of her own heart.
Vronsky: The Lover Who Cannot Save Vronsky is handsome, charming, and shallow. He loves Anna. He also loves his freedom. He gives up his career for her. He becomes bored. He resents her jealousy. He leaves her alone. He goes to the theater. He goes to his club. He does not understand her despair. After her death, he volunteers for the Serbian war. He wants to die. He is a tragic figure. He is also a coward.
Karenin: The Cuckold Who Forgives Karenin is the novel’s most complex character. He is cold. He is petty. He refuses Anna a divorce because he wants to punish her. Then he forgives her. He takes care of her illegitimate daughter. He is mocked by society. He finds comfort in religion. He is not a hero. He is not a villain. He is a man who does his duty. Tolstoy respects him. The reader does not love him.
Levin: The Seeker Levin is Tolstoy’s stand-in. He is awkward, honest, and spiritual. He proposes to Kitty, a young woman. She rejects him. She loves Vronsky. Vronsky loves Anna. Kitty is hurt. She accepts Levin. They marry. They have a child. Levin is happy. He is also dissatisfied. He cannot believe in God. He cannot not believe. He watches a peasant speak about living for the soul. He understands. He does not convert. He accepts. Levin’s story runs parallel to Anna’s. She falls. He rises. She dies. He lives.
The Train: The Symbol of Death Trains run through the novel. Anna meets Vronsky on a train. A guard is killed. Anna sees it as an omen. She kills herself on a train. The train is modern. It is fast. It is impersonal. It destroys. Tolstoy hated modernity. He loved the land. Levin farms. He mows with the peasants. He is alive. Anna rides the train. She is dead.
Society: The Hypocrites Anna is destroyed by society. The same society that tolerates adultery condemns her because she is open about it. The women who have affairs shun her. The men who visit prostitutes judge her. The hypocrisy is total. Tolstoy exposes it. He does not spare himself. He was a count. He owned serfs. He had affairs. He wrote the novel as a confession.
The Ending: The Epigraph The novel’s epigraph is from the Bible: “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” It is ambiguous. Who is the avenger? God? Society? Fate? Tolstoy does not say. He believed that we cannot judge. Only God can judge. The novel is his attempt to understand. It is also his warning.
Conclusion: “Anna Karenina” is a novel about love. It is also a novel about death. Anna loves. She dies. Levin loves. He lives. The difference is not luck. It is choice. Levin chooses the land. Anna chooses the train. The reader chooses.
