Having recently finished reading the novel L.N.Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina I wanted to write a review, analysis, opinion on it. In short, as you please. In short, I decided to share my opinion with the people.
I chose the gaming site for a reason; I love to play and I think that books and games are a very similar genre. I’ll say right away that my review will not be deeply analytical, as in literature lessons, when the teacher puts his emphasis on the fact that the color of the house is yellow for a reason, but that the author means some deep meaning and that’s all.)
If you ever meet a person who will boast that he has read this novel, and you ask him about the plot and what the book is about in general, and this person will answer you that the book is about a fallen woman and her subsequent suicide, then give this person cabbage soup and do not listen to him.This novel is not at all about Anna Karenina, 40% of the power is written about her in the novel.The rest of the time L.N Tolstoy describes the life of the upper class and the second main character Konstantin Levin, he will act as the antipode of Karenina.
Heroes and families of the novel.
Photos of family trees.
Main families.
1) Oblonsky
2) Shcherbatskys
3)Karenins
4) Levins
(See the family composition in the picture above)
Main characters.
Konstantin Levin
Konstantin Levin is a rather rich landowner with a large estate in which he conducts all the affairs himself. Prefers rural life. A very humble man. In love with one of the heroines of the novel, Kitty Shcherbatskaya. And at first glance it seems that this is the most positive character in the novel, but he also has a flaw. He completely lacks faith and does not understand the meaning of life and why he lives. Throughout the novel, thoughts of suicide creep in. But in Levin’s story, everything ends well.
P.S
My favorite book character, I worried about him more than myself.
Anna Karenina
The main character of the novel, nodepositbonuscasinos.co.uk a St. Petersburg socialite, sister of Stepan Arkadyevich Oblonsky and wife of Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin. A young woman, approximately 30 years old at the time of the affair. A woman who had everything: a husband, a son, status in society, which was no less important for that time. But she cannot cope with her passion for Vronsky and throughout the entire novel she ruins her life.
Alexey Vronsky
Young guards officer, aide-de-camp. He is a representative of the “golden youth” of St. Petersburg. He is a very rich young man with great connections. Vronsky leads a luxurious and carefree life in St. Petersburg. Vronsky falls passionately in love with a married lady, Anna Karenina, who reciprocates his feelings.
Alexey Karenin
Alexey Karenin is the husband of the main character of the novel, Anna Karenina. He is 20 years older than his wife. Apparently, Alexei Karenin’s age is about 50 years old.
Karenin is a high-ranking official of one of the ministries, an influential statesman. He dedicated his life to serving the country. A very busy man with a high position in society. Career and position in society always come first for Karenin. Karenin is also a deeply religious person.
Kitty Shcherbatskaya
Kitty is the younger sister of Dolly Oblonskaya, wife of Stiva Oblonsky. Stiva, in turn, is the brother of the main character, Anna Karenina. At the beginning of the novel, Kitty is only 18 years old. At the beginning of the book, she is in love with Vronsky and is waiting for a proposal from him, but Vronsky falls in love with Karenina and follows on her heels. It breaks a girl’s heart. Kitty takes the insult seriously. At the same time, even before Vronsky appeared, Levin wooed her, but she refused him.
Kitty herself is a very educated and smart girl. According to Anna Karenina, Kitty looks like a lovely flower. Over time, Kitty realizes that she loves Levin, Vronsky was a hobby and she asks Levin for forgiveness. They end up getting married.
Two stories
As I wrote above about the similarities between games and books, I meant that games have different plots and endings, just like in literature. For example, in this novel you can imagine that Tolstoy, as a developer, gives the choice to go through the book for two characters. Both the endings and the plot are different. The heroes of two plots meet only once and not for long. Yes, even their stories are read differently. Some feelings awaken for Anna, but when Levin’s story begins, completely different emotions arise, this can be compared to gameplay.)
I will briefly describe the walkthrough for Levin and Anna.
At the beginning we are shown Anna’s life, her position in society, her attitude towards her husband and son. In general, everything is fine in her life. The story begins when she receives a letter that her brother Stiva has cheated on his wife and she intends to file for divorce. To prevent this, Anna goes to her brother to reconcile him with his wife.
Arriving at the place, she reconciles Steve with his Wife (Dolly). To celebrate, Steve takes Anna to the ball and there Karenina meets Vronsky. Vronsky was supposed to propose to Kitty, but he switches to Anna and falls unconsciously in love. Anna, in turn, fell in love with him, but did not fully understand it yet.
After the reconciliation of the spouses, Anna decides to return to St. Petersburg, Vronsky follows on her heels. And after some time they become lovers, Anna herself doesn’t understand what she’s doing, but she can’t stop.
Soon Anna becomes pregnant from Vronsky. Anna is completely cold towards her husband. Alexei Karenin begins to suspect something, and rumors have already begun to circulate in society that Vronsky appears everywhere with Karenina.
The turning point comes at the races. Where Vronsky acts as a rider. Anna is sitting in the stands and watching everything that is happening very nervously, as she is worried about her lover. And Anna, in turn, is watched by her husband and he sees how worried she is, but does not understand why. And when Vronsky falls off his horse at full speed, Anna jumps up screaming, roaring, in short, hysterical. Karenin immediately understands everything and takes his wife home. Everything happens on emotions and then she tells him that she loves Vronsky, has been sleeping with him for a long time and is expecting a child from him.
Karenin understands that he has lost his wife completely, but he is more concerned about his position in society. And he orders Anna not to appear in public with Vronsky. If she breaks the agreement, he will file for divorce and keep his son.
Some time passes and the time comes to give birth, childbirth is painful. After giving birth, Anna and Vronsky leave for Europe.
This ends the first volume.
Having arrived back in Russia, they know that they cannot be shown in public, or rather Anna. And it’s not that it’s impossible, it’s just that now for society Anna is a woman with reduced social responsibility. And at that time, status in society meant a lot to people. Vronsky and Anna even live on different floors of the house. And then Vronsky begins to meet with his comrades and devote less time to her. She began to doubt his feelings and begins to be jealous of everyone.
The second turning point comes when Anna secretly sneaks into Karenin’s house for the birthday of her son Seryozha. A very tearful and heartbreaking scene begins where Anna meets with her son for just a couple of minutes. If I were a woman, I would probably cry out loud.
After this episode, something happens in Anna and she realizes that she sacrificed everything for Vronsky and he must do the same. But Vronsky doesn’t understand this. He still loves Anna, but he is no longer with her 24/7 and he thinks that everything is fine. But in fact, after meeting her son, Karenina begins to grow in anger and hatred towards Vronsky. Every trip of Vronsky anywhere is now like a stab with a knife for Anna, it irritates and infuriates her and she cannot understand why he goes somewhere and does not prefer her company and at these moments she thinks about how to punish him so that he feels pain like she does. Vronsky cannot understand what is happening and what he is doing wrong.
As a result, Anna’s jealousy clouds her mind, hits her brain, she already thinks that Vronsky is cheating on her and is going to marry someone else, but in reality he is not. Plus, she knows that she will never see her son again and she has nothing to lose in life. Under the influence of wild anger, hatred, irritation, she finds herself at the station and then she understands how to punish him.
Going down to the platform she jumps in front of the train.
This is how the story ends for Anna. The hero who had everything, including a kind soul, by the end of the book became embittered with the whole world and solved the problem by committing suicide.
The plot for Levin
The second main character of the novel is Konstantin Levin or Levin, I still don’t understand. His story begins with his matchmaking with Kitty Shcherbatskaya and subsequent refusal. In upset feelings, he returns to his village and decides to seriously take care of the housekeeping in order to drive away thoughts about Kitty. He is also starting to write a book about agriculture in Russia. When you read the story about Levin, you get the feeling that Tolstoy himself likes Levin and he puts in him all the best human qualities that he can have. But Levin also has flaws. Sometimes thoughts flash through him about why he lives and what the purpose of all living things is. All these thoughts and Kitty’s refusal lead him to the point that he wanted to hang himself. He even kept the bundle in his desk.
But all thoughts of suicide disappear when he starts doing housework. During the course of the novel, Konstantin is in his village. He gets busy with housework for a reason, he not only walks around and gives instructions, but also gets to work himself, where it interests him. In the first volume there is an excerpt from several chapters where Levin mows the grass with the men and he likes it. And the men, in turn, don’t understand why the master mows the grass and generally works.
Soon he meets Kitty again. This time she explains to him and apologizes that the first time she refused him, but now she regrets it. Characters confess their love to each other.
This ends the first volume.
The second volume begins with the wedding of Levin and Kitty. After the wedding, Kitty becomes pregnant and they leave for Moscow because medicine there is better than in the village. In Moscow, Levin does not feel comfortable, he has no activities, and he does not enjoy simple parties and is drawn back to the village. During this period of time, he meets Anna and, under the influence of wine, briefly falls in love with her. But the morning after the meeting all feelings disappear.
After some time, Kitty begins to give birth. Levin can’t find a place for himself. And for Levin, the birth of his wife became a turning point, as faith began to awaken within him. After giving birth, he is upset that he does not feel love for his son, but only disgust and pity. The question of faith, of finding one’s place in life confronts the hero in full view. Returning to the village with his wife and son, Konstantin begins to thoroughly think through the problem. Levin comes to the conclusion that the reason is to blame for everything, which, out of “pride” and “cunning”, forces him to look for answers to insoluble questions, provokes despondency and despair. This conclusion leads the hero to deny the rights of reason to decide the question of the meaning of life and to the affirmation of the laws of love and conscience given to man from birth. After this realization, Levin fell in love with his life and his son. He rejoices in his openness to goodness, love for his neighbors and the world.
This is where Levin’s story ends.
Stories Results
Having read the novel to the end, you understand that Tolstoy puts Levin’s ending in contrast to Karenin’s.
Anna becomes a victim of her own actions. Happiness based on the destruction of the family turned out to be impossible. She begins to be overcome by jealousy and some kind of female psychosis, thoughts that Vronsky has stopped loving her and this is all driving her crazy. These thoughts lead Anna to commit suicide for revenge. Blindly following passion is a bad path for a person. Tolstoy’s main idea in this novel is the search for truth, the meaning of life. The embodiment of this idea was Levin, who found strength in himself and saved himself from the most terrible sin, thanks to the wisdom and love of life that was revealed to him.
P.S
You can write a lot more about this novel and analyze every page, but I described the most important thing in my opinion.)
I remember as a child someone told me that if you want to understand a woman, read Anna Karenina.Well, I read it, but I still didn’t understand women. Why did Anna become so jealous of Vronsky, why all these psychoses?. Perhaps this is the meaning that we will never understand women. But the novel just throws food for thought into your head with shovels. Therefore, I advise everyone to read it.
While we are in quarantine and have time =)