Anna Karenina

Kitty goes into labor, and Levin is thrown into panic, stunned by both her beauty and her suffering. He prays for deliverance, suddenly finding he has recovered faith. Levin rushes to the doctor, stunned and upset to find the man does not mirror his distress and simply promises to come in about an hour. Levin is in torment, scarcely attached to reality, and likens the experience to preparing for his brother’s death. He blames himself for her pain, and prays any time he feels himself reproaching God instead. Kitty’s pain grows so great Levin convinces himself this must be death; however, the baby’s birth restores him to awareness and happiness so great he weeps. Levin is so happy they are all alive he cannot truly contemplate that he has a son. He finds the experience gives him a new awe for women, and takes time to adjust to his son’s presence.

The narrative turns to Oblonsky, who is seeking a civil service post in the railway industry that requires little work but will help resolve his crushing debts. To lobby for it, he goes to St. Petersburg, also hoping to convince Karenin to give Anna a divorce. He learns that Karenin dislikes the current state of such civil service posts, considering them a waste of public expenditure. He asks Karenin for help anyway, reflecting his distaste that he has also had to cultivate the favor of a Jewish man despite his family’s venerable and ancient position in Russia’s nobility. This kind of anti-Semitism was routine in tsarist Russia, where Jews were also frequently subject to violence and legal discrimination.

As the conversation shifts to Anna, Karenin insists her situation is only just. He implies that she has everything she wants and cannot possibly need anything from him. He notes that he understood she gave up divorce because he would insist upon custody of Serezha, so there cannot be more to consider as his position is unchanged. Karenin claims he cannot consider Anna’s suffering above his own religious commitments, and asks for time to think. They are interrupted by Serezha, who is uncomfortable as he became ill after seeing Anna and a meeting with his uncle reminds him of his divided loyalties.

Oblonsky finds Petersburg more suitable to his tastes since he can leave family life, and the culture there does not expect men to take much interest in domestic affairs. He goes to Betsy’s, he flirts, and one of Anna’s former friends, Princess Miagky, praises her for openly doing what other society women hide. The princess explains to Stiva that he has been invited to Lydia’s because Karenin is dependent upon her and her spiritual advisor for all his choices, including the matter of a divorce. Lydia and Karenin are further dependent on Landau—a French spiritualist who has been adopted by a Russian noble and also uses the name and title Count Bezzubov.

Oblonsky arrives at Lydia’s and meets Landau; Lydia tells him he does not understand Karenin’s new exalted spiritual life. Stiva privately thinks that Lydia, too, could be useful in his new quest for the civil service post. Karenin and Lydia mildly reproach him for his lack of spiritual belief. Landau’s meditation begins, and Stiva finds his mind wandering, confused. Landau says that the most recent arrival must be sent away and denied his request. As soon as possible, he escapes for the theater, disturbed by the entire encounter. Oblonsky receives a note from Karenin refusing the divorce, basing his decision on the events of the séance.

Anna and Vronsky remain in limbo, unable to reach an accord and leave Moscow as they both wish. Each is angry with the other: Vronsky, for Anna’s jealousy and unpredictability, and Anna because she feels undervalued and unloved. She resents him for the loss of her son, his freedom, and the reminder that his mother wishes him to marry. She persuades himself that his dismissal of her English ward is a sign of his lack of love and appreciation for the loss of her son. But, in a calmer moment, she resolves that they should leave, and she should forgive him. He is relieved, but soon argues because he mentions visiting his mother, who Anna knows will arrange for him to meet the woman she wants him to marry. She accuses him of no longer loving her, and he says she has pushed him beyond reason. Just as she begins to think of death as a release, he agrees to her original departure plan. Vronsky urges her to remember how much he loves her, and that there is no reason for these endless fights that only hurt them both.

The next day, Anna packs for their departure to the estate. A telegram arrives that Vronsky reluctantly shows Anna: Stiva reports divorce is unlikely. Anna convinces herself this means Vronsky is lying about a love affair as well. They fight about the divorce, as she focuses on his reference to future children rather than that he mentioned concern for that issue and for her. He tries to point out that if they marry, she will no longer resent his freedom in the same way; she insists this matters less than passion, and dismisses his mother’s wishes for him. He becomes angry at her cruelty about his mother. They are interrupted by Yashvin, and Anna makes small talk with him while indicating to Vronsky she is still angry. He is tempted to comfort her, but leaves to see to his horses, and by the time he returns she has told the servants she has gone to bed.

Anna realizes this is “not a quarrel, but an obvious admission of a complete cooling off” (750). She loses herself in dark fantasies about Vronsky sending her back to Karenin with money, or imagining making him mourn her death after she has died via opium overdose. She goes to look at Vronsky, asleep in his study, and feels tenderness for him. She takes opium and has her old nightmare about the peasant who is working some dark spell over her and speaking in French. She tells Vronsky that she will not go to the country with him, and when he calls the situation “‘unbearable,’” she declares, “’you will regret that’” (753). He resolves to ignore her and leaves for his mother’s.

Anna sends a note to beg Vronsky to come back, and visits her daughter, briefly confusing Annie with her son, Serezha. Her maid reminds her she had plans to see Dolly. She learns Vronsky has gone to the railway station, and sends the messenger to his mother’s house. She sends a telegram and weeps. Her maid consoles her, urging her to leave the house and visit Dolly.

In the carriage, Anna’s thoughts race—from pondering the inner thoughts of passersby to Dolly’s reaction to her lost youth. Dolly greets Anna, saying the divorce still seems possible, judging by Stiva’s most recent letter. When Anna arrives and learns Kitty is there, she imagines Vronsky regretting their relationship, and that Dolly and Kitty will pity her. Dolly is surprised Anna despairs of the divorce and notices she is acting strange. Kitty reluctantly comes out to greet Anna, and finds she cannot hate her. Anna deliberately mentions meeting Levin, likely to provoke Kitty, and Kitty promises, simply, to convey her regards to him. Anna says goodbye to Dolly and the sisters are struck by her beauty. Dolly says “there’s something strange about her, when I saw her in the hallway I thought she was going to cry” (760).

Anna, still thinking in a kind of stream of consciousness, is glad she did not tell Dolly of her troubles and imagines Kitty loathing her. She goes home and receives word from Vronsky he will be back late, not realizing he has not gotten her more urgent note summoning him back. She decides to take a train to the country to confront him near his mother’s estate, or she imagines getting off the westbound train and settling in the nearest town. She reflects on her life with Vronsky, saying, “if I could be anything else but a mistress who passionately loves only his caresses, but I cannot and do not want to be anything else’” (764). Anna decides that the two have only begun to hurt each other, and regrets giving up her son for him.

Anna watches the people in the station, imagining them debased and suffering, as she is. She sees a mumbling peasant like in her dream, horrified. She rides the train, still lost in misanthropic thoughts. She finds Vronsky’s coachman at the station, and his apology for missing her note. She wanders through the station until she remembers her first meeting with Vronsky at the Moscow station, and the man’s death on the tracks. She decides to die by suicide in the same way and hurls herself under a passing train.