Anna's Dream

The Toilet (1860) by John Phillip

She dreamed that both were her husbands at once, that both were lavishing caresses on her. Alexei Alexandrovitch was weeping, kissing her hands, and saying, "How happy we are now!" And Alexei Vronsky was there too, and he too was her husband. And she was marveling that it had once seemed impossible to her, was explaining to them, laughing, that this was ever so much simpler, and that now both of them were happy and contented. But this dream weighed on her like a nightmare, and she awoke from it in terror (Pt. 2, Ch. 11).

Though Anna seems to have completely separated herself from her husband emotionally, she remains attached to him.  A recurring dream presents her as the wife of both Vronsky and Karenin.  The prospect of such an arrangement gladdens Karenin.  The main reason Karenin would like such an arrangement is that he would still be acknowledged by society as her husband.  He would not have a problem with Anna having a lover as long as society does not disapprove and the couple maintains their social standing.  Vronsky would satiate his passionate nature in obtaining the passionate woman he met in Moscow.  Tolstoy mentions that society looks favorably on a single man that carries on an affair with a married woman, so that Vronsky, similarly to Karenin, seeks the approval of society, though in a different fashion.  Interesting enough, both men share the first name Alexei, which signifies not only that they share certain character traits, such as ambition, but also that Anna extracts different needs from both men.  Karenin provides stability within society as well as a son on whom to bestow her maternal talents while Vronsky provides an outlet for her passion.

Nevertheless, Tolstoy, while describing both men as content with such an arrangement, never comments on Anna's satisfaction, except to say that the dream is a nightmare from which she awakens in terror.  Though through such a reality Anna could gratify all her desires and live outside of the judgment of others, she rejects it because her greatest desire is for truth.  She does not want to live falsely and hide her true feelings.  Scorned or not, Anna wants to live in the open and be true to herself.  She, unlike her lovers, places little value on the opinions of others.  She would be ostracized for the truth than accepted for a lie.

Fiery Passion

The Lover's Walk by Walter Dendy Sadler

"Yes, but how often the happiness of an arranged marriage scatters like dust, precisely because of the appearance of that very passion which was not acknowledged," said Vronsky (Pt. 2, Ch. 7).

One question that comes to mind is, why is Anna willing to risk everything for Vronsky?  What is it about him that she is drawn to?  Vronsky, unlike her husband Alexei, ignites her passion and awakens her to life.  When Anna first met Vronsky at the train station, she felt an inward glow caused by his observance of her.  Later at the ball, when Vronsky forsakes Kitty to dance with Anna, Kitty notices an animated side of Anna not visible earlier:

She saw in her (Anna) the signs of that excitement of success she knew so well in herself; she saw that she was intoxicated with the delighted admiration she was exciting. She knew that feeling and knew its signs, and saw them in Anna; saw the tremulous, flashing light in her eyes, and the smile of happiness and excitement unconsciously playing on her lips, and the deliberate grace, precision, and lightness of her movements (Pt 1, Ch. 23).

Anna is displaying a lightness of being, feeling tremulous because she is delving into unfamiliar terrain.  In her normal life with her husband Alexei, her life consists of boring political talk and local gossip.  But Vronsky creates a burning sensation that exudes an excitement for life, which Anna describes as "warm, very warm, hot" (Pt. 1, Ch 29).  The episode on the train ride back to St. Petersburg in which Anna feels very hot and steps out side in the middle of a blizzard is indicative of a her predicament.  Anna enjoys the fiery passion to which she was subjected in Moscow but feels obligated to cool that passion for the sake of her marriage.  Vronsky will not allow the passion to cool when he follows her to St. Petersburg.  With him, she feels a passion that is "joyful, burning, and exciting" but when Alexei expresses that he is "burning with desire to see you" (Pt.1, Ch. 30), his statement comes across as a mockery of the true feelings that Anna feels for Vronsky.  Unfortunately for Anna, one day with Alexei extinguishes the fire that was apparent in Moscow, a fire that only Vronsky can light.

Eye Opening Experience

Woman in Yellow (1863)  by Dante Gabriel Rosetti

'At Petersburg, as soon as the train stopped and she got out, the first person that attracted her attention was her husband. "Oh, mercy! why do his ears look like that?" she thought, looking at his frigid and imposing figure, and especially the ears that struck her at the moment as propping up the brim of his round hat' (Part 1, Ch. 30).

The above passage is telling in describing the relationship of Anna and her husband Alexei.  They have been married for nine years and have an eight year old son.  Despite that, this is the first time Anna has noticed Alexei's ears.  Her exclamation conveys the lack of intimacy between the couple.  She is unfamiliar with his physique and shocked by his protruding ears.  Although the scene at the ball with Vronsky seems to be a spontaneous act, the passage above proves that the break with her husband has been long in developing.  Though she has much disgust for her husband, Anna's only true concern is for her son.

She was especially struck by the feeling of dissatisfaction with herself that she experienced on meeting him. That feeling was an intimate, familiar feeling, like a consciousness of hypocrisy, which she experienced in her relations with her husband. But hitherto she had not taken note of the feeling, now she was clearly and painfully aware of it.

"Yes, as you see, your tender spouse, as devoted as the first year after marriage, burned with impatience to see you," he said in his deliberate, high-pitched voice, and in that tone which he almost always took with her, a tone of jeering at anyone who should say in earnest what he said.

"Is Seryozha quite well?" she asked.

"And is this all the reward," said he, "for my ardor? He's quite well..."

The encounter with Vronsky helped Anna have an epiphanic moment that allowed her to see her hypocritical relationship with her husband.  Alexei seems comfortable in playing his role but Anna can no longer pretend.  She  only cares for the well-being of her son and does not hide her feelings.

Two Suitors

Love's Interruptions by Frederick Morgan

Kitty has two suitors from which to choose and her choice is clear:  She picks Count Vronsky over Levin.  So why does she choose Vronsky?  Kitty is heavily influence by her mother's preference for Vronsky.  He is an aristocratic military man from St. Petersburg with an engaging personality.  As such he would be an excellent match.  Levin, on the other hand, is a shy but opinionated farmer from rural Russia.  While Vronsky is a newly arrived on the scene, Levin has known the Shcherbatsky family for years, though he abruptly left Moscow two months previous after pursuing Kitty persistently for several months.  His reason for leaving was his realization that Kitty's family, particularly her mother, would not like the match, though her father, The Prince, favors Levin.  Consequently, Kitty's attentions have been focused on Vronsky for the past two months. 

However, their conversation about spiritualism reveals a lot about their character and why Kitty makes the choice she does.

The conversation fell upon table-turning and spirits, and Countess Nordston, who believed in spiritualism, began to describe the marvels she had seen.

"Ah, countess, you really must take me, for pity's sake do take me to see them! I have never seen anything extraordinary, though I am always on the lookout for it everywhere," said Vronsky, smiling.

"Very well, next Saturday," answered Countess Nordston. "But you, Konstantin Dmitrievitch, do you believe in it?" she asked Levin.

"Why do you ask me? You know what I shall say."

"But I want to hear your opinion."

"My opinion," answered Levin, "is only that this table-turning simply proves that educated society—so called—is no higher than the peasants. They believe in the evil eye, and in witchcraft and omens, while we…"

"Oh, then you don't believe in it?"

"I can't believe in it, countess."

"But if I've seen it myself?"

"The peasant women too tell us they have seen goblins."

"Then you think I tell a lie?"

And she laughed a mirthless laugh.

"Oh, no, Masha, Konstantin Dmitrievitch said he could not believe in it," said Kitty, blushing for Levin, and Levin saw this, and, still more exasperated, would have answered, but Vronsky with his bright frank smile rushed to the support of the conversation, which was threatening to become disagreeable.

"You do not admit the conceivability at all?" he queried. "But why not? We admit the existence of electricity, of which we know nothing. Why should there not be some new force, still unknown to us, which…"

"When electricity was discovered," Levin interrupted hurriedly, "it was only the phenomenon that was discovered, and it was unknown from what it proceeded and what were its effects, and ages passed before its applications were conceived. But the spiritualists have begun with tables writing for them, and spirits appearing to them, and have only later started saying that it is an unknown force" (Part 1, Ch. 14).

Vronsky is of a theoretical mindset.  He is excited by the unknown and willing to try new things.  He does not seem to have any firm beliefs and is easily influenced.  His unconstrained personality comes across as friendly while Levin seems hostile to untraditional methods.  As a prudent man, Levin is firmly set in his beliefs and would need concrete proof to change these beliefs.  He wants nothing to do with the unexplainable.  In essence, Levin is more stable though he exudes boredom.  To the contrary, Levin is unwavering and place emphasis on established methods.  To a city girl of 18 like Kitty, such a personality would be less attractive than one that seeks to establish new norms.  Kitty likes Levin but Vronsky presents a more exciting prospect.  Unfortunately for Kitty, Vronsky has no plans of marriage.

Stepan vs. Levin

Tolstoy sets up an interesting contrast through the characters Stepan and Levin.  Though friends, they live by opposing philosophies.  Stepan is a city man who works in an office and loves to be surrounded by people.  Levin, on the other hand, is a landowner of 8,000 acres in rural Russia who feels constrained by a city life of office buildings and close quarters.  When Levin visits Stepan at work, he shows contempt for Stepan's way of life because he sees no work being done.  Levin believes that true work involves physical labor that engages the hands.  He wants nothing to do with idleness.  Though very wealthy, Levin has had to work for everything that he has, unlike Stepan, whose wife comes from a wealthy and well-connected family and who is described as "lazy and mischievous" (Part 1, Ch. 5). 

Ultimately, these characterizations comment on Russian society.  Levin is conservative and a traditionalist that reacts negatively to the modern conventions in Russia.  He comes across as awkward, though well-intentioned, in his interaction with Kitty, who also embraces modern conventions.  He would prefer the traditional approach in lovemaking, addressing his proposal to the father, who favors Levin over Vronsky.  Nevertheless, Kitty makes her own choice, showing a preference for the latter.  By Vronsky's abandonment of Kitty, despite her choice, Tolstoy shows his own preference for the traditional methods.