Anna Karenina: Juxtaposing Characters

     In Anna Karenina, the juxtaposing characters are Anna and Levin. The sharp contrast between the characters makes the book all the more interesting as you watch their life decisions transpire and how they impact themselves and those around them. Both living and moving within the same upper crust of the Russian aristocracy, their lives could not be any more different. Levin, the respectable, almost too godly farmer, and Anna, the once respectable, glittering social wife. 

Duty: a moral or legal obligation; a responsibility. (Source).

When it comes to duty, the two characters could not be more different. Anna weakened and caved to her desires instead of her duty, which showed a real insight into her moral character. Levin found marriage difficult, but he still found it fulfilling. They both have a certain amount of self-discovery involved with their duty. Levin clings to his duty as a farmer and husband, even when both bring him pain. Anna, on the other hand, abandoned her duty as a wife and mother and ran away with Vronsky. Yes, Anna had, for a short time, stuck by her husband and son but when it became too hard to reconcile herself to her rightful place in life, she ran away with her lover, Vronsky.

 When married, it becomes the spouses' moral (and sacred) duty to remain faithful to their spouse. Anna broke that when she first met Vronsky in secret. If we’re going to be very exact, she first broke that commitment when she looked at Vronsky in a way other than a married woman should look at a man who is not her husband. She continued to meet with Vronsky in secret until finally, she told her husband of her unfaithfulness. Anna then continued to live with her husband under the pretense that she would not see Vronsky anymore. Anna, after a while of not seeing Vronsky, caved and eventually ran off with him to Italy. Anna’s infidelity, among other things, was the beginning of her downfall. 

Levin, on the other hand, was nothing but faithful to Kitty. Even when not married, he is still faithful to her memory. Marriage is hard. It requires two people working together for the greater good and to achieve their happiness. Levin did not quit marriage when it got hard.  Levin, on certain occasions, felt suicidal in his new role as a husband and father. But he struggled on and finally, after agonizing over his own beliefs and ideals, concluded that

“--but my life now, my whole life, regardless of all that may happen to me, every minute of     it, it is not only not meaningless, as it was before, but it has the unquestionable meaning of the good which it is in my power to put into it!” (pg. 817, Anna Karenina).

     Levin had finally had the revelation that he had been waiting for. Even when he felt that he had no purpose, his life had no meaning, he still struggled through and in the end, came out victorious. 

Love: an intense feeling of deep affection (Source). 

Anna loved Serozya, but not enough to leave Vronsky and care for the family she already had. Based on the description above, Anna did not necessarily fail when it came to loving her family, but she was weak and gave into sin when she should have been strong. True,  she wanted to stay with Serozya; Anna loved her son with all a mother's love, but not all of a mother’s convictions. As a mother, she should have fought tooth and nail for the future of her son, as most mothers would. But she ran away to Italy and left Serozya to face all the idle gossip that would surround his name for years to come. 

As a wife, Anna was a failure. That is not to say she was always a failure, but she didn’t seem to connect with her husband even before Vronsky came along. If perhaps, someone had asked her if she ‘willed the good of the beloved’ in regards to her husband, she probably would’ve given a hesitant ‘yes’. Anna never really seemed to love her husband, but she at least respected him. When she involved herself with Vronsky, she lost all respect for Alexei and declared to him:

“I cannot stand you, I’m afraid of you, I hate you…” (pg. 213, Anna Karenina). 

       It seems that physically she was not afraid of him, but mentally she was afraid of what he thought of her. Alexei is not portrayed as a highly physical, athletic man, so the likelihood of him lashing out is next to none. But the mental anguish that he could put her through knew no bounds. Even before their marriage was wrecked due to her affair, Alexei seemed a dry, quiet, precise person, probably liked the methodical way of life and expected things to remain predictable. As a young bride, Anna would’ve found it hard to connect with him. This is not an excuse for Anna, but I think there was a certain amount of failure on both sides when it came to their marriage. Levin, no matter how hard love was, continued to struggle through. He found marriage bewildering, hard, even painful at some points, and overall wonderful. During the hard times did he raise his hands in surrender and say, “This is too hard, I can’t do it anymore,”? No, Levin fought their way through the hard parts of loving other people and came out victorious. 

Levin had two very different relationships with his brothers. One, successful, rich, and opinionated; Levin argued with Sergei from sunup to sundown. The other was sick, weak, and fretful; Nickoli was dying a slow and painful death and resented anyone healthily and happy. Levin felt pity and fear for this sick brother. At the end of the day, after arguing with Sergei for hours, Levin still loved his brother. When Nickoli was bitter and resentful, Levin still loved him. When relationships got hard, Levin stuck by and rode out the hard times. 

Even with his son, he felt conflicted. Kitty went through twenty-two hours of labor; Levin thought that he must die with her. For a while, he felt distanced from his son. Even with the fear he felt, he still loved his son and lovingly cared for mother and child. Soon, that barrier he had felt was broken.

“The old-looking face suddenly wrinkled still more, and the baby sneezed. Smiling and barely keeping back tears of tenderness, Levin kissed his wife and left the darkened room. What he felt for this small being was not at all what he had expected. There was nothing happy in this feeling; on the contrary, there was a new tormenting fear. There was an awareness of a new region of vulnerability. And this awareness was so tormenting at first, the fear lest this helpless being should suffer was so strong, that because of it he scarcely noticed the strange feeling of senseless joy and even pride he had experienced when the baby sneezed.” (pg. 719, Anna Karenina).

Sacrifice: something offered for the sake of something else (The only definition not sourced. I had to come up with one that fit the context, it was that or "slaughtering animals" 😂)

Love and sacrifice go hand in hand in this book. To talk about love, we must also discuss sacrifice. Anna wasn’t a very sacrificial person. When the opportunity came along for her to give something up, to stay silent instead of speaking out, she did not take that chance. Anna could have sacrificed her relationship with Vronsky not only for the well-being of her husband and son but for herself. That is not to say that Anna’s whole character should be condemned; after all, she is human, and humans make mistakes. In a moment of weakness, Anna gave in to her desires instead of sticking to her duties like she should have done. Anna was and still is, a very relatable character for most of us. There are times when it is easier to just give in; fighting the good fight is harder than it sounds. Anna gave into, at least for her, the ultimate weakness: suicide. Suicide was the easiest way out; it was an escape from herself and the person she was becoming. She could have struggled when life became unbearable to her, but she thought suicide was the easiest way out of her failing relationship; it gave her a small amount of pleasure to think of Vronsky grieving her death. 

Levin at one point contemplated suicide. “And, happy in his family life, a healthy man, Levin was several times so close to suicide that he hid a rope lest he should hang himself with it, and was afraid to go about with a rifle lest he shoots himself. But Levin did not shoot himself or hang himself and went on living.” 

Levin had the means and the opportunity to commit suicide but he turned away from temptation. Levin, despite his happiness, found that being a family man was harder than he thought it would be. Supporting a wife and child, running a farm, and dealing with a sick brother; Levin had so much on his plate, so many hardships. But he also had many joys. He chose not to let himself get bogged down by the sadness and trial in his life and instead looked at the good. He had a healthy, happy son, a loving wife, and a good relationship with his in-laws, and his farm was going for the most part, very well. Now, he could’ve looked at the bad and chosen to only see that, but he didn’t. Levin sacrificed his problems and became a better person for his family, which is the ultimate sacrifice. 

Honor: adherence to what is right or to a conventional standard of conduct. (Source).

When in society, Anna and Levin have very different ways of approaching the correct way to act. Anna is the loved, social butterfly of the party. She is capable, witty, and beautiful, and all the things that make an excellent wife to present to society. Her honor was seemingly impeccable. She was considered by other people a faithful wife and mother; she also had the gift of knowing when to say the right thing at the right time. She had everything a woman of her time would have wanted, but that still wasn’t enough. The things that had been most important lost their value when she joined Vronsky. Anna, for a time, seemed honored in the way she conducted herself, as most women did during her day and age. When she met Vronsky, she failed to see anymore. They kept their relationship a secret at first, as most people would. With Anna being a respected wife of a well-known diplomat and politician, and Vronsky being an upright military man, for anyone to know would have been self-detrimental to the both of them. Vronsky, despite being seen as an ‘upright military man’, wasn’t much of that at all. He urged Anna to tell her husband, ask for a divorce, and run away with him. For a while, Anna turned him down. But soon she weakened and told her husband, causing the situation to become so much worse. At first, only Betsy had known and other people had only suspected. But now it was confirmed that Alexei would not divorce Anna. The right thing would have been to repent, turn down the sin and temptation Vronsky was offering her, and go back to caring for her son. Anna abandoned all moral principles and eventually ran away with Vronsky. For a while, she stuck by her family. Unwilling yes, but there was nothing else she could do. A short time after she gave birth to her daughter, Vronsky took both of them to Italy. Anna had finally weakened and did not care what others thought of her. She only thought of Vronsky, which led to jealous love, anger, and eventually, vengeful, triumphant death. Anna, unlike Levin, did have things to live for. She had a husband and a son, a beautiful home, and good friends. Even after she left her husband, she had the love of Vronsky, a beautiful baby girl, and a wonderful home in Italy. That is not to say that running away from her husband is a good thing, but she could have at least found some small measure of happiness in what she had wanted so badly. Instead, she chose to abandon everything she knowingly loved and cherished, and committed suicide for menial and petty reasons. She had so much potential happiness, but that vanished under the wheels of a train. 

Levin, on the other hand, was embarrassed at parties. He always got himself into uncomfortable situations, and always allowed himself to be angered. Levin had no use for society. During that period, having a social standing was one of the most important things to have, right next to good fortune. Levin did not see the attraction in social standing; he preferred his fields to a glittering ballroom. Now, social standing is not the way that you should measure personal value, but a certain amount of personal dignity never hurts anyone. Levin, even though he struggled with a lot of big ideas and topics, including self-worth, he still had a fairly clear idea of what mattered in life, and that was friends, family, and his farm. He did not measure his honor or self-worth in what the upper crust of Russia thought of him. 

Throughout most of the book, Levin struggled with continuous self-doubt and self-consciousness. He worried about what others thought of him, he said the wrong thing at the wrong time, and he would sometimes pout as if he were still a child. He didn’t even see any purpose in his life!

“When Levin thought about what he was and what he lived for, he found no answer and fell into despair…” (pg. 789, Anna Karenina).

Levin hardly even had the will to live. Despite all of these things, Levin still had a good heart and clear moral boundaries. In the end, Levin struggled through many hard ideas and finally was at peace. He had found his will to live. That didn’t mean that he strode through life, constantly happy and confident, but he had found a certain kind of inner peace; even though he knew he would still stumble and fall on occasions, he had the knowledge that when that happened, he would be able to get back up again and face life as it came.

“This new feeling hasn’t changed me, hasn’t made me happy or suddenly enlightened, as I dreamed…I’ll get angry in the same way with the coachman Ivan, argue in the same way, speak my mind inappropriately, there will be the same wall between my soul’s holy of holies and other people, even my wife, I’ll accuse her in the same way of my fear and then regret it, I’ll fail in the same way to understand the reason why I pray, and yet I will pray–but my life now, my whole life, regardless of all that may happen to me, every minute of it, is not only not meaningless, as it was before, but it has the unquestionable meaning of the good which is in my power to put into it!” (pg. 817, Anna Karenina).

Levin and Anna are two of the most interesting characters in the book. One character starts, calm and confident, the other angry and confused. By the end of the book, they have switched roles. Watching their characters grow and diminish is truly fascinating. Tolstoy has weaved a story with so many lessons to be learned for every reader. 

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