Victoria Carvill
Russ 206
December 16, 2018
Anna Karenina
Although Anna Karenina may have been written over 150 years ago, the parallels it
continues to draw to everyday life within the 21st century are remarkable. The book, although a
little challenging to interpret at times, follows a set of diverse characters and intertwines their
personal struggles with love. Throughout the novel you see the different thoughts and meanings
that Tolstoy has associated with love and it’s left to the reader to interpret the meaning of the
different love stories in this book. Through analyzing the characters and finding one you can
relate to, the reader is able to chip away at the true meaning behind Tolstoy’s writing. In my
view, Anna is one of the most interesting characters to follow throughout the novel because I
believe Tolstoy uses her to address a lot of his core themes throughout the novel. Through the
discussion of Anna’s story one is able to see a lot of key symbolism and thematic elements come
to life. She brings about irony through her interesting turn early on in the story and also brings
about tragedy and jealousy throughout her death, which incorporate some key points throughout
the novel.
Anna’s journey throughout the novel is one very different from the other characters. One
of the main things I believe Anna symbolizes, especially early on in the novel, is the idea of
irony, particularly through love. For example, let’s look at the original purpose of Anna’s trip to
Moscow. Her purpose was to offer counseling to her brother who had just cheated on his wife.
Now initially this is productive and Anna is able to help reconcile their marriage. However, the
plot quickly changes and Anna starts to realize that Vronsky is instantly infatuated with her. Now
Anna is married and she begins to much enjoy the attention she receives from Vronsky and
begins to develop feelings for him. Eventually Anna and Vronsky begin an affair that essentially
leads to an Anna leaving her husband for Vronsky after she confesses. Now this is a very ironic
situation given that Anna’s initial purpose in Moscow was to help resolve a marriage that was
falling apart due to an affair and then she finds herself in a very similar situation. Lit chart states
that “Feelings of social suffocation propel Anna to have an affair” and lead to this irony and
hypocrisy. I think Tolstoy includes this Irony within Anna’s character to show that love can
make people do crazy things and can lead to a level of hypercriticism people didn’t believe was
possible. I think Tolstoy uses Anna as a way to show the enormous hypocrisy that takes place
within the high society of Russia. Anna’s initial journey is a prime example of Tolstoy’s use of
symbolism with the irony and hypocrisy of love. The way the story ends for Anna also reveals
