The tragic love of the married lady Anna Karenina and the brilliant officer Vronsky against the background of the happy family life of the nobles Konstantin Lyovin and Kitty Shtcherbatskaya is described in this article.

"Anna Karenina" plot

The novel begins with two phrases that have long become textbooks: “All happy families are alike, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Everything was confused in the Oblonskys' house. "

The sister of Stiva Oblonsky, the noble Petersburg lady Anna Karenina, comes to Moscow to the Oblonskys. Steve meets Anna at the station, a young officer meets his mother, Countess Vronskaya. Upon entering the carriage, he lets the lady go ahead, and a premonition makes them look at each other again, their gaze was already shining against their will. It seemed that they had known each other before ... At that moment, a misfortune happened: the car went back and crushed the watchman to death. Anna took this tragic incident as a bad omen. Anna goes to Steve's house and fulfills her mission for which she came - reconciling him with his wife Dolly.

The lovely Kitty Shtcherbatskaya is full of happiness, waiting to meet Vronsky at the ball. Anna, contrary to her expectations, was in black, not purple dress. Kitty notices a shimmering gleam in the eyes of Anna and Vronsky and realizes that the world has ceased to exist for them. Having refused Levin on the eve of the upcoming ball, Kitty was depressed and soon fell ill.

Anna leaves for Petersburg, Vronsky rushes after. In Petersburg, he follows her like a shadow, looking for a meeting, he is not at all embarrassed by her marriage and her eight-year-old son; because in the eyes of secular people, the role of an unhappy lover is ridiculous, but the connection with a respectable woman, whose husband occupies such a respectable position, seemed majestic and victorious. Their love could not be hidden, but they were not lovers, but the light was already discussing with might and main lady with shadow looking forward to the continuation of the novel. An anxious feeling prevented Karenin from concentrating on an important state project, and he was offended by the impression so important for the significance of public opinion. Anna, however, continued to travel to the world and for almost a year met with Vronsky at the Princess Tverskaya. Vronsky's only desire and Anna's charming dream of happiness merged in the feeling that a new life had begun for them, that they had become lovers, and nothing would be the same as before. Very soon everyone in St. Petersburg became aware of this, including Anna's husband. The current situation was excruciatingly difficult for all three, but none of them could find a way out of it. Anna informs Vronsky that she is pregnant. Vronsky asks her to leave her husband and is ready to sacrifice his military career. But his mother, who at first was very sympathetic to Anna, does not like this state of affairs at all. Anna falls into despair, falls into childbirth after childbirth and almost dies. Her lawful husband, Aleksey Karenin, who before Anna's illness was firmly going to divorce her, seeing her suffering during her illness, unexpectedly forgives both Anna and Vronsky. Karenin allows her to continue to live in his house, under the protection of his good name, just not to ruin the family and not to shame the children. The forgiveness scene is one of the most important in the novel. But Anna cannot withstand the pressure of generosity shown by Karenin, and taking her newborn daughter with her, leaves with Vronsky for Europe, leaving her beloved son in the care of her husband.

For some time Anna and Vronsky travel around Europe, but soon they realize that they have nothing to do. Out of boredom, Vronsky even begins to indulge in painting, but soon gives up this empty occupation, and he and Anna decide to return to Petersburg. In St. Petersburg, Anna understands that she is now an outcast for the high society, she is not invited to any of the decent houses, and no one, except for two closest friends, visits her. Meanwhile, Vronsky is accepted everywhere, and he is always welcome. This situation is increasingly unscrewing the unstable nervous system of Anna, who does not see her son. On Seryozha's birthday, secretly, early in the morning, Anna sneaks into her old house, goes into the boy's bedroom and wakes him up. The boy is happy to tears, Anna is also crying with joy, the child hastily tries to tell the mother something and ask her about something, but then the servant comes running and frightenedly informs that Karenin will now go into his son's room. The boy himself understands that mother and father cannot meet and mother will now leave him forever, with a cry he rushes to Anna and begs her not to leave. Karenin enters the door, and Anna, in tears, overwhelmed with envy of her husband, runs out of the house. Her son never saw her again.

A crack opens in Anna's relationship with Vronsky, driving them further and further. Anna insists on visiting the Italian opera, where all the big world of St. Petersburg gathers that evening. The entire audience in the theater literally pokes their fingers at Anna, and a woman from the next box throws insults in Anna's face. Realizing that they have nothing to do in St. Petersburg, they move away from the vulgar world to the estate, which Vronsky turned into a secluded paradise for both of them and Anya's daughter. Vronsky is trying to make the estate profitable, introducing various new agricultural practices and doing charity work - he is building a new hospital on the estate. Anna tries to help him in everything.

In parallel with the story of Anna, the story of Konstantin Levin unfolds, Tolstoy endows him with the best human qualities and doubts, entrusts him with his innermost thoughts. Levin is a fairly wealthy man, he also has an extensive estate, all the affairs in which he runs himself. What is fun for Vronsky and a way to kill time is for Levin the meaning of existence for himself and all his ancestors. At the beginning of the novel, Levin is wooing Kitty Shtcherbatskaya. At that moment Vronsky was courting Kitty for amusement. Kitty, however, was seriously carried away by Vronsky and refused Levin. After Vronsky rushed off to Petersburg after Anna, Kitty even fell ill from grief and humiliation, but after a trip abroad she recovered and agreed to marry Levin. Scenes of matchmaking, weddings, family life of the Levins are imbued with a bright feeling, the author makes it clear that this is how family life should be built.

Meanwhile, the situation on the estate is heating up. Vronsky goes to business meetings and social events, at which Anna cannot accompany him, but is attracted to his former, free life. Anna senses this, but mistakenly assumes that Vronsky is drawn to other women. She constantly arranges scenes of jealousy for Vronsky, which more and more test his patience. To resolve the situation with the divorce proceedings, they move to Moscow. But, despite the persuasion of Sveta Oblonsky, Karenin reverses his decision and leaves himself a son, whom he no longer loves, because his disgust for Anna, as a "contemptible stumbled wife", is associated with him. The six-month wait for this decision in Moscow turned Anna's nerves into taut strings. She constantly broke down and quarreled with Vronsky, who spent more and more time outside the house. In Moscow, Anna meets with Levin, who realizes that this woman can no longer be called anything other than lost.

In the month of May, Anna insists on an imminent departure to the village, but Vronsky says that he has been invited to his mother for important business matters. It occurs to Anna that the thought that Vronsky's mother had conceived of marrying Vronsky to Princess Sorokina. Vronsky fails to prove to Anna the absurdity of this idea and he, unable to constantly quarrel with Anna, goes to his mother's estate. Anna, in an instant realizing how hard, hopeless and meaningless her life is, desiring reconciliation, rushes after Vronsky to the station. The platform, smoke, beeps, knocking and people, all merged in a terrible nightmare of confusion of associations: Anna recalls her first meeting with Vronsky, and how on that distant day some lineman was hit by a train and was crushed to death. An idea comes to Anna's mind that there is a very simple way out of her situation that will help her wash away the shame from herself and untie everyone's hands. And at the same time it will be a great way to take revenge on Vronsky. Anna throws herself under the train. Anna chose death as deliverance, this was the only way out that she, exhausted by herself and tormenting everyone, found.

Two months have passed. Life is not what it used to be, but it goes on. Again the station. Steve meets the doomed Vronsky on the platform, and the train leaves for the front. Heartbroken, Vronsky volunteered for the war to lay down his head there. Karenin took Anna's daughter to him and raised her as his own, along with his son. The first child is born to Levin and Kitty. Levin finds peace and the meaning of life in kindness and purity of thoughts. This is where the novel ends.

Anna Karenina "The book is, in fact, about a woman who, in a sense, behaves meanly and vilely, and playing her role without trying to embellish or simplify anything is not an easy task." Keira Knightley, actress

“Anna Karenina is an inexhaustible role. This is a total woman and there is enough work for all actresses. Tolstoy's Karenina is close to me, and the rest is just variations on a theme. " Tatiana Drubich, actress

“Have you not noticed that the main idea of ​​this great
the work is as follows: if a woman divorced her legal husband and got along with another man, she inevitably becomes a prostitute. Don't argue! Exactly!". Anna Akhmatova, poet, writer, literary critic

“Now, when they say 'Russian style', there are only two associations. The first is Anna Karenina, when a sable, muff, fitted fur coat, high hat, astrakhan fur. The second is connected with Pasternak's "Doctor Zhivago", when revolutionary everyday life, the greatcoat, on the one hand, are red, on the other - white ... ". Alexander Vasiliev, fashion historian

“I really want to play Anna Karenina. I also really like War and Peace - I would like to play Natasha Rostova, but I have already missed this chance. " Nicole Kidman, actress

"The greatest misfortune of my life is the death of Anna Karenina." Sergey Dovlatov, writer

“Anna Karenina takes a look at human guilt and criminality ... It is clear and clear to the point that evil lurks in humanity deeper than the socialist physician supposes, that in no society you will avoid evil, that the human soul will remain the same, that abnormality and sin come from itself ... ”. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, writer

"Anna Karenina is a heavy drug addict!" Katya Metelitsa, writer

“For me, she personifies the secret of femininity, the opportunity that I felt inside myself. I felt that women can do absolutely anything for love. And Anna is the supreme personification of this. " Sophie Marceau, actress

"All robots that work are alike; each defective robot does not work in its own way." Quote from the novel "Android Karenin" by Ben H. Winters

“The husband is an exemplary family man, a child to the delight of mom, well fed, shod, everything is with her, what more could you want? And not heard by anyone in her heartfelt drama, Anya decided to commit suicide forever. " Sergey Trofimov (Trofim), singer

“It seems to me that Karenin was ready for his heart to be broken. I have a feeling that the more Karenin learns, the more he does in order to save the marriage. He is not obliged to give passion and romance, this may not be in him, but he was brought up that way, he observed this in the behavior of his parents. He lets his heart rule him as much as possible. " Jude Law, actor

“Tolstoy in Anna Karenina is a completely new, unusual writer. Not even a psychologist, but a profound psychoanalyst who has made the most subtle immersion in the human subconscious. He discovered what later came to be called Freudianism. " Boris Eifman, choreographer, choreographer

"Anna is a liberated woman protesting against prim bigotry and free in the manifestations of her honest, righteous feeling." Tatiana Samoilova, actress

"I wrote everything in Anna Karenina - nothing is left." Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, writer, author of the novel "Anna Karenina"

Anna Karenina
ANNA KARENINA is the heroine of the novel by L.N. Tolstoy's Anna Karenina (1873-1877); one of the most popular female images of Russian classical literature. Tolstoy wanted to write a novel about a woman from high society who “lost herself,” around whom many male types were easily grouped, awakening the writer's creative imagination. In many ways, Tolstoy was prompted to realize this idea by the motives of Pushkin's work, in particular the unfinished prose excerpts "At the corner of a small square" and "Guests gathered at the dacha." The heroine of the latter, Zinaida Volskaya, can be partially correlated with A.K. This circumstance allows literary critics to regard the work as Tolstoy's "Pushkin novel", and to the prototypes of A.K. refer to Tatyana Larina, mentally continuing the story of her life in the light (B.M. Eikhenbaum). It is reliably known that the appearance of the heroine was formed by the writer under the impression of a meeting with Pushkin's eldest daughter M.A. Gartung. However, A.K. there were other prototypes, including the sister of Tolstoy's close friend M.A. Dyakov-Sukhotin, who survived the divorce proceedings and had a second family. Contemporaries found many other prototypes, individual circumstances of life and death of which correlated with the storyline of the heroine of the novel, in particular, the history of the relationship between actress M.G. Savina and N.F.Sazonov is mentioned.
Interpretations of the image of A.K. in literary criticism, they are most often determined by one or another understanding of the meaning of the epigraph to the novel ("Vengeance is mine, and I will repay"), and also depend on the historically changing attitude towards the role of women in family and social life. The character and fate of the heroine were influenced not only by the socio-historical conditions of life of the 1870s that Tolstoy actually saw, the tragedy of the disunity of people in the family and society, but also the traditional folk religious and moral ideas underlying the author's interpretation of the events of the novel. A.K. simultaneously attractive, truthful, unhappy, pitiful and guilty. In modern assessments of the image of A.K. the traditional folk-moral approach begins to prevail, in contrast to the unconditional justification of the heroine in her right to love. In the works of V.E. Vetlovskaya and A.G. Grodetskaya, for example, the dependence of the inner content of the image of A.K. from evangelical and hagiographic motives, plots and moral assessments.
In the first part of the novel, the heroine appears as an exemplary mother and wife, a respected socialite and even a conciliator of troubles in the Oblonsky family. The life of Anna Arkadyevna was most filled with love for her son, although she somewhat exaggeratedly emphasized her role as a loving mother. Only Dolly Oblonskaya sensitively sensed something false in the entire stock of the Karenins family life, although the attitude of A.K. to her husband was based on unconditional respect.
After meeting with Vronsky, not yet giving vent to the incipient feeling, A.K. realizes in herself not only the awakened thirst for life and love, the desire to be liked, but also a certain force beyond her control, which, regardless of her will, controls her actions, pushing her toward rapprochement with Vronsky and creating a feeling of being protected by the “impenetrable armor of lies”. Ki and Shtcherbatskaya, carried away by Vronsky, during the fateful ball for her, sees a "devilish sparkle" in the eyes of A.K. and senses in her "something alien, demonic and charming." It should be noted that, unlike Karenin, Dolly, Kitty, A.K. not religious at all. Truthful, sincere A.K., hating all falsity and lies, having a reputation in the world as a fair and morally impeccable woman, herself gets entangled in a deceitful and false relationship with her husband and the world.
Under the influence of the meeting with Vronsky, the relations of A.K. with everyone around her: she cannot tolerate the falseness of secular relations, the falseness of relationships in her family, but the spirit of deception and lies existing against her will carries her further and further towards the fall. Having approached Vronsky, A.K. is aware of himself as a criminal. After her husband repeatedly showed generosity towards her, especially after the forgiveness received during the postpartum illness, A.K. more and more begins to hate him, painfully feeling his guilt and realizing the moral superiority of her husband.
Neither the little daughter, nor the trip with Vronsky to Italy, nor life on his estate give her the desired peace, but only bring her awareness of the depth of her misfortune (as in a secret meeting with her son) and humiliation (a scandalous and humiliating episode in the theater). A.K. feels the impossibility of uniting his son and Vronsky together. The deepening mental discord, the ambiguity of social status can not be compensated for by the environment artificially created by Vronsky, nor luxury, nor reading, nor intellectual interests, nor the habit of sedatives with morphine. A.K. She constantly feels her complete dependence on Vronsky's will and love, which irritates her, makes her suspicious, and sometimes encourages her uncharacteristic coquetry. Gradually A.K. comes to complete despair, thoughts of death, with which she wants to punish Vronsky, remaining for everyone not guilty, but pitiful. The life story of A.K. reveals the inviolability of "family thought" in the work: the impossibility of achieving one's own happiness at the expense of the misfortune of others and forgetting one's duty and moral law.

Question 5
VRONSKY is the central character in Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina (1873-1877), count, adjutant wing, rich and handsome. Before Tolstoy's novel, V.'s surname is found in A.S. Pushkin's sketch "At the corner of a small square", which served as one of the sources of the idea of ​​the work. The circumstances of life, appearance, character of the hero and his storyline can be correlated with the tradition of portraying the heroes of "secular stories" of the 30s of the XIX century.
Alexey Kirillovich V. was brought up in the Corps of Pages, did not know family life, lost his father early, was emphatically respectful to his mother, but did not love or respect her for her endless connections and frivolous secular lifestyle. Among his comrades in the service in the brilliant Guards regiment, V. was known as an impeccably honest man, a kind fellow and even had a partly romantic reputation, since as a child, he saved a woman from the water, then he wanted to give his fortune to his brother and, before living together with Anna, he really refused 1 in his favor from most of his income.
Despite the integrity of character, kindness, firmness, courage and real nobility, V. is a shallow person, practically devoid of serious intellectual demands. He is distinguished by the stereotyped ideas about life and in relations with people, typical for secular youth, when sincere actions and feelings, chastity, the strength of the family hearth, loyalty seem ridiculous and outdated values, and people of lower social circles seem unworthy of interested attention and respect. It was these qualities of the hero that were fully reflected in the relationship with Kitty Shtcherbatskaya, whom V. deliberately carried away for the pleasure of seeing the power of his influence, but without serious intentions, without caring about her feelings and reputation.
After a chance meeting with Anna, under the influence of love for her, V. changes: in addition to a strong feeling, sincerity and the ability to compassion and pity are manifested in him. The impression of a meeting with Anna affects V. almost spontaneously: an expression of "lostness and submission" unusual for him appears on his face, he follows her to Petersburg, everywhere pursuing her and seeking rapprochement. Gradually, his feeling turns into true love. There is something spontaneous and even terrible, independent of reason and will, in V. and for the heroine: the first acquaintance during the tragic death of a railway worker, a sudden emergence from darkness and snowstorm on the way to Petersburg. Tolstoy constantly emphasizes alarming details in V.'s appearance: the habit of "showing" teeth when smiling; starting to bald head. In the scene of V.'s rapprochement with Anna, it is directly indicated that he resembles the killer, bent over the body of his victim. Directly connected with this episode is another, key for understanding the character of the hero and his plot role - the races, during which V., egoistically thinking only of himself, because of careless negligence, ruins his beloved horse Frou-Frou. This episode has a symbolic meaning, because Tolstoy's contemporaries associated the name of the horse with the name of the French melodrama Frou-frou (1870) by Meilock and Halevy, whose heroine died as a result of her betrayal of her husband.
Having become close to Anna, V. for a long time was internally satisfied with the current situation, which did not require any decisions or changes in his life, especially since love distracted him for a while from his ambitious office plans. The birth of a daughter, Anna's illness and, most importantly, her husband's forgiveness made V. see in Karenin's deed something inaccessible and incomprehensible to him. Despair from the loss of his beloved, subconscious moral humiliation prompts V. to attempt suicide, after which the lovers again come together and leave after V.'s resignation to Italy, and then to his estate.
Living together with Anna does not absorb all V.'s interests: he is eagerly and successfully engaged in transformations according to the European model in his economy, participates in the noble elections, in every possible way defends his male independence and freedom. Despite a strong feeling, pity and attention to Anna, V. does not fully understand either her torment or the complexity of her ambiguous position, which leads to frequent quarrels, mutual irritation, alienation and, finally, the death of the main character. V. grievously experiences her death, is morally broken and leaves as a volunteer to Serbia with an obvious desire to perish.

KARENIN is the central character in Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina (1873-1877), the husband of the heroine of Anna Karenina's work, a high-ranking St. Petersburg official. The prototypes for creating the image of K. Tolstoy were his good friend "reasonable" S. M. Sukhotin, who survived a similar family drama, and the writer's brother-in-law A. M. Kuzminsky. It is believed that the character's surname is "speaking" and comes from the Greek word "karenon" (head), which emphasizes one of the main character traits - rationality, the predominance of will and orderliness of behavior over feeling. However, the image of K. is far from so unambiguous, and it would be a mistake to see in him only a "ministerial machine", as Anna sees it. At the beginning of the novel, Aleksey Aleksandrovich K. is a successful official who is constantly rising in the service and strengthening his court and secular position. He is very influential and respected in society for his honesty, decency, hard work, dispassion and justice. K. does not differ in emphasized secularity and courtesy, but at the same time he is partly proud of his impeccability and moral superiority. In relations with his wife and son, sincerely loved and close, K. adheres to an ironic and dismissive manner, deliberately moving away from them and thus drowning out possible manifestations of genuine feelings. Confident in himself and his family, he directs all his energies towards pursuing his service interests, where genuine zeal for the benefit of the cause is often intertwined with ambition and vanity. K. was unable to feel the changes in his wife's attitude towards him until he noticed the reaction of the light. As the family drama develops and deepens, K. wants to find a solid basis for his behavior in the current conditions, out of habit trying to resort to a reasonable solution to all issues, to think through everything, streamline and subordinate to this order the behavior of all participants in the conflict. But behind the external line of behavior lies a tragedy deeply felt by K. and a confused state of mind, which erupts when explaining with his wife a ridiculous confusion in the word "suffered" ("pelestradal"), in hesitation when deciding to divorce, in reaction to the news of childbirth and illness Anna. Seeming dry and impassive, K. is capable of truly Christian philanthropy and forgiveness of his wife and her lover. While recognizing his daughter Anna, he, however, secretly hoped for the death of his wife. The relationship with his wife is even more confused by the fact that K. is too straightforward about his religious and moral obligations towards his fallen wife. Feeling unhappy, deceived by her husband, having risen to true compassion, K. gradually becomes funny in the eyes of the world, losing at the same time his official prestige. The need to feel morally superior to the people who despise him gradually forces the hero to push further and further the desire to be honest with himself. This striving leads to the strengthening of religious feelings and to a rapprochement with a circle of people under the influence of fashionable at that time in the light of religious and mystical moods, where the hero essentially loses his will. In the dramatizations and film adaptations of the novel, the role of K. was played by N.P. Khmelev (1937), N.O. Gritsenko (1968), Paul Scofield (1990).

LEVIN is the hero of Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina (1873-1877). One of the most complex and interesting images in the writer's work, who pronounced the hero's surname as Levin, thereby indicating the connection with his name, the autobiographical origins of the character. L. can and should be considered alongside other Tolstoy's heroes who have either some autobiographical features or an analytical mindset (Nekhlyudov from The Landowner's Morning, Dmitry Olenin from The Cossacks, partly Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhoye). The character and storyline of L. are most closely connected with the circumstances of life and the way of thinking of the writer himself. It is known that during the writing of the novel, Tolstoy practically did not keep diaries, since his thoughts and feelings were quite fully reflected in the work on the image of L. F. M. Dostoevsky in his "Diary of a Writer" for 1877 he wrote that L. is the main character of the novel and is deduced by the author as the bearer of a positive outlook, from the standpoint of which "abnormalities" are revealed that lead to the suffering and death of other heroes. Konstantin Dmitrievich L. is a provincial landowner, belonging to a good noble family, living on his estate, not an employee, seriously keen on farming. Behind the outwardly measured life and everyday worries lies the intense work of the hero's thoughts, deep intellectual needs and moral searches. L. is distinguished by sincerity, poise, a serious and benevolent attitude towards people, loyalty to duty, and straightforwardness. From the very beginning of the novel, he appears as a hero with a fully formed character, but an evolving inner world. Readers get to know L. during a difficult period of his life, when he, having arrived in Moscow to propose to Kitty Shtcherbatskaya, is refused and goes home, trying to regain his peace of mind. Kitty's choice was dictated for L. not only by feelings for her, but also by the attitude towards the Shtcherbatsky family, in the curtain he saw an example of the old, educated and honest nobility, which was very important for the hero, since his ideas about true aristocracy were based on the recognition of rights honor, dignity and independence, in contrast to the modern admiration for wealth and success. L. is painfully worried about the fate of the Russian nobility and the obvious process of its impoverishment, about which he talks a lot and with interest with Oblonsky and his landlord neighbors. Likewise, he does not see any real benefit from those forms of management that they are trying to bring from the West; Negatively refers to the activities of zemstvo institutions, sees no point in the comedy of noble elections, as, indeed, in many of the achievements of civilization, considering them evil. Constant life in the countryside, observation of the work and everyday life of the people, the desire to get closer to the peasants and serious farming work develop in L. a number of original views on the changes taking place around him, it is not for nothing that he gives a capacious and accurate definition of the post-reform state of society and the characteristics of its economic life. , saying that "everything has turned upside down" and "is just getting it right." However, L. seeks to contribute to how "everything will fit." The methods of management and reflection on the peculiarities of the national way of life lead him to an independent and original conviction of the need to take into account in agriculture not only agronomic innovations and technical achievements, but also the traditional national warehouse of the worker as the main participant in the whole process. L. seriously thinks about the fact that with the correct formulation of the case on the basis of his conclusions, it will be possible to transform life, first in the estate, then in the county, province and, finally, throughout Russia. In addition to economic and intellectual interests, the hero is constantly faced with problems of a different kind. In connection with his marriage to Kitty and the need to confess before the wedding, L. ponders over his relationship to God, not finding sincere faith in his soul. The most important events turn to the circle of moral and religious questions and reflections on the meaning of life, on the mystery of birth and death: the death of a brother, and then the pregnancy of his wife and the birth of a son. Not finding faith in himself, L. simultaneously notices that in the most serious moments of his life he prays to God for the salvation and well-being of his loved ones, as it was during Kitty's birth and during a thunderstorm that found her with her little son in the forest. At the same time, L. can not satisfy the recognition of finiteness, and, consequently, some senselessness of human existence, if it is based only on biological laws. The persistence of these thoughts, the desire to find the enduring goal of life, sometimes bring L., a happy husband, father, a successful landowner, to desperate moral torment and even thoughts of suicide. L. searches for the answer to his questions in the works of scientists and philosophers, in observations of the lives of other people. Serious moral support, an impulse for searching in a new, religious and moral direction is the remark he heard about the peasant Fokanych, who “lives for God”, “remembers his soul”. The search for moral laws and the foundations of human life makes L. akin to Anna Karenina, whose fate depends on the attitude to the moral foundations of life. The search for the hero does not end at the end of the novel, leaving the image as if open.

Central characters
Vronsky, Alexey Kirillovich, Count. 1, XIV
Karenin, Alexey Alexandrovich, Anna's husband. 1, XXX
Karenina, Anna Arkadyevna. 1, XVIII
Koznyshev, Sergei Ivanovich, writer, brother of Levin. 1, VII
Levin, Konstantin Dmitrievich. 1, V
Oblonskaya, Daria Alexandrovna (Dolly), wife of Stepan Arkadyevich. 1, IV
Oblonsky, Stepan Arkadyevich (Steve), Anna's brother. 1, I
Shtcherbatskaya Ekaterina (
etc.................

As in all other cases, Tolstoy was not given the beginning of his novel for a long time. Eleven times he began Anna Karenina, discarding one page after another that did not satisfy him. In one of the earliest sketches, Tolstoy gave the novel the title "Well done, Baba" 2. Following this title, others arose: "Two couples", "Two marriages." However, none of them was assigned to the work. In the early sketches of the novel, his heroine was a socialite named Tatyana Stavrovich, who did not resemble Anna Karenina in her character, appearance or behavior. When War and Peace was published, readers tried to guess the real prototypes of this or that character in the novel. The first readers of Anna Karenina tried to do the same. More than forty years ago, a remarkable study "On the reflection of life in Anna Karenina", written by Tolstoy's eldest son Sergei Lvovich, appeared in print. The author of this work identified many of the writer's contemporaries, who in one way or another served as "models" for the characters in the novel.

Memoirists also report about other women familiar to Tolstoy, whose fates are somewhat reminiscent of the fate of the heroine of his novel. One of them was the sister of DA Dyakov, a friend of Tolstoy in his youth. Her name was Maria Alexandrovna. The married life of MA Dyakova-Sukhotina was very unhappy, and the Tolstoy family was very sympathetic to her. But prototypes and “models” are, according to Tolstoy's apt words, only “prototypes”, on which the artist's creative work is being carried out. “Taken from real faces. - K. L.) only, so to speak, skeletons,” writes Sergei Lvovich, “the flesh and blood of this or that person in the novel were taken not only from one person, but also from other people related to him by type. Therefore, it can be argued that all of Tolstoy's characters are collective types, not portraits. " However, the artistic images created by Tolstoy have such a force of generalization that it seemed to many of the writer's contemporaries that real, well-known people were behind them.

This transitional, difficult era was reflected not only in the feelings, thoughts, moods of the characters in the novel "Anna Karenina", but also in the general tone of the work, in the motives of anxiety and confusion, which the tragically dying Lnna and the happy family man struggle with and cannot cope with. active, seeking the truth Levin, neither Vronsky who tried to commit suicide, nor the good-natured boozer Oblonsky who ruins his children, nor the dignitary Karenin, clad in the armor of false ideas about morality and morality. Talking about the novel as a "labyrinth of couplings", Tolstoy likened it to life itself, which he compared to "polyphonic music." Having understood and experienced the music of life itself, captured in the scenes of the "wide, free" novel, as Tolstoy saw "Anna Karenina", it is impossible not to catch its leitmotifs. They are primarily associated with the fate of the main characters of the novel.

Having begun Anna Karenina with the words “All happy families are alike, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,” Tolstoy kind of anticipates the readers that his attention in the novel will be drawn most of all to unhappy families. However, the story of Levin's "happy family" is also subjected to detailed and deep research here. Using her example, Tolstoy convinces us that an honest and thinking person, as Konstantin Levin appears before us, cannot be saved from the storms of the century by a family, even if it is based on marital happiness. Feeling "dissatisfaction with his activities and a vague hope of finding corrections to all this," he experienced "a feeling of inner anxiety and close resolution."
In the chapters of the novel, saturated with an atmosphere of anxiety, expectation of "outcomes", the storylines of Anna and Levin developing in parallel most of all converge. To the thought of the trouble of those worlds; in which their lives pass and their destinies take shape, provides an analysis of the entire complex labyrinth of "couplings" that determine the relationship of the protagonists with other characters in the novel, with their immediate environment. These relationships are dramatic, and for Anna Karenina - tragic. Anna's marriage to Karenin was "arranged" by her aunt as a marriage of convenience. Anna became the wife of a man who "all his life ... lived and worked in the official spheres dealing with the reflections of life." The decisive character trait of Karenin was that "every time he faced life itself, he moved away from it." What happened could not but happen: the life-loving Anna went to meet life, left Karenin.

Count Alexei Vronsky with his artificial “set of rules” of a secular person is also far from the interests of real life. It is not in vain that Levin feels anxiety for Anna, thinking that "Vronsky does not fully understand her." It is no coincidence that the first meetings of Anna and Vronsky are already illuminated by the light of imminent disaster. Returning from Betsy Tverskaya, where she saw Vronsky, “Aiya walked with her head bowed and played with the brushes of her head. Her face shone with a bright shine; but this brilliance was not cheerful - it resembled the terrible brilliance of a fire in the middle of a dark night. "

The artificiality of Karenin's house in St. Petersburg and Vronsky's house on his Vozdvizhennoye estate was noticed by Dolly, who is sensitive to any falsehood, the wife of Stepan Arkadyevich Oblonsky, whom the author of the novel calls "an impeccably moral woman."

From one artificial environment, Anna got into another. In the scene of the nighttime explanation with Dolly, Anna speaks of her abandoned son Seryozha and Vronsky: “Only these two creatures I love, and one excludes the other. I cannot connect them, but this is the only one I need. And if this is not, then all the same. All, all the same. And somehow it will end, and therefore I cannot, I do not like to talk about it. , So you do not reproach me, do not judge me for anything. You cannot understand with your purity what I suffer ... I am not worthy of contempt. I'm just unhappy. If anyone is unhappy, it’s me, ”she said and, turning away from her, began to cry.” Here, in the words of the heroine herself, Tolstoy expressed the most important reason for the tragic hopelessness of her situation. And here is shown the attitude of Tolstoy to the conflict, which the heroine of the novel wanted to resolve, but could not. The family of Anna and Vronsky is considered by the highly moral Dolly to be a "wrong family", since it arose at the cost of the destruction of the Karenin family. Not only Karenin suffered, but also little Seryozha, deprived of maternal care and affection. His unusual orphanhood cannot be forgotten by either Yip Appa or Vronsky. "This child," says Tolstoy, "with his naive view of life, was a compass that showed them the degree of their deviation from what they hiccupped, but did not want to know."

In the final text of the novel, the image of its main character is woven from many and not only positive features. Anna is not idealized, the "blue" heroine of a family romance. She was also harsh, irritated, picky and even unfair in her assessments of people she did not like. She was an earthly, lively, passionate, addicted person. "... I'm alive," she says about herself, it's not my fault that God made me such that I need to love and live. " Having met Anna for the only time, the shrewd and sensitive Levin was able to understand the most important thing in her: “Besides intelligence, grace, beauty, she had truthfulness. She did not want to hide the gravity of her situation from him. "

In the Moscow house of the Oblonskys, where "everything got mixed up" at the end of the winter of 1873, the owner's sister, Anna Arkadyevna Karenina, is awaiting. The reason for the family discord was that Prince Stepan Arkadyevich Oblonsky was convicted by his wife of treason with the governess. Thirty-four-year-old Steve Oblonsky sincerely regrets his wife Dolly, but, being a truthful man, he does not assure himself that he is repenting for what he has done. Life-loving, kind and careless Steve is no longer in love with his wife, the mother of five living and two dead children, and has long been unfaithful to her.

Steve is completely indifferent to the business he is engaged in, serving as a boss in one of the Moscow presences, and this allows him to never get carried away, not make mistakes and perfectly fulfill his duties. Friendly, condescending to human shortcomings, charming Steve enjoys the location of people of his circle, subordinates, bosses and in general everyone with whom life brings him. Debts and family troubles upset him, but they cannot ruin the mood enough to force him to refuse lunch in a good restaurant. He dines with Konstantin Dmitrievich Levin, who has come from the village, his peer and friend of youth.

Levin came to propose to the eighteen-year-old princess Kitty Shtcherbatskaya, Oblonsky's sister-in-law, with whom he had long been in love. Levin is convinced that such a girl who is above everything earthly, like Kitty, cannot love him, an ordinary landowner, without, as he believes, special talents. In addition, Oblonsky informs him that, most likely, he has a rival - a brilliant representative of the St. Petersburg "golden youth", Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky.

Kitty knows about Levin's love and feels at ease with him; with Vronsky, however, she experiences an incomprehensible awkwardness. But it is difficult for her to understand her own feelings, she does not know who to give preference to. Kitty is unaware that Vronsky has no intention of marrying her, and dreams of a happy future with him compel her to refuse Levin. Meeting his mother who had arrived from St. Petersburg, Vronsky sees Anna Arkadyevna Karenina at the station. He immediately notices the special expressiveness of Anna's whole appearance: "It was as if an excess of something so overwhelmed her being that, past her will, it was expressed in a glint of a glance, then in a smile." The meeting is overshadowed by a sad circumstance: the death of the station guard under the wheels of a train, which Anna considers a bad omen.

Anna manages to persuade Dolly to forgive her husband; a fragile peace is established in the Oblonskys' house, and Anna goes to the ball with the Oblonskys and Shtcherbatskys. At the ball, Kitty admires Anna's naturalness and grace, admires that special, poetic inner world that appears in her every movement. Kitty expects a lot from this ball: she is sure that during the mazurka Vronsky will explain himself to her. Suddenly she notices how Vronsky is talking with Anna: an irresistible attraction to each other is felt in each of their glances, each word decides their fate. Kitty leaves in despair. Anna Karenina returns home to St. Petersburg; Vronsky follows her.

Blaming himself alone for the failure of the matchmaking, Levin returns to the village. Before leaving, he meets with his older brother Nikolai, who lives in cheap rooms with a woman whom he took from a brothel. Levin loves his brother, despite his irrepressible character, which causes a lot of trouble for himself and those around him. Seriously ill, lonely, drinking, Nikolai Levin is carried away by the communist idea and the organization of some kind of locksmith's artel; this saves him from self-contempt. A date with his brother aggravates the shame and dissatisfaction with himself, which Konstantin Dmitrievich experiences after the matchmaking. He calms down only in his ancestral estate, Pokrovskoye, deciding to work even harder and not allow himself luxury - which, however, had never been in his life before.

The habitual life in Petersburg, to which Anna returns, is disappointing to her. She had never been in love with her husband, who was much older than her, and had only respect for him. Now his company is becoming painful for her, she notices his slightest shortcomings: too big ears, the habit of popping fingers. Love for her eight-year-old son Seryozha does not save her either. Anna tries to regain her peace of mind, but she does not succeed - mainly because Alexei Vronsky is in every possible way seeking her location. Vronsky is in love with Anna, and his love is intensified because an affair with a lady of the great world makes his position even more brilliant. Despite the fact that his whole inner life is filled with passion for Anna, outwardly Vronsky leads the usual, cheerful and pleasant life of a guard officer: with the Opera, the French theater, balls, horse racing and other pleasures. But their relationship with Anna is too different in the eyes of others from the easy secular flirting; strong passion causes universal condemnation. Alexei Aleksandrovich Karenin notices the attitude of the world to his wife's romance with Count Vronsky and expresses his displeasure to Anna. As a high-ranking official, “Aleksey Aleksandrovich has lived and worked all his life in the official spheres dealing with reflections of life. And every time he faced life itself, he moved away from it. " Now he feels himself in the position of a man standing above the abyss.

Karenin's attempts to stop his wife's irrepressible striving for Vronsky, Anna's attempts to restrain herself are unsuccessful. A year after the first meeting, she becomes Vronsky's mistress - realizing that now they are bound forever like criminals. Vronsky is burdened by the uncertainty of the relationship, persuades Anna to leave her husband and join her life with him. But Anna cannot decide to break with Karenin, and even the fact that she is expecting a child from Vronsky does not give her determination.

During the races, in which all the high society is present, Vronsky falls from his horse Frou-Frou. Not knowing how serious the fall is, Anna so openly expresses her despair that Karenin is forced to immediately take her away. She announces to her husband about her infidelity, about her disgust for him. This news gives Alexei Alexandrovich the impression of a sore tooth pulled out: he finally gets rid of the suffering of jealousy and leaves for Petersburg, leaving his wife at the dacha awaiting his decision. But after going over all possible options for the future - a duel with Vronsky, a divorce - Karenin decides to leave everything unchanged, punishing and humiliating Anna with the requirement to observe the false appearance of family life under the threat of separation from her son. Having made this decision, Alexey Alexandrovich finds enough calmness to reflect on the affairs of the service with his characteristic stubborn ambition. Anna’s husband’s decision causes an outburst of hatred towards him. She considers him a soulless machine, not thinking that she has a soul and a need for love. Anna realizes that she is cornered because she is unable to exchange her current position for the position of a mistress who has abandoned her husband and son and deserves universal contempt.

The lingering uncertainty of relations is agonizing for Vronsky, who loves order at heart and has an unshakable set of rules of behavior. For the first time in his life, he does not know how to behave further, how to bring his love for Anna into accord with the rules of life. If he joins her, he will be forced to resign, and this is also not easy for him: Vronsky loves regimental life, enjoys the respect of his comrades; besides, he is ambitious.

The lives of three people are entangled in a web of lies. Anna's pity for her husband alternates with disgust; she cannot but meet with Vronsky, as required by Alexey Alexandrovich. Finally, childbirth comes, during which Anna almost dies. Lying in childbirth fever, she asks for forgiveness from Alexei Alexandrovich, and at her bedside he feels pity for his wife, tender compassion and spiritual joy. Vronsky, whom Anna rejects in unconsciousness, experiences burning shame and humiliation. He tries to shoot himself, but is rescued.

Anna does not die, and when the mental softening caused by the nearness of death passes, she again begins to be weighed down by her husband. Neither his decency and generosity, nor touching concern for a newborn girl do not relieve her of irritation; she hates Karenin even for his virtues. A month after her recovery, Anna goes abroad with the retired Vronsky and her daughter.

Living in the village, Levin takes care of the estate, reads, writes a book about agriculture and undertakes various economic reorganizations that do not find approval from the peasants. For Levin, the village is "a place of life, that is, joy, suffering, work." The peasants respect him, go to see him forty miles away - and they strive to deceive him for their own benefit. There is no deliberation in Levin's attitude to the people: he considers himself a part of the people, all his interests are connected with the peasants. He admires the strength, meekness, justice of the peasants and is irritated by their carelessness, slovenliness, drunkenness, and lies. In disputes with his half-brother, Sergei Ivanovich Koznyshev, who came to visit, Levin argues that zemstvo activity does not benefit the peasants, because it is not based either on knowledge of their true needs or on the personal interests of the landowners.

Levin feels that he is at one with nature; he even hears the growth of spring grass. In the summer, he mows with the peasants, feeling the joy of simple labor. Despite all this, he considers his life to be idle and dreams of changing it to a working, clean and common life. Subtle changes are constantly being made in his soul, and Levin listens to them. At one time it seems to him that he found peace and forgot his dreams of family happiness. But this illusion crumbles to dust when he learns about Kitty's serious illness, and then sees her herself, traveling to her sister in the village. The feeling that seemed to be dead again takes possession of his heart, and only in love he sees an opportunity to unravel the great riddle of life.

In Moscow, at a dinner at the Oblonskys', Levin meets Kitty and realizes that she loves him. In a state of highest elation, he proposes to Kitty and receives consent. Immediately after the wedding, the young people leave for the village.

Vronsky and Anna travel to Italy. At first, Anna feels happy and full of joy in life. Even the knowledge that she was separated from her son, lost her honest name and became the cause of her husband's unhappiness does not overshadow her happiness. Vronsky is lovingly respectful with her, he does everything so that she does not feel burdened by her position. But he himself, despite his love for Anna, feels melancholy and clings to everything that can give his life significance. He begins to paint, but, having enough taste, he knows his mediocrity and soon becomes disillusioned with this occupation.

Upon returning to St. Petersburg, Anna clearly feels her rejection: they do not want to accept her, acquaintances avoid meeting her. Insults to the world also poison Vronsky's life, but, busy with her experiences, Anna does not want to notice this. On Seryozha's birthday, she secretly goes to him and, seeing at last her son, feeling his love for herself, she realizes that she cannot be happy in separation from him. In despair, in irritation, she reproaches Vronsky for having stopped loving her; it costs him great efforts to calm her down, after which they leave for the village.

The first time of married life turns out to be difficult for Kitty and Levin: they hardly get used to each other, charms give way to disappointments, quarrels - to reconciliation. Family life seems to Levin like a boat: gliding on water is pleasant to look at, but very difficult to rule. Suddenly Levin receives news that his brother Nikolai is dying in the provincial town. He is going to see him immediately; despite his protests, Kitty decides to go with him. Seeing his brother, experiencing excruciating pity for him, Levin still cannot get rid of the fear and disgust that the nearness of death causes in him. He is shocked that Kitty is not at all afraid of the dying man and knows how to behave with him. Levin feels that only the love of his wife saves him from horror these days.

During Kitty's pregnancy, whom Levin learns about on the day of his brother's death, the family continues to live in Pokrovskoye, where relatives and friends come for the summer. Levin values ​​the spiritual closeness that has been established between him and his wife, and is tormented by jealousy, fearing to lose this closeness.

Dolly Oblonskaya, visiting her sister, decides to visit Anna Karenina, who lives with Vronsky on his estate, not far from Pokrovsky. Dolly is amazed at the changes that have taken place in Karenina, she feels the falsity of her current way of life, especially noticeable in comparison with the previous liveliness and naturalness. Anna entertains guests, tries to engage her daughter, reading, and setting up a village hospital. But her main concern is to replace Vronsky with herself for everything that he left for her sake. Their relationship is becoming more and more tense, Anna is jealous of everything that he is fond of, even of the zemstvo activities, which Vronsky is mainly engaged in in order not to lose his independence. In the fall, they move to Moscow, awaiting Karenin's divorce decision. But, offended in his best feelings, rejected by his wife, found himself alone, Alexei Alexandrovich falls under the influence of the famous spirituality, Princess Myagkaya, who persuades him, for religious reasons, not to give the criminal wife a divorce.In the relationship between Vronsky and Anna, there is neither complete discord, nor consent. Anna blames Vronsky for all the hardships of her position; attacks of desperate jealousy are instantly replaced by tenderness; quarrels break out every now and then. In Anna's dreams, the same nightmare is repeated: some peasant bends over her, pronounces meaningless French words and does something terrible to her. After a particularly difficult quarrel, Vronsky, against Anna's wishes, goes to visit his mother. In utter confusion, Anna sees her relationship with him, as if in bright light. She understands that her love is becoming more and more passionate and selfish, and Vronsky, without losing his love for her, is still burdened by her and tries not to be dishonorable towards her. Trying to get him to repent, she follows him to the station, where she suddenly remembers the man crushed by the train on the day of their first meeting - and immediately realizes what she needs to do. Anna throws herself under the train; her last vision is a muttering peasant. After that, "the candle, in which she read a book full of anxieties, deceptions, grief and evil, flashed brighter than ever before, illuminated everything that was previously in the darkness for her, crackled, began to fade and went out forever."

Life becomes hateful for Vronsky; he is tormented by unnecessary but indelible remorse. He volunteered to fight the Turks in Serbia; Karenin takes his daughter to her.

After Kitty's birth, which became a deep spiritual shock for Levin, the family returns to the village. Levin is in a painful discord with himself - because after the death of his brother and the birth of his son, he cannot resolve the most important questions for himself: the meaning of life, the meaning of death. He feels that he is close to suicide, and is afraid to walk with a gun so as not to shoot himself. But at the same time Levin notes: when he does not ask himself why he lives, he feels in his soul the presence of an infallible judge, and his life becomes firm and definite. Finally, he understands that the knowledge of the laws of good, given personally to him, Levin, in the Gospel Revelation, cannot be grasped by reason and expressed in words. Now he feels able to put an undeniable sense of goodness into every minute of his life.