“Sometimes [one should be] terrified of [the] heart; of its constant hunger for whatever it is it wants (Edgar Allen Poe). Endeavors of the heart may be the most dangerous of all, resulting in dismay. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy follows the lives of several families who live in 18th century Russia, each coming from different social groups and classes. The story begins with Anna’s brother Stiva Oblonsky, who is caught having an affair. As a result of this discovery, Anna must leave her family in St. Petersburg, and go to Moscow in attempt to mend her brother’s broken marriage. While in Moscow Anna meets Count Vronsky, an eligible young bachelor that Anna’s sister in- law Kitty is taken with. Unable to supress her love, Anna has an affair with Vronsky. Furthermore, a love triangle develops adding Levin, a childhood friend of Kitty into the toxic combination rendering him hopelessly in love with Kitty. Although all the characters commit wrongful acts, only a few are penalized and the judgement they receive from society is unjust. In the novel Anna Karenina, the presence of love and lust serves as a catalyst for chaos within the backdrop of a misogynistic society, with discrimination baring the way for the characters progression in social status.
As a result of the protagonist’s overbearing personality, the characters allow the urge for love to destroy them. In relation to Vronsky and Anna’s relationship every move they make is intensified, thus, causing a distance between the two. When the relationship becomes more intimate Vronsky is angry with Anna’s “fits of jealousy, which of late had been more and more frequent with her [and they] horrified him and however much he tried to disguise the fact, made him feel cold to her” (Tolstoy,...
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... and despair of many. Firstly, the characters strong and unswaying personalities make it difficult for them to fully indulge themselves in society leaving them ostracized. Also, the views of 18th century Russia allows for discrimination to occur for those who obtain unorthodox views. Lastly, all the pressures from society cause conflicts between characters which make it difficult for them to focus on their social standings. The misogyny within high society Russia casts strains on love, resulting in dismay and heartache, which is felt by all the characters. If society is unable to work past discrimination the world will undeniably be stagnant in terms of advancements in equal rights.
Works Cited
Tolstoy, Leo. “Anna Karenina". Toronto: Random House, Inc., 1994. Print.
Poe, Edgar Allan. "Edgar Allan Poe." Famous Quotes at BrainyQuote. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
According to Tolstoy, Anna Karenina was derived from three separate occurrences. The first being in 1870, Tolstoy developed an idea for a story about a woman who commits adultery and abandons her husband for the other man, loosely based on the life of his sister. The second was a newspaper story about a woman who, after being abandoned by her lover, threw herself under a train. The third was a sentence from Pushkin’s Tales of the Balkin that read, “The guests were arriving at the country house.” Which apparently inspired Tolstoy so much that he finished the first draft of the novel within a matter of weeks, although it was not published until five years later.
Several Russian authors employed a genre of literature called the society tale in order to critique traditions and expectations of Russian high society such as the concept of marriage. These society tales were very popular in Russia in the 1830s and included a mix of formats and styles. These tales examined different aspects of high society, such as power and money, and lead many authors to question the role of women in society. Authors such as Karolina Pavlova and Evdokia Rostopchina explored the role of marriage in society and the consequences of marriage as a whole. The concept of marriage in Russian society is discussed and judged in both A Double Life and Rank and Money. Whether a character marries
Poe, Edgar Allan. Edgar Allan Poe: a collection of stories. New York: Tom Doherty associates, LLC, 1994
Poe, Edgar Allan. Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1966. Print.
Chekhov reminds the readers that Anna is young compared to Gurov. Chekhov’s novel states, “As he went to bed he reminded himself that only a short time ago she had been a schoolgirl, like his own daughter” (3). The images of Anna being a schoolgirl not too long ago, when Gurov has a daughter of similar age, brings the sense of abnormality between the relationship of Gurov and Anna. It’s hard to imagine such a huge difference in lovers especially in the strict culture of Russia in the late 19th century where these occasions were unthought-of. The uncomforting thought of the difference in age goes back to differ the meanings of love and romance in the novel because against all odds and differences, Anna and Gurov hide away from these obvious facts. The thought of love in this culture is between a man and woman of similar age. According to Chekhov’s novel, “He was sick of his children, sick of the bank, felt not the slightest desire to go anywhere or talk about anything” (9). Chekhov’s description of sickness reveals that Gurov has a huge moment of denial, denial of family and denial of age. This denial of age, helps Gurov cope with the oddities of their relationship, the oddities of the love they had with the characteristics of a romance. Gurov was trying to change the definition of their relationship on his own mental terms. While Gurov was trying to bring out a spontaneous, younger
The period is the early 19th century; those involved and discussed in this essay are for the most part Russian gentry. Increasingly relaxed social mores in the “developed” world, including the greater freedom to choose to whom one gets married to as well as increased women’s sexual rights, were much more uncommon during the time that War and Peace takes place. Tolstoy, an outspoken critic of arranged marriages, uses the characters in his novel as a way of exploring the various types of love, and in general the interactions between men and women of the time. This essay will attempt to focus on these relationships in an effort to get a better idea of Tolstoy’s views on the proper roles that men and women should play as friends, lovers, or spouses. By exploring the male/female relationships among the noble families, a detailed picture of both the expectations and realms of acceptable behavior will be established.
In The Darling, Anton Chekhov tells the story of Olga Semyonovna, a woman who is empty without love in her life. Olga is widowed twice, takes a lover who leaves her, and eventually focuses on her old lover's child as the object of her obsession. In all these relationships, she takes on the ideas and emotions of her companion. She smothers the boy, Sasha, with so much attention that he cries out in his sleep. Olga's capacity to love is infinite, but that love is a parasitical and debilitating one.
In order to understand the nature of Gurov and Anna’s “love”, the question of “Who seduced who?” needs to be answered. When looked at the story step by step, the answer would be Gurov, since he w...
In every rags to riches story, the protagonist eventually must decide whether it is better to continue to associate with impoverished loved ones from the past, or whether he or she should instead abandon former relationships and enjoy all that the life of fame and fortune has to offer. Anton Chekhov gives his readers a snapshot of a young woman in such a scenario in his short story Anna Round the Neck. While this story certainly gives a glimpse of the social climate in Russia during the nineteenth century, its primary focus is the transformation of Anyuta (Anna) Leontyich from a meek, formerly impoverished newlywed into a free-spirited, self-confident noblewoman. Throughout the story, the reader is drawn to pity Anna’s situation, but at the
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy is a novel about love and marriage among the Russian aristocracy in the 1870s. Anna is young, beautiful woman married to a powerful government minister, Karenin. She falls in love with the elegant Count Vronsky and after becoming pregnant by him, leaves her husband Karenin and her son Seryozha to live with her lover. Despite the intervention of friends such as her brother Oblonsky, an adulterer himself, she is unable to obtain a divorce, and lives isolated from the society that once glorified her. As a man, Vronsky enjoys relative social freedom, which causes Anna to have increasingly intense fits of jealousy. Because of her constant suspicion, she thinks that Vronsky’s love for her is dwindling. Their story is ended by an exciting finale that moves the reader.
Sova, Dawn B. "Poe, Edgar Allan." Bloom's Literature. Ed. Facts on File, Inc. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Bloom's Literature. Web. 23 Jan. 2014.
Tolstoy, Leo. Anna Karenina. Trans. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. New York, NY: Penguin, 2000. Print.
First, the characters understand that their relationship is based on future aspirations and second, they have historical relationship disappointments. This third insight into the psychology of love supports the fact that many relationships and marriages often fail because of unrealistic expectations. Psychology research SHOWS that individual expectations for relationships actually sows the seeds of discontent. People are expected to provide not only provide safety, security and support, but also facilitate personal growth and freedom. Even though they come from an older period in history, Anna and Dmitri are stereotypical people who have unhappy pasts and hopeful futures. They are thrown into an intense relationship with limited mutual understanding. Chekhov’s limited dialogue and straightforward narrative leaves plenty of cognitive room for readers to ruminate about their own experiences and how they relate to the
Then novel War and Peace was written by a famous Russian author Leo Tolstoy in 1865. The novel describes the war with Napoleon in which many countries were involved such as Russia, Austrian, Prussia, Spain, Sweden, and Britain. The novel mainly focuses on Russia. It reflects the different views and participation in the war of Russian aristocracy and peasants and also shows Tolstoy’s negative viewpoint on the war.
The story “The Darling” by Anton Chekhov, illustrates a woman that is lonely, insecure, and lacking wholeness of oneself without a man in her life. This woman, Olenka, nicknamed “Darling” is compassionate, gentle and sentimental. Olenka is portrayed for being conventional, a woman who is reliant, diligent, and idea less. Although, this story portrays that this woman, known as the Darling needs some sort of male to be emotionally dependant upon, it is as if she is a black widow, she is able to win affection, but without respect. Only able to find happiness through the refection of the beliefs of her lovers, she never evolves within the story.