Analyses to Anna Karenina’s Images and Tragedy

【Abstract】The famous woman image anna karenina who was the product of the Russia great realism writer Tolstoy has a certain influential status in the literature history. This paper is to analyze her according to feminism and to analyze Anna’s images and her tragedy in the fiction from three aspects―society， religion and feminism. The analysis can offer modern women some profound inspirations.

【Key words】 Anna； image； feminism； tragedy

【摘要】俄伟大的现实主义作家托尔斯泰笔下的著名的女人形象安娜・卡列尼娜在文学史上有一定的影响力。本文旨在从女性主义的角度分析安娜在小说中的形象和她的悲剧。分析主要从三个方面展开，即社会、宗教和女权主义。该分析可以为现代女性提供一些深刻的启示。

【关键词】安娜・卡列尼娜 形象 女性主义 悲剧

Ⅰ. Foreword

《Anna Karenina》is the great Russian writer Tolstoy’s fiction in the 1970’s. Ann’s image is in the centurial position of the whole book. When Anna was only 18 years old， she was arranged to marry Karenin who was 20 years older than her by her ante. Anna is beautiful， elegant and sincere to emotions. She is full of passion and has a plentiful inner world. To Anna， Karenin is just a selfish， hypocritical， cold and obstinate official who knows nothing about love but to seek fame and fortune. While different from Karenin， Vronsky is casual and elegant bearing and he is full of justice. So the appearance of Vronsky quickly made Anna fall in love with him. Thus， Anna even forgot her dearest son and asked for divorce with her husband. Her husband， Karenin， was too angry to accept it. But illegally， Anna and Vronsky had a daughter. Unfortunately， Vronsky left Anna at last， because he could not stand Anna’s . Anna at last chose to commit suicide.

Ⅱ. Anna’s Images

1. An adamancy woman pursues true love regardless of any cost

According to Hegel， to women， love is the most beautiful thing in the world， because they put all of their souls and practical lives in enjoying love. And women can only find their support of life when they are in love. In other words， love means much more than man to women. Love is the meaning of their life， therefore， women will pursue true love regardless of any cost. This is completely different with what men think of love.

Love makes women more beautiful； what’s more， love can make women stronger.

Anna is strong and she is not hesitating for love. The unhappy marriage has devastated Anna’s passionate heart and body. The natural thirst of true love and the passion of life force Anna to free her mind out of the fetter of her unhappy marriage. So when the handsome， young officer Vronsky expressed his fanatical love to Anna， she couldn’t help herself falling love with him. The love that has been berried in Anna’s heart for years exploded like a volcano， and the fire melted away the mask that she wore for 8 years， and expelled her values and all the considerations， and encouraged her to speak out of her mind： I can’t deceive myself anymore， I’m not a corpse， I have a clear conscience. Since God has given me life， I need love， I need my life. After they felling love with each other， Anna associated with Vronsky in public and said that she would leave her husband. And she even told her husband that she loved Vronsky and she hated him， she was afraid of him. Anna and Vronsky moved to Italy and they had a daughter without the legal permission. Anna’s action was not acceptable by the society of that time. But for love， she betrayed her husband and family. In front of love， she cared nothing about moral code or values or ethics.

To Anna， love is revived because she was tied of her unhappy marriage and she was moved by Vronsky’s pursuit. Anna has been living in a world without love though their family seemed to be honorable， rich in material， and have a high position in society. For eight years， Anna was tortured by the pain of emptiness in her mind. Anna’s husband， Karenin just took Anna as a piece of furniture at home. They never had any heart-to-heart communication. Besides， Anna was a woman that longed for true love and had been educated of the Western Enlightment’s concept of freedom and equal right to women. Therefore， Vronsky’s pursuit acted as a fuse to Anna’s emotion and stimulated Anna’ energy of emotion. But Anna was passive in love.

2. A gentle mother felt hard to part with the mother-to-son love

Women who have become mothers are the same on the problem of children of their own. No matter what personalities they have， tough-minded or gentle， they will always think of their children first. Maternal instinct is innate to every woman.

Anna was a born kind woman with mother love， and that’s why she tardily made up her mind to separate with her husband. In the eight-years-long marriage， the only reason that kept her stayed in the family is her son. Her son was her only soul prop of life. No matter how her husband treated her she was found betrayed her husband， kicked her out of home， or forbidden her from seeing her son， she could not leave her son along and she always thought of taking her son away with her. She kept in mind that she must not let anybody to take her son away from her.

Though Anna loved her son very much， she didn’t have a good ending with her son. The love of Vronsky made her temporarily forget her dearest son. She chose to run away with Vronsky with her son. What Anna did made her husband very angry， so her husband forbidden Anna from seeing her son so as to make her come back to the family. But Anna finally chose to leave the cold family and to start her new life， so she was forced to leave her son. But she had never thought that she would never see her dear son any more. She had chosen a road that she could never come back. However， her sacrifice to the so-called love didn’t come to the end that she expected. She could not stand the indifference of Vronsky and chose to commit suicide which has separated her with her son forever.

3. A forsaken woman went on a tragic destiny

Though Anna fought for the love she desired and had a short tome of happiness， she became the rebel of the society of that time， and her love died in the cruel real world. That’s her destiny. From women’s side， her tragic destiny was the cost of her pursuit for the relatively equal right. She chose to perfect her life with love， gain her independent value in love， but her struggle and rebel could only end tragically in that patriarchy society.

According to Hegel， love is everything to women， so when they fail in love or lose it， they will be like a candle that blew out in the wind. In Anna’s mind， Vronsky was her everything， she had nothing but Vronsky. Anna was a slave of love. The only goal of her life was to see hoe much she could get back from what she had sacrificed to Vronsky. But little by little， Vronsky’s love to Anna became faded， and he felt void， after all， he had been used to live in the upper class of the society. When he wanted to return to the upper class， he found that Anna was a burden to him， therefore he became unsatisfied with Anna or even hated her. His cold treatment drove Anna despaired. Her love had no dependent any more， and she was finally abandoned by love.

Anna knew she would be repelled by the society and she also knew that she was guilty in front of God. She was a grandeur dame while she asked for freedom of personality； she was a mistress and a mother； when she got love she was as happy as in heaven， but when she left her family， her son， she felt restless and guilty. She could not get more love from Vronsky nor go back to her former life. She didn’t know how to revenge herself on Vronsky， thus the only way she could think of was to commit suicide.

Ⅲ. Anna’s Tragedy

1. Investigate the tragedy from the perspective of society

Anna was ling in the upper class of a hypocritical and absurd society. She was a brave woman that dared to face her feeling and run away from the situation which was full of hypocrisy and deceit. After they fell in love with each other， Anna overtly talked with Vronsky in the parties of the upper class， showed her determination of parting with her husband and even announced that she loved Vronsky， she was his lover and she hated Karenin. Anna overtly spent the honey moon with Vronsky in Italy. It was Anna’s extraordinary behavior that touched the tender spot of the hypocritical and absurd nerves of the society. If Anna hasn’t broke the old relationship of a family and just lied to her husband and was other’s mistress secretly， just like Mrs. Betsy and other ladies， she would not be blamed and interfered by the upper class of the society， because in the social interaction circles， most of the women were having this kind of secret relationship with somebody. Those women with the hypocritical and dirty souls could not accept Anna’s sincere and pure desire of love， facing the hearty pursuit for love； they felt scared， because it was a challenge to their hypocritical morality. Most of the women of that time did those immoral things secretly and they were full of jealousy seeing Anna’s pursuit for the true love which they could not find， therefore， they threw all the pejorative to Anna. They drove Anna out of the gate of the upper class so as to make Anna lose her foothold of life and the social interaction circles which was for living. Anna’s husband， Karenin as well， took all the means including laws， religion， status， and son that he could use to throttle Anna’s rebel. When he found the shamefaced love happened in his noble family， he was in great pain， but he was not sad to lose Anna but to ruin his fame and status in society. He thought Anna was guilty and could not be happy. And after all this happened， what he cared most was how to keep his status and fame. He first took religion as his sword， saying that he could not violate the Christianity rules， and refused Anna’s plea for divorce so as to put Anna in the position of being a mistress. Then he used laws to force Anna to stay at home even though they divorced so that they could keep the hypocritical relationship of the family， the social environment didn’t give Anna any retreat route， so Anna could only die in despair after the evaporation of love.

2. Investigate the tragedy from the perspective of religion

A fainthearted， irresolute and contradictory Anna was hidden behind the fearless pursuit and brave rebel. Anna who was educated by the thought of capitalist class’s humanism has lived in the noble upper class of the society which was with dense color of feudalism for a long period of time. She was a noble wife with both the old time’s shadow and the new time’s sun light. The moral code of the world influenced and restrained her every single movement because she has grown up in the atmosphere of such religion. In the process of her pursuit for love， she always felt ashamed for being a woman who violated the religious rites， and she also felt guilty for being unfaithful to her husband. That’s all because of the education and pious faith she had had. She on the one hand rigidly pursued for love， but on the other hand， she equaled the pursuit for happiness to crime and sin. She always thought herself was a bad woman and a debased woman. She hated her husband who has strangled her vitality while she felt very guilty to him. She abhorred the dissolute and shameless upper class， at the same time， she felt that she had no ability to give up the status in the upper class she used to have and got a shameless position in return. The contradictory psychology of Anna finally drove her restless and fidgety even though she was in love.

3. Investigate the tragedy from the perspective of Feminism

Modern psychology thinks that， a normal and complete personality should contain three levels. First， it is life. Being a person should show their life force which is healthy， vigorous and full of energy. The second is the social level. Being a member of the society， people should have the concept of the period and prevailing custom sense which embody the views of value and morality of the period. Similarly people should also be chosen by the society. The third level is the opposite sex esthetics level. The two sexes in the human world should be appreciated by the opposite sex. The standard of appreciation may not be the same but the two sexes should be treated equally. A complete personality should be restricted by the power of the three levels. However this ideal personality has never been found in any women in the ancient time’s traditional women. To women， the levels of their life force have been restrained. Women have been weakened from spirit to body. The energetic life force was not one of the standards of evaluating the traditional women； however， those petite， weak and thin women were far more popular. We can not deny that it is sorrowful that men appreciate women in this way， which misled the ancient women’s consciousness of beauty. What’s more， for thousands and hundreds of years， beautiful appearance has become the travel pass for women to get into the men’ world. When choosing a spouse， Chinese people think the man with talent and power and the woman with beautiful appearance match with each other. In fact， this reflects that men’s value of personality is to make achievement in society while women’s is to be chosen by men， in other words， women’s beauty is prepared for men. According to this， women’s beauty is existing as a kind of value that can be seen and enjoyed， not the value of women themselves.

When Vronsky first met Anna at the station， he was attracted by Anna’s beauty， “With the instinctive reaction of a man of the world， Vronsky， with one glance at this woman’s appearance， placed her as belonging to the best society. He apologized and was about to go on into the carriage， but he felt it necessary to glance at her once again- not because she was very beautiful， nor because of the elegance and demure grace visible in everything about her， but because there was something particularly tender and caressing in the expression of her sweet face as passed by him. When he looked around she also turned her head. Her shining gray eyes， which because of their thick lashes seemed dark， paused with friendly attentiveness at his face as though she recognized him， and the swept on at once to the passing crowd as though looking for someone. In this short glance Vronsky had time to notice the subdued vitality that played over her face and fluttered between her shining eyes， and the scarcely perceptible smile the curved her rosy lips. ” The first thing that moved Vronsky was Anna’s beauty， and his instinct of a playboy made him to pursue Anna. The love of Vronsky to Anna has come with the explosion of passion and gone with the wane of passion. It is hard to say that Vronsky had no true love to Anna， but it is not sure that Vronsky understood Anna， respected her decision and emotion from the very beginning. Their love was destined to be a tragedy.

When Anna fearlessly announced her rupture with her husband Karanin， Karenin wrote a letter to tell her about his decision， together with the letter there was the money that sent to Anna. After reading the letter and seeing the money， Anna felt very angry and disgraceful， but she could not deny that she was ling depend on Karenin.

Ⅳ. Conclusion

No matter which image of Anna’s we are talking about， Anna is just a representing of thousands of women who are in love. She was willing to be humble for the man she loved and took him as the center of her whole life. However when her love story ended tragically， we can see it from a feminism perspective. The love between Vronsky and Anna was unfair. She got her love when she lost her self-consciousness， so this kind of unfairness in the relationship between them would definitely lead to the tragedy. So women of today should take Anna as an example to learn to choose the right position in the relationship of love.

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作者简介：石亿，女，壮族，广西桂林人，副教授，硕士研究生，主要从事英美文学研究。