Tolstoy's Anna Karenina
The world of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is a world ruled by chance. From the very opening chapters, where a watchman is accidentally run over by a train at Moscow's Petersburg station, to the final, climactic scenes of arbitrary destruction when Levin searches for Kitty in a forest beset by lightning, characters are brought together and forced into action against their will by coincidence and, sometimes, misfortune. That Anna and Vronsky ever meet and begin the fateful affair that becomes the centerpiece of the novel is itself a consequence of a long chain of unrelated events: culminating Anna's sharing a berth with Vronsky's mother on her way to reconcile Dolly and Stiva in Moscow. And yet, as an epigraph to this seemingly chaotic world of chance event, a seemingly amoral world that would seem to neither punish sin nor reward good, Tolstoy chooses a quotation that comes originally from the book of Deuteronomy's song of Moses: "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." Originally (and somewhat narrowly) thought to refer to Anna's final ostracism from the upper echelons of society that punish her for her misdeeds, the epigraph is the key to Tolstoy's subtle and philosophically complex conception of morality that denies the existence of a universal and unavoidable justice and derives responsibility from the individual's freedom to create and then bind himself to laws. Three of the novel's characters, Stephen Oblonsky, Constatine Levin, and Anna Karenina, all in some way connected to the Shcherbatsky family, serve to illustrate the various ways that Tolstoy's individual can be, or fail to be, "good," the various ways in which a character can be moral, immoral or amoral through the use of thought, or reason, to create necessity outside of the confused demands of a chaotic reality.
Tolstoy's world is indeed a servant to chance, and the plot depends so heavily on coincidence that Anna Karenina, taking into account the many elements of Menippian satire and Socratic dialogue that are integrated into its structure, may well be considered in part a carnival novel. The steeplechase scene during which Vronsky breaks Frou-Frou's back is a perfect example of carnivalism -- the tragic yet somehow slapstick and cartoon-like injuries that befall the riders is a parody of the grand battlefield that the steeplechase is supposed to symbolize and the ...
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...els." Anna is immovable in the face of the purely pleasurable and uninterpreted aspects of life -- "girlish delights" -- that are Oblonsky's daily bread.
Anna is thus a tragic hero in the strict Aristotelian sense of being destroyed by the logical evolution of her personality. Yet it is also true that Tolstoy resists the tragic form in the overall structure of his novel by continuing into Part VIII and into Levin's life after Anna's death. While Anna fails to sustain a life centered in "romantic morality," the Goethian ideal of complete devotion, not to the loved one, but the condition of being in reciprocal love itself, Levin finds, at the end of the novel, a way to live that transcends the demands of reality. In the folk culture of the peasants that he encountered near the very beginning of the novel, he finds the peasant Theodore who understands Levin's need to leave the mundane, to live not for his belly, but for "Truth," a goodness that is beyond the chain of cause and effect that so binds the other characters in the novel -- Dolly, for example, who, unable to apply reason outside of pragmatic thought to her life, continues to live, pathetically, with her unfaithful husband.
He abandons omniscience, the story’s main narration style, and writes in the first-person: “The hero of my story, whom I love with all my heart and soul, whom I have attempted to portray in all his beauty and who has always been, is now and always will be supremely magnificent, is truth” (Tolstoy 109 [1986]). Unlike many literary works, there is no analysis needed in order to uncover Tolstoy’s primary message — he directly expresses to readers that truth is the center of the text. Essentially, the story’s characters, settings, and plot are merely vehicles Tolstoy manipulates to bring him to this final sentence where the central theme is revealed; everything in the piece ties back to the concept and central theme of truth. Some might say this ending degrades the story’s literary appeal because it does not allow for a clean resolution, but in many ways, this proclamation serves as the story’s climax. In this moment, the veil of fiction is lifted away from the reader’s eyes and only then can they see the story clearly.
Furthermore, the story of Anna’s battle for her inheritance shows a great deal about popular opinion. Anna, known for the affairs that she had, initially lost her case. Instead of calmly accepting t...
When comparing Chekov’s elements that construct a love story to those in Leigh Michaels’ “The Essential Elements of Writing a Romance Novel”, readers must make their own judgments with what little Chekov provides. Chekov accomplishes this task by portraying Anna's and Gurov's relationship through using a lens of representative true human behavior. Unlike a traditional romantic story, Chekov fails to provide the reader with a concrete answer to how or if the lover’s will endeavor. Furthermore, the expectations of the romantic hero and heroine are skewed when analyzing Gurov and Anna. Readers are forced use their own judgments to fill in the blanks that Chekov provides because of the vast uncertainty due to human nature in the short
Biographical Information: Leo Tolstoy was born into an aristocratic family in 1828. He lost both his parents at a young age, and was sent to live on the family estate with his siblings. The estate, Yasnaya Polyana, was located 130 miles from Moscow. This isolation from the aristocracy is truly what set Tolstoy a part from his peers. He cultivated a genuine love and appreciation for the peasants (surfs) that lived on his family’s land. As he grew up he became a deeply moral person, and found it difficult to take part in the socially acceptable debauchery of his peers.
Dostoyevsky's writing in this book is such that the characters and setting around the main subject, Raskolnikov, are used with powerful consequences. The setting is both symbolic and has a power that affects all whom reside there, most notably Raskolnikov. An effective Structure is also used to show changes to the plot's direction and Raskolnikov's character. To add to this, the author's word choice and imagery are often extremely descriptive, and enhance the impact at every stage of Raskolnikov's changing fortunes and character. All of these features aid in the portrayal of Raskolnikov's downfall and subsequent rise.
price of shame" (Tolstoy, 135). Anna is struck by guilt and sobs in surprise when Vronsky describes what has happened between the two of them as bliss. She is disgusted and horrified by the word and requests Vronsky not to say any other word (Tolstoy, 136).
Beyond killing herself though, this last scene symbolizes the idea that Anna finally got to a state in which she would face her judgement, and because of this, the reader did not have to ascribe her to any kind of punishment, as God himself is the one to determine what is to happen to her from this point onward. Even though she is the only one who faces a wrath following her wrongdoing, Tolstoy still hinted a sort of fondness towards the character of Anna, as she was simply a victim of a dead marriage. Under any other circumstance, if she would not have been married, her story would have been accepted as a love story. But since she was married, she should have accepted the unhappiness of her marriage, as to some extent or another, it seems to be a thread within the familial structure (as depicted in the opening line of the novel). The very fact that the novel started out with the infidelity of Stiva and his ease to reincorporate himself back into the society, while Anna ultimately met her maker symbolizes a double standard of gender that existed in this structure of
Anna transcribes her memories in a way that transitions from being able to love freely to being forced to love Alexander Karmyshev out of obligation; this was an arranged marriage by her mother. Anna sees the role of a noblewomen as being completely submissive towards their husbands even under unbearable conditions. The lessons learned from her mother helped shape and control her life. Labzina’s mother instilled the lessons of submission and survival in her mind before departing. Her mother’s motivation for teaching her these things was so that elite people would intercede on her behalf through respect for her. Her mother’s teachings were to:
In such poor living conditions, those that the slums of Russia has to offer, the characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment1 struggle, living day to day. Raskolnikov, the protagonist, experiences multiple layers of suffering (the thought of his murder causes him greater suffering than does his poverty) as does Sonia and Katerina Ivanovna (1). Through these characters as well as Porfiry Petrovitch, Dostoevsky wants the reader to understand that suffering is the cost of happiness and he uses it to ultimately obliterate Raskolnikov’s theory of an ubermensch which allows him to experience infinite love.
Dostoevsky’s St. Petersburg is a large, uncaring city which fosters a western style of individualism. As Peter Lowe notes, “The city is crowded, but there is no communality in its crowds, no sense of being part of some greater ‘whole.’” Mrs. Raskolnikov initially notices a change in her son marked by his current state of desperate depression, but she fails to realize the full extent of these changes, even after he is convicted for the murder. The conditions and influences are also noticed by Raskolnikov’s mother who comments on the heat and the enclosed environment which is present throughout the city. When visiting Raskolnikov, she exclaims "I'm sure...
Through suffering and guilt comes a personal need to redeem one's self and once again achieve an inner peace of mind. This process of redemption is not easy, but is worth the prize of being reborn into a new being. When one fully commits him or her self to being saved, there is no stopping that final result. In Crime and Punishment, Dostoyevsky draws from personal experience to create a story based off of suffering, which ultimately exemplifies a message of redemption and rebirth through said suffering.
...oevsky’s character Raskolnikov in the novel Crime and Punishment. He has to go through the devil’s temptation, his opportunities to commit the sin, and the guilt the devil puts on him. Raskolnikov goes through metaphorical hell because of his guilt and is on the road to literal hell because he has no way out. Fortunately God does not let you suffer in your sin and sends a way to get you to confess. For Raskolnikov the way God sends him forgiveness is through Sonia the prostitute. Sonia provides Raskolnikov a way to r receive forgiveness for his crime. Although at first Raskolnikov is hesitant of Sonia and her attempts to get him to ask God for forgiveness, but in the end Raskolnikov accepts Christ and gets the forgiveness and peace of mind he desired and needed. Once again God shows that the devils power is no match to his own, and God will be victorious in the end.
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank was published in 1947. When the book was published a lot of people were impacted. It started getting more and more famous all around the world. In no time 30 million copies of the book was sold. Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett decided to make a play based on Anne Franks book. The play was a huge success and it was nominated for 8 Oscars and won 3. After George Stevens decided to make a movie about Anne Frank. There were some famous actors in the movie like, Shelley Winters playing Mrs. Van Pels and Millie Perkins as Anne Frank (pg.282, The Diary of a Young Girl).
The conflict between good and evil is one of the most common conventional themes in literature. Coping with evil is a fundamental struggle with which all human beings must contend. Sometimes evil comes from within a character, and sometimes other characters are the source of evil; but evil is always something that the characters struggle to overcome. In two Russian novels, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment and Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, men and women cope with their problems differently. Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment and the Master in The Master and Margarita can not cope and fall apart, whereas Sonya in Crime and Punishment and Margarita in The Master and Margarita, not only cope but pull the men out of their suffering.
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