The novel Anna Karenina, is written by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. Published in 1877, Leo Tolstoy established a realistic and respected work of art in Anna Karenina.
Introducing Russia in the nineteenth century, Leo Tolstoy sets the scenery around the time when Russia was going through many political and societal changes. Mostly focused on the society aspect in his novel, Leo Tolstoy, served to construct this civilization which considered around his characters in his novel.
The narration aimed its attention on the illicit sexual relationship between Anna, wife of Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin, and Count Aleksey Vronsky, an unmarried wealthy army officer. As Tolstoy paves the way for these two characters, Anna and Vronsky will impact the society in a negative manner and eventually paints a hopeless picture for the state of mankind. Focusing so heavily on how society is so obsessed with negativity, Tolstoy reveals the true colours of Russia in the nineteenth century. With the deceptions and wrongdoings, this civil world then turned into a world filled with gossip and rumours. People craved to hear the “juicy” information between anyone and everyone. As Anna was being faced with judgments that came her way, she also received sexist anticipations which became apart of her daily life.
In the course of time, her social standing was dragged to the ground as well as the ending of her intimacy with Vronsky. The amount of differences that Anna and Vronsky encountered, in many aspects along with the society, was very divergent between the two of them. This suggested that Leo Tolstoy wanted to indicate the way how Anna and Vronsky’s lives had started to become contrasting to one another. In addition to this, the relationship that had initiated simply through love, was something that was illustrated as impossible. The way society was constructed, highlighted how society became this monster which worked against Anna and Vronsky.
Humanity being very elite in Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina”, women and men were not treated equally at the time. When it came to cheating, it is defined as an act of dishonesty or as a way to be sexually untrue. To secretly have sex with someone other than your spouse is the same as saying that someone is unfaithful to one’s partner. Everyone circulates rumors once they hear either a man or a woman has an affair. But it’s the men who get the most credit for this scandal by other men.
Whereas the woman on the other hand, are called derogatory terms by the society for this liaison. Despite the fact that Anna and Vronsky are two human beings, the consequences of their behaviors or actions are extremely distinctive. Patrick McCormick states that, “it takes two to commit the sin of adultery, but women often get more than their fair share of the blame” (40). Although this may be true, the advantage or privilege that men have towards sex, feel as if many of them have the right to sex. Married or unmarried, men however in this society were praised. If a man did commit adultery,
