Anna Karenina Analysis Essay Example

of Anna's near death
experience during her illness. This event brings about a change in
Karenin and even Vronsky as they trade positions. Karenin suddenly
becomes human and not hidden from life by his administrative
regulations. His carapace cracks, and he becomes drunk with sympathy,
dazzled by his own generosity. Death for Karenin becomes the basic
truth which makes him___ a living human being capable of love. While
on the other hand, Vronsky takes on the role of Karenin, he is unable
to deal with Anna's deathbed crisis and even goes as far as attempting
to suicide. This awareness of life-in-death provides the climax of the
novel, with the main characters perceiving the truth from the
heights of their emotional intensity. Hate and deceit no longer exist
in the presence of death, and the three characters live in a
moment of pure innocence.
Yet as the crisis ends, and everything returns to normality, Anna,
Vronsky and Karenin return to their old ways to live in that world of
delusion. Anna and Vronsky continues with their ill-fated love, while
Karenin despite his ennoblement, finds Anna cannot love him and
reverts back to his old ways. This clearly shows that death brings
about the ultimate truth of life and the world of the living is just a
delusion.
Death in the novel is personified by Levin's brother, the
all-too-intimate Nikolai, whose lingering, ghastly death pushes Levin
to make the leap of faith. This the leap of faith which the other
characters had experienced, but were unable to retain after their
dramatic experience with death. Levin is unlike them, and is in fact,
able to discover for himself the meaning

of life in the world and
retain his leap of faith. For Levin in the end, he is no longer afraid
of death and even though he does not completely change, he now knows
the meaning of life and is at peace.
Levin's example here provides for the reader an insight into
Tolstoy's intertwining and complex structure in Anna Karenina. The
reader is able to better understand how the role of death is critical
to the novel. Levin serves as the backbone for Tolstoy's emphasis on
the "natural life" where one loves and procreates, as opposed to the
"unnatural life" where one lives by abstract principles. The natural
man, according to Tolstoy, grasps life through all its realities and
can then understan death. Intellect and spirit merely bypass essential
truths.
While in the world of the living, Tolstoy shows the reader the
delusions of life through various characters. Especially apparent is
the princess Betsy Tverskoy who is so caught up in her daily life and
is unable to change. She throws extravagant dinner parties for that
part of society which feasts on delusions. The irony behind it is that
they, despite their disillusionment, mocks Anna at one of the parties
where she had shown up with her lover, Vronsky. This is in essence the
downfall of Anna, who has succumbed to passion for her lover.
The themes of life and death will come to review itself in the
novel. As for Anna, she embodies the both of them even thought she
didn't know it. In the end as Anna traces the career which drives her
to suicide in her long soliloquy, she discovers that her love had

turned to hate, that her life has become a "stupid delusion" and death
provides the only alternative. Anna now accepts death as she she had
spontaneously and naturally confronted her love. Anna's death is an
affirmation of her deep commitment to life and that death is the final
truth to her illustrious career. "And the candle by which she _ had
been reading the book filled with trouble and deceit, sorrow and evil,
flared up with a brighter light, illuminating for her everything that
before had been enshrouded in darkness, flickered, grew dim, and went
out forever." (Tolstoy,p.816)
Tolstoy cleverly uses the themes of life and especially death
beneath the other themes in an intricate structure. Tolstoy uses the
themes as a vehicle to link the themes together to relate it to the
readers. The theme of death is most critical to the novel, because it
invokes the characters in the novel to do what they do. That fear of
death and not being able to understand it, is the reason for
characters' actions. It is the backbone for the other themes of the
"natural man," love and deceit, "unhappy family," adultery, and some
other themes that exists in the novel.

In Anna Karenina, Tolstoy seems to be in search of answers for his
own questions through the two main characters of the novel, Anna and
Levin. There are aspects of each character that can be accredited to
Tolstoy himself, and this provides the reader with a chance to see the
development of not only Anna and Levin, but also Tolstoy himself.
Tolstoy is also afraid of death and through his character's
development he is able to

discover for himself.
Tolstoy's Anna Karenina provides a lot of insight into our own
lives. We need to look to the past to protect the future, and yet
we tend to forget that. Nevertheless, Tolstoy has created a wonderful
piece of literature with a intricate plot structure. As Sydney
Schultze puts it, "the study of the novel's construction is rewarding
because the book is so beautifully crated." With regards to the theme,
I would be justified to say that it is the keystone, which Tolstoy
mentioned about, of the architecture of the book.
Death is an integral part of everybody's life and no matter who it
is, everybody fears death. To come to terms with death is something
that takes a lot of courage and a full understanding of oneself.
Tolstoy in his novel, has revealed to us the effect that death can
have on a person and advocates us to not succumb to the daily life of
the world which we live in, because it is all a delusion. Yet if we
live as naturally as possible, we can get a better grasp on the true
essence of life as Levin does in the novel. He finds joy out of
working and enjoying the fruits of his labor, instead of indulging
himself in the materialism of the hypocritical aristocrats. Modern
culture has lost this aspect of life and we need to check ourselves
before we lead our lives into a downfall.