Chapters 1–35
Part Two of the novel opens with concern on the part of family and friends for Kitty’s health, which declines dramatically following Vronsky’s public insult of her at the ball in Moscow. Doctors are consulted, but Dolly realizes that Kitty has been brought to near collapse by her double rejection, of Levin and then followed by Vronsky.
In St. Petersburg, Anna finds her life defined more and more by Vronsky and his socialite cousin, Princess Elizaveta Tverskoy (Betsy). Anna becomes increasingly distant from her former family friend, the morally righteous Countess Lydia Ivanovna. As the breach between the two grows, rumors about Anna’s scandalous relationship with Vronsky begin to spread.
Despite the pending scandal, Anna and Vronsky continue to meet regularly. Even though Anna pleads with Vronsky to end their relationship and to ask Kitty for her forgiveness. Somewhat unaware of what is unfolding around him, Karenin reflects on his sense that his relationship with Anna is being undermined. Acknowledging his jealousy, he is at the same time aware that his jealousy is illogical, a response based in an unfounded emotion rather than a response based in logic and even open-mindedness. After confronting his wife one evening about the possible consequences of what he assumes to be her less-than-respectful behavior, Karenin is confused by Anna’s indignation and her argument that she has a right to have some entertainment in her life. Karenin counters with the argument that such desires should be kept hidden. When Karenin reasserts his love for her, Anna responds by wondering what love really means.
Leaping forward in time by almost a year, the novel refocuses on Anna and Vronsky in the moments following the sexual consummation of their relationship. Distraught, and fearing that she has lost everything, Anna sobs and says that all she has in her life now is Vronsky. After falling into a fitful sleep, Anna dreams that both Karenin and Vronsky are her husbands.
Unable to overcome his sadness over Kitty’s rejection, Levin keeps himself busy with the frustrating business of estate farming. He also cares for his half-brother Nikolai, who suffers from tuberculosis. Levin’s spirits are revived during a surprise visit from Stiva, who provides Levin with details of Kitty’s failing health. Levin believes her illness is caused in part by her treatment of him, which he interprets as a sign of her feelings for him. Their discussion then turns to business, and more specifically to Stiva’s plans to sell part of his family estate to a merchant who Levin later insults. Stiva concludes the sale against his friend’s best advice, and then he accuses Levin of snobbery.
Vronsky and Anna continue to deepen their relationship in full view of St. Petersburg high society. Upon learning that Anna is pregnant (and that he is likely the father of her unborn child), Vronsky urges her to leave Karenin and to live openly and honestly with him. He does not realize that her devotion to her son, Sergei, holds her in her marriage, which remains, on the surface at least, as it always has. Simmering below the surface, though, is Karenin’s growing hostility towards his wife. He reminds her repeatedly that her worry when Vronsky is injured during a horse race, for instance, is wholly improper. Pushed by her husband to quit her relationship with the officer, Anna confesses openly that she loves Vronsky. Karenin is shocked, and demands that she continue to appear committed to their marriage until they agree upon a solution to the situation. As is so often his reaction to situations both personal and professional, Karenin shows himself to be a man almost obsessed with appearances and with how his actions might look to people of high standing within society.
While Anna’s story continues to unfold in St. Petersburg, Kitty visits a German spa in the hopes of recovering her health. While she is there, Kitty meets and befriends a young woman named Varvara (Varenka) who has devoted her life to charity and good deeds. Kitty also meets a woman named Madame Stahl, a seemingly religious invalid who also presents Kitty with an influential model of piety and righteousness. However, Madame Stahl is also a vain woman whose piety is not necessarily sincere.
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