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Part 1, Chapter 23
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Anna Karenina, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Marriage and Family Life
Adultery and Jealousy
Physical Activity and Movement
Society and Class
Farming and Rural Life
Compassion and Forgiveness
Summary
Analysis
After his stint in Moscow society, Levin feels worthless and ill at ease. He goes to visit Nikolai, his troubled brother, and finds him thinner and sicklier than when they last saw each other. Although Nikolai is gruff at first, Levin’s timidity softens him. Nikolai introduces Levin to Marya, his mistress and de facto wife, whom he took from a whorehouse.
Levin’s misery is internal, but Nikolai’s ruin has extended to his external circumstances. Nikolai’s relationship with the former prostitute is another type of companionship: though it is outside of societal convention, Nikolai treats Marya as his wife.
Themes
