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Part 4, Chapter 5
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
A commission report supports Karenin’s political views, but a rival of Karenin’s proposes an extreme version of Karenin’s ideas, which turns people against Karenin. Karenin decides to go to the distant provinces to investigate the matter himself. On the way, he stops in Moscow, where Oblonsky and Dolly see him in the street. They invite him over for dinner. Karenin is awkward and abrupt throughout the interaction.
Karenin uses a political rivalry as an excuse to visit the provinces and thus escape from his uncomfortable domestic situation. When he runs into Oblonsky in the street, he is uncomfortable because he knows he cannot hide behind a polished veneer, since the Oblonskys know about Anna’s infidelity.
Themes
