Summary

         Anna Karenina married with a cold and passionless government official, Alexei Karenin, when she was seventeen. Alexei Karenin was civil to everyone and makes no waves, also to his wife. Anna Karenina had a eight-year long boring marriage life with her husband, until she went to Moscow for her brother's affair, she met a wealthy army officer, the elegant Count Vronsky.

         

        Count Vronsky was the turning point of Anna's life, Anna started to find the truth and meaning in her life. She fell deeply in love with Vronsky. But this kind of forbidden love got Anna into awkward situation. At last, the pressure from the classes, the cold shoulder from her lover pushed her into death.

         

Set against this tragedy is the story of Konstatin Levin. While Anna looked for happiness through love, Levis embarked on his own search for spiritual fulfillment through marriage, family, and hard work. By these two central plots, Tolstoy represented nineteenth-century Russian society.