Pille Arike  The Theme of Marriage in "Anna Karenina".

Marriage is one of the main themes in "Anna Karenina".  The author, Leo Tolstoy, gives a quite vivid picture of marriages of the Russian nobility in the 19^th century.  Through three primary marriage couples in "Anna Karenina" - Anna and Karenin, Dolly and Stiva, Kitty and Levin, - we can see what were the main problems and issues that marriage couples had to deal with in the 19^th century Russia.  Each of these three couples represents a different view of marriage among the Russian nobility.

What was the meaning of marriage in the 19^th century Russia?  What were the most common reasons to get married?  It is important to notice that there was a difference between men and women of how marriage was perceived and valued.  Also, external influences on marriages were one of the big issues among the Russian nobility in the 19^th century, and which are very well brought out in "Anna Karenina".

Today people get married when they feel that they have found the right person who they love, and who loves them back.  Also, today the decision of getting married usually involves only these two people who are about to get married; it is their decision and no one else's.  Back in 19^th century Russia, in most of the cases love wasn't the chief reason for marriages; there were so many other factors and people involved with this decision. A good example would be Anna and Karenin's marriage that was actually arranged by Anna's aunt.  Anna's aunt wanted her niece to marry a rich man, with a good reputation in society, so that Anna can maintain a good position in society and live a good life.  Whether Anna and Karenin loved each other wasn't a considerable factor.

As I did my research on marriages during that period of time in Russia, it occurs that a lot of marriages were arranged for interest. Usually it wasn't for the interest of the people who actually got married but for their families.   A lot of times the parents picked out the wives or husbands for their children, and they just had to obey their parents will. Factors, such as property, connections, standing in Society and wealth of the future bride or groom were more important factors than just love.  Of course there were exceptions, like Kitty and Levin, who actually loved each other.  But even there we can see that Kitty's mother didn't approve Levin because she felt that Levin didn't have a good enough reputation and position in Society.

By law, in the 19^th century Russia, men and women were not in an equal position in marriage.  By the law marriage was a religious institution based on patriarchal authority, unquestioning obedience, and unequal status.[1]  So, according to the law a wife was obliged to obey and live with her husband even if her husband wasn't treating her well.  Women were especially vulnerable position when it came to divorces or separation because their husbands had all the control over them.  We can see in the book that neither Dolly nor Anna didn't finally get divorced, although they both had their very good reasons for it.  Since the law gave a husband complete control over his wife, women were too afraid to lose all the financial support from their husbands, their reputation and good position in society in case of divorce.  So, basically men were in a much favorable position in marriages during that period of time than women were.

In summary, "Anna Karenina" gives a good overview about the views, and attitudes, and values towards marriages among the Russian nobility in the 19^th century.