Anna Karenina: Novel Summary: Part 2 section 03-Part 2 section 15

Part 2 section 3: Dolly goes and talks to Kitty.  She asks Kitty if Levin had proposed to her, and Kitty won't answer, but Dolly can tell that he had and that she refused him.  Kitty gets angry and says that at least she would not stay with a man who betrayed her.  The two sisters are angry at each other but soon make up.

Part 2 section 4: Anna has friends in three of the different sets of the highest Petersburg Society.  The first set is the circle of her husband's official colleagues, which she is not interested in.  The second set surrounds the Countess Lydia Ivanovna, and this circle has become unbearable to Anna, as she feels that all of them are only pretending, and with them she is bored and uncomfortable.  The third set she is connected to through the Princess Betsy Tverskaya, the wife of her cousin.  Before she had left Moscow she had spent more time with the Countess Lydia, but now that she has returned, she avoids these moral friends and goes into grand Society with Betsy.  There she is able to see Vronsky, and he speaks to her about his love whenever he can.  Vronsky goes to the Opera to see Betsy.  He tells her that he had reconciled two young men with the man whose wife they had insulted.

Part 2 section 5: Vronsky relates the details of the story to Betsy and then goes to the French Theatre to talk over this reconciliation with the Commander of his regiment, as both of the young men belong to Vronsky's squadron. 

Part 2 section 6: Guests begin to arrive at the Princess Betsy's home after the opera.  There are some different conversations, some revolving around gossip.  They talk about the Karenins and how much Anna has changed now that she has Vronsky as her shadow. 

Part 2 section 7: Anna arrives at the party.  There is a conversation about marriages based on reason versus marriages based on passion.  Anna tells Vronsky that she has learned in a letter that Kitty is very ill.  She is angry at him for not caring more and for not realizing what he had done.  He tells her that what happened in Moscow as a mistake and not love.  It becomes clear through their conversation that Anna is in love with him.  He talks to her about how much he loves her, and Anna replies that he should not say such things but that they can just be good friends.  Vronsky can see that she does not mean it.

Karenin arrives and sees his wife and Vronsky talking away from the rest of the guests. He sees that the rest of the guests are uncomfortable with this, and Betsy goes to break them up.  Karenin asks his wife to come home with him, but she says that she will stay to supper, and he leaves.

Part 2 section 8: Karenin does not see anything improper in his wife's actions, but he realizes that the others do, so he decides to talk to her about it.  He does not know quite how to do it though, as he does not want to appear jealous, as he thinks that jealousy is a shameful feeling.  This is the first time that Karenin has thought about the possibility of his wife falling in love with someone else, and he is quite upset.  He decides on four points to make: First, the importance of public opinion; secondly, the religious meaning of marriage; thirdly, the harm that may result to their son; fourthly, her own unhappiness.

Part 2 section 9: Anna arrives home and Karenin tells her that he must warn her, and tells her that her conversation with Vronsky attracted attention.  He can see that she is no longer being open with him, and she sees that he only cares about her actions because Society cares.  He keeps trying to talk to her, not saying what he had originally planned, and she keeps saying that she does not understand what he is talking about and is sleepy.  They go to bed.

Part 2 section 10: From that time on, the internal relationship between Anna and Karenin changes, and Karenin feels powerless to do anything about it.  He tries to talk to her again, but each time "he felt the same spirit of evil and falsehood which had taken possession of her master him also" (147). 

Part 2 section 11: That which Vronsky had wanted to happen between he and Anna for almost a year finally occurres.  Anna feels very guilty and cannot even think about what to do.  She dreams that both Vronsky and Karenin are her husbands, but when she wakes she is filled with horror.

Part 2 section 13: Levin goes out to walk around his property.  He gets angry when he sees that the men are working on things that should have already been done and that the things that need to be done now are not being done. Levin rides out to where the men are sowing clover, and feels better when he has done some hard work with them. 

Part 2 section 14: When Levin returns home in better spirits he finds Oblonsky there.  He has come to see him, to do some shooting and to sell his wife's forest.  He tells Levin that his brother Sergius Ivanich intends to come and stay the summer with him there in the country.  Levin talks to Oblonsky about his book and his idea that the laborer should be studied as one of the factors that should decide the agricultural method.

Part 2 section 15: They go out to shoot snipe and do quite well.  During the shooting, Levin asks about Kitty.  Oblonsky tells him that she is very ill and has gone abroad, and Levin is upset to hear it.