WLS- Movie Appreciation Anna Karenina By Leo Tolstoy

Storyline Student contribution Background introduction

Main characters Anna Arkadyevna Karenina – Stepan Oblonsky's sister, Karenin's wife and Vronsky's lover. Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky – Lover of Anna Prince Stepan Arkadyevitch Oblonsky ("Stiva") – a civil servant and Anna's brother. Princess Darya Alexandrovna Oblonskaya ("Dolly") – Stepan's wife Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin – a senior statesman and Anna's husband, twenty years her senior. Konstantin Dmitriev itch Levin ("Kostya") – Kitty's suitor and then husband, old friend of Stiva.

Nikolai Levin – Konstantin's brother Sergius Ivanich Koznyshev – Konstantin's half-brother Princess Ekaterina Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya ("Kitty") – Dolly's younger sister and later Levin's wife Princess Elizaveta ("Betsy") – Anna's wealthy, morally loose society friend and Vronsky's cousin Countess Lidia Ivanovna – Leader of a high society circle that includes Karenin, and shuns Princess Betsy and her circle. She maintains an interest in the mystical and spiritual Countess Vronskaya – Vronsky's mother

Major themes Anna Karenina is commonly thought to explore the themes of hypocrisy, jealousy, faith, fidelity, family, marriage, society, progress, carnal desire and passion, and the agrarian connection to land in contrast to the lifestyles of the

Works by Leo Tolstoy 1851 Istoria vcherashchnevo dnya (Accounts of Yesterday) 1852 Childhood, Boyhood, Youth, an autobiographical trilogy 1855-56 Sevastapol Sketches 1865-69 War and Peace 1875-7 Anna Karenina 1884 My Confession 1886 How Much Land Does a Man Need? 1886 The Death of Ivan Ilyich 1895 Master and Man 1899 Resurrection

Questions for Consideration 1 What impresses you most in this movie? 2 What do you think of the fate of Anna? 3 The famous opening sentence of the original novel is “All happy families resemble one another, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”. What do you think of it? 4 What am I? Why am I here? Do you think the narrator finds the answers? How about you?