In part IV of Anna Karenina, the main theme appears to be love. On the one hand, Anna’s marriage to Karenin is basically over. Vronsky, too, feels that his passion with Anna is cooling. But, we also get to see Levin and Kitty finally get back together, and get engaged as soon as they realize that they love each other.
As I read this part, I realized how suspicious I am of love at first sight, especially grand passions like Levin and Kitty and Anna and Vronsky developed. Having never experienced it myself, I always suspect that what’s really happening is that the two people are falling in lust. I always ask, how can they know that the object of their affections will make them happy? What about when they learn about their love’s pet peeves, annoying habits, opinions and political views, etc., etc.? I always get curious about what the couple is like a few years down the road. I think the only love story I’ve never really questioned was Jane Eyre’s, because it didn’t just happen. The love between Jane and Rochester grew over time.
In Anna Karenina, I get to see what happens to two couples who experience love at first sight. First, Anna and Vronsky. I’ve only heard Vronsky’s side, but before Anna gave birth to their child, he mentions a couple of times that he doesn’t feel as strongly for Anna as he used to. I suspect that the societal problems he has–lack of advancement, being cut off by his mother, general scorn–were crushing the feelings he had. It was too hard, I think, for him to keep loving Anna with the same intensity. Also, I suspect that Vronsky’s idea of Anna is not living up to the reality and that she is not always the same person that charmed him at the ball in part I.
Second, Kitty and Levin. After being rejected by Kitty, Levin went back to his country estate, but he could never forget Kitty. Kitty went abroad, but she couldn’t forget how she’d treated Levin and realized that she loved him. At the beginning of part V, they get married. But Levin, I think, is still idealizing Kitty. And I think he has an even higher ideal of her than Vronsky did for Anna. Kitty is a very lovely girl, but no one is perfect.