Anna Karenina · Chapter
XXIII explained
At the ball, Kitty's hopes for a declaration from Vronsky during the mazurka are shattered as she observes the intense, mutual fascination between Vronsky and Anna.
What happens
At the ball, Kitty's hopes for a declaration from Vronsky during the mazurka are shattered as she observes the intense, mutual fascination between Vronsky and Anna. Anna's radiant, intoxicating success and Vronsky's look of humble submission reveal their powerful connection to Kitty, plunging her into despair. Anna departs early, refusing to stay for supper.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Marriage
Kitty's expectation of a marriage proposal from Vronsky during the ball is brutally overturned, revealing the volatile, unpredictable nature of romantic attraction versus social expectation.
Social Conventions vs. Individual Desire
Anna and Vronsky's powerful, visible mutual desire operates outside the sanctioned courtship ritual (the mazurka), disrupting social order and crushing Kitty's conventional hopes.
Isolation and Misunderstanding
Kitty feels utterly alone in her despair; no one else understands she refused other suitors based on her faith in Vronsky. She is isolated in a crowded room.
Characters to notice
- Kitty Shcherbatskaya
Observes Anna and Vronsky's connection at the ball, realizes her hopes are lost, and is crushed with despair, forcing herself to continue dancing.
- Count Alexey Kirillovitch Vronsky
His usual self-possession is gone; he looks at Anna with 'humble submission and dread,' his fate visibly intertwined with hers.
- Anna Arkadyevna Karenina
Radiates a fascinated, intoxicating success at the ball, her happiness and excitement unconsciously visible, captivating Vronsky and horrifying Kitty.
- Countess Nordston
Comforts the despairing Kitty and reveals that Vronsky asked Anna for the mazurka first, confirming Kitty's fears.
- Korsunsky
The master of ceremonies; tries unsuccessfully to persuade Anna to stay for the cotillion and supper.
Key passages
“She saw in her the signs of that excitement of success she knew so well in herself... she saw the quivering, flashing light in her eyes, and the smile of happiness and excitement unconsciously playing on her lips...”
Kitty recognizes in Anna the intoxicated glow of a woman being adored, a feeling she knows from her own experiences.
Highlights Kitty's painful insight and the universality of the feeling.
“Now every time he turned to her, he bent his head, as though he would have fallen at her feet, and in his eyes there was nothing but humble submission and dread.”
Vronsky's demeanor toward Anna is one of complete, fearful devotion, a radical change from his usual confident self.
Shows the transformative and overwhelming power of his passion for Anna.
“She would have to tell her mother she felt ill and go home, but she had not the strength to do this. She felt crushed.”
Kitty is so devastated she considers feigning illness to leave, but is paralyzed by her emotional collapse.
Conveys the depth of her social and personal humiliation.