Anna Karenina · Chapter
Chapter XXXIV explained
Vronsky returns to his Petersburg apartment, which he shares with his comrade Petritsky.
What happens
Vronsky returns to his Petersburg apartment, which he shares with his comrade Petritsky. He finds Petritsky with the Baroness Shilton and Captain Kamerovsky in a scene of frivolous disorder. Vronsky easily slips back into the 'lighthearted, pleasant world' of his Petersburg life, characterized by gossip, debt, scandal, and a cynical code of conduct that mocks conventional morality. He hears amusing stories, including one about Buzulukov and a helmet, and prepares to re-enter society with the intention of meeting Anna Karenina.
Themes in this chapter
Hypocrisy and Social Pretense
Vronsky's Petersburg world is built on a pretense of elegance and freedom that masks debt, infidelity, and irresponsibility. The characters laugh at conventional morality while engaging in scandalous behavior, highlighting the hypocrisy of their 'real' people versus the 'ridiculous' old-fashioned ones.
Social Conventions vs. Individual Desire
The chapter explicitly defines two opposing classes: one that believes in marital fidelity, innocence, and duty, and another (Vronsky's) that prizes passion, pleasure, and laughing at such conventions. Vronsky's easy return to this world shows the pull of a social code that justifies following individual desire.
Characters to notice
- Count Alexey Kirillovitch Vronsky
Returns to Petersburg and his old apartment. He is momentarily startled by the contrast with the 'different world' of Moscow (and Anna) but immediately and comfortably resumes his former careless, cynical Petersburg lifestyle. He laughs at scandalous stories and plans to go into society to meet Anna.
- Petritsky
Vronsky's comrade living in his apartment. He is deeply in debt, involved in scandals, and cavalier about his troubles. He entertains Vronsky with gossip, including the tale of Buzulukov's helmet filled with sweets, embodying the frivolous, irresponsible Petersburg set.
- Princess Betsy Tverskaya
Mentioned as part of Vronsky's planned social rounds. He intends to visit her, indicating she is a key connection to the society where he expects to meet Anna Karenina.
- Anna Arkadyevna Karenina
The object of Vronsky's return to society. His explicit intention is to 'go into that society where he might meet Madame Karenina,' driving his actions for the evening.
Key passages
“In his Petersburg world all people were divided into utterly opposed classes. One, the lower class, vulgar, stupid, and, above all, ridiculous people, who believe that one husband ought to live with the one wife whom he has lawfully married... But there was another class of people, the real people. To this class they all belonged, and in it the great thing was to be elegant, generous, plucky, gay, to abandon oneself without a blush to every passion, and to laugh at everything else.”
Vronsky's social circle holds a cynical, hedonistic worldview that openly scorns traditional values like marital fidelity and duty, instead celebrating passion and pleasure-seeking.
This is a core philosophical statement of the chapter, defining the moral divide in Vronsky's world.
“For the first moment only, Vronsky was startled after the impression of a quite different world that he had brought with him from Moscow. But immediately as though slipping his feet into old slippers, he dropped back into the lighthearted, pleasant world he had always lived in.”
Vronsky is briefly disoriented by the contrast between the serious emotional world of Moscow (with Anna) and his frivolous Petersburg life, but he reverts to his old habits with comfortable ease.
Highlights the tension between his new passion and his ingrained lifestyle, showing how quickly the latter reasserts itself.