Anna Karenina · Chapter
V explained
Alexey Alexandrovitch Karenin visits a Petersburg lawyer to consult about obtaining a divorce from Anna.
What happens
Alexey Alexandrovitch Karenin visits a Petersburg lawyer to consult about obtaining a divorce from Anna. The lawyer, barely concealing his amusement, outlines the legal pathways to divorce, focusing on adultery as the most common ground. He explains the practical difficulties of proving adultery without mutual consent or eyewitnesses, despite Karenin's possession of letters. Karenin, perturbed by the process and the lawyer's demeanor, leaves to consider his options.
Themes in this chapter
Social Conventions vs. Individual Desire
Karenin's desire to escape his marriage and secure his son clashes with the rigid, impersonal, and often absurd legal conventions governing divorce, as represented by the lawyer's coldly procedural explanations.
Hypocrisy and Social Pretense
The lawyer's outward professionalism masks his inner glee and contempt for his client's predicament. The legal system's focus on the 'form' and 'detection' of adultery, rather than the emotional reality, exposes a layer of societal hypocrisy.
Isolation and Misunderstanding
Karenin is utterly isolated in his suffering. The lawyer, a representative of the society he is turning to for a solution, does not understand or care about his pain, seeing only a profitable case and an amusing spectacle.
Characters to notice
- Alexey Alexandrovitch Karenin
Seeks legal counsel for a divorce from Anna, insisting his son must not remain with her. He is fastidious, principled, and visibly perturbed by the lawyer's gleeful and pragmatic approach to his personal tragedy.
- Anna Arkadyevna Karenina
Not physically present, but her actions and the 'malignant gleam' Karenin recalls in her eyes are the central reason for his visit. Her alleged adultery is the subject of the legal discussion.
- Seryozha Karenin
Mentioned as Karenin's primary concern; he wishes to secure the divorce in a way that prevents his son from remaining with Anna.
Key passages
“"I have the misfortune to have been deceived in my married life, and I desire to break off all relations with my wife by legal means—that is, to be divorced, but to do this so that my son may not remain with his mother."”
Karenin states his purpose: to legally end his marriage due to his wife's infidelity and to ensure custody of his son.
This is Karenin's core, emotionally charged demand, framing the entire legal consultation.
“"The most usual and simple, the sensible course, I consider, is adultery by mutual consent."”
The lawyer pragmatically suggests the easiest path to divorce is for both spouses to agree to cite adultery.
Highlights the lawyer's cynical, transactional view of marriage and the legal system's preference for tidy, agreed-upon fictions over messy truths.
“The lawyer’s gray eyes tried not to laugh, but they were dancing with irrepressible glee... there was a gleam like the malignant gleam he saw in his wife’s eyes.”
Karenin perceives the same triumphant, malicious joy in the lawyer's eyes that he saw in Anna's.
A powerful moment of connection for Karenin, where his legal advocate and his betrayer are linked in his perception, deepening his sense of victimization.