Anna Karenina · Chapter
The Beginning explained
Levin awakens to find Kitty in the early stages of labor.
What happens
Levin awakens to find Kitty in the early stages of labor. He is struck by her radiant, courageous, and loving demeanor amidst her pain, which he finds sublime and incomprehensible. In his anxiety and focus on fetching the midwife and doctor, Levin, the unbeliever, finds himself spontaneously praying to God for help.
Themes in this chapter
Family and Domesticity
The imminent birth represents the culmination of family creation. The intimate, anxious, and loving domestic scene centers on this profound life event.
Love and Marriage
Levin's observation of Kitty's soul 'shining in her eyes' reveals the depth of their marital bond, tested and strengthened by shared suffering and anticipation.
Search for Meaning
Levin, confronted with the mystery of childbirth and suffering, finds his intellectual doubts vanish as he instinctively turns to God, seeking a higher meaning and aid.
Characters to notice
- Konstantin Dmitrievitch Levin
Awakens to Kitty's labor; is struck by her sublime courage; feels guilt over his recent behavior; in his distress, he turns to prayer despite his usual disbelief.
- Kitty Shcherbatskaya
Begins labor; displays a radiant, simple, and courageous love; manages the household preparations calmly while enduring pain.
- Lizaveta Petrovna
The midwife is summoned; Levin meets her on the way and she gives him practical instructions.
Key passages
“He saw that something sublime was being accomplished in her soul, but what? He could not make it out. It was beyond his understanding.”
Levin perceives a profound, transcendent process occurring within Kitty during labor, which his rational mind cannot grasp.
Highlights the spiritual and mysterious nature of childbirth, contrasting with Levin's typical rationality.
“And he, an unbeliever, repeated these words not with his lips only. At that instant he knew that all his doubts... did not in the least hinder his turning to God.”
Despite his lifelong skepticism, Levin sincerely prays in his moment of crisis and fear for Kitty.
Marks a pivotal moment of existential vulnerability and instinctual faith for Levin.
“She was suffering, complaining, and triumphing in her sufferings, and rejoicing in them, and loving them.”
Kitty experiences her labor pains as a complex mix of agony and exalted, loving triumph.
Captures the paradoxical joy and purpose Kitty finds in the painful process of bringing forth life.