# Anna Karenina — Character guide

> Key figures in Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.

- [Count Alexey Kirillovitch Vronsky](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/alexey_kirillovitch_vronsky.md): A wealthy cavalry officer whose passionate affair with Anna Karenina sets the tragic plot in motion.
- [Anna Arkadyevna Karenina](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/anna_arkadyevna_karenina.md): The charismatic and passionate protagonist, trapped in a loveless marriage, who risks everything for love.
- [Alexey Alexandrovitch Karenin](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/alexey_alexandrovitch_karenin.md): Anna's husband, a high-ranking government official known for his rigid morality and emotional reserve.
- [Konstantin Dmitrievitch Levin](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/konstantin_dmitrievitch_levin.md): A thoughtful, introspective landowner who seeks meaning in life, love, and work on his country estate.
- [Kitty Shcherbatskaya](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/ekaterina_alexandrovna_shcherbatskaya.md): The youngest Shcherbatsky sister, whose romantic journey and marriage to Levin form a central storyline.
- [Stepan Arkadyevitch Oblonsky](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/stepan_arkadyevitch_oblonsky.md): Anna's charming, pleasure-loving brother, whose affair opens the novel and who connects the main characters.
- [Darya Alexandrovna Oblonskaya](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/darya_alexandrovna_oblonskaya.md): Stiva's long-suffering wife, Kitty's older sister, and a close friend to both Anna and Levin.
- [Nikolay Dmitrievitch Levin](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/nikolay_dmitrievitch_levin.md): Konstantin Levin's consumptive, nihilist brother, whose tragic life deeply affects Levin.
- [Sergey Ivanovitch Koznishev](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/sergey_ivanovitch_koznishev.md): Levin's intellectual half-brother, a well-known author and philosopher.
- [Seryozha Karenin](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/sergey_alexeyevitch_karenin.md): The young son of Anna and Alexey Alexandrovitch Karenin.
- [Vassenka Veslovsky](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/vassenka_veslovsky.md): A cheerful, somewhat tactless young nobleman who visits Levin's estate and flirts with Kitty.
- [Countess Lidia Ivanovna](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/lidia_ivanovna.md): A pious society lady who becomes Karenin's close confidante and advisor after his separation from Anna.
- [Mihailov](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/mihailov.md): A talented but socially awkward painter in Italy whom Vronsky and Anna commission for a portrait.
- [Princess Betsy Tverskaya](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/betsy_tverskaya.md): A fashionable and morally lax society hostess, cousin to Vronsky and friend to Anna.
- [Mademoiselle Varenka](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/varenka.md): The gentle, self-sacrificing companion of Madame Stahl, whom Kitty befriends at a German spa.
- [Nikolay Ivanovitch Sviazhsky](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/nikolay_ivanovitch_sviazhsky.md): A progressive neighboring landowner and district marshal whose views Levin debates.
- [Prince Yashvin](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/yashvin.md): A fellow officer and gambler, Vronsky's closest friend in the regiment.
- [Agafea Mihalovna](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/agafea_mihalovna.md): The elderly, devoted housekeeper on Levin's country estate.
- [Marya Nikolaevna](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/marya_nikolaevna.md): The devoted but coarse common-law wife of Levin's dying brother, Nikolay.
- [Madame Stahl](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/madame_stahl.md): A mysterious, invalid Russian lady at the German spa, revered for her piety.
- [Petritsky](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/petritsky.md): A fellow officer and roommate of Vronsky's in the barracks.
- [Countess Nordston](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/countess_nordston.md): A sharp-tongued society friend of the Shcherbatskys who mocks Levin's first proposal to Kitty.
- [Princess Myakaya](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/princess_myakaya.md): A blunt and outspoken society lady known for her 'sharp tongue'.
- [Turovtsin](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/turovtsin.md): A good-natured, quiet gentleman often present in Oblonsky's and Betsy's social circles.
- [Mademoiselle Linon](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/mademoiselle_linon.md): The elderly former governess of the Shcherbatsky sisters.
- [Matvey](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/matvey.md): Stepan Arkadyevitch Oblonsky's loyal valet.
- [Lizaveta Petrovna](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/lizaveta_petrovna.md): The midwife who attends Kitty during her childbirth.
- [Korney](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/korney.md): Levin's elderly butler at his country estate.
- [Ryabinin](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/ryabinin.md): A shrewd merchant who buys timber from Stepan Oblonsky and later from Levin.
- [Ivan Parmenov](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/ivan_parmenov.md): A peasant on Levin's estate who represents Levin's idealized view of peasant life.
- [Frou-Frou](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/frou_frou.md): Vronsky's beloved mare, which he rides in the fateful steeplechase.
- [Laska](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/laska.md): Levin's skilled and beloved hunting dog.
- [Princess Shcherbatskaya](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/princess_shcherbatskaya.md): Kitty and Dolly's mother, a traditional society matron concerned with her daughters' marriages.
- [Prince Shcherbatsky](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/prince_shcherbatsky.md): Kitty and Dolly's father, an old-fashioned aristocrat skeptical of modern suitors like Vronsky.
- [Marya Philimonovna](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/marya_philimonovna.md): The old nurse in the Oblonsky household who helps care for Dolly's children.
- [Kapitonitch](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/kapitonitch.md): The kindly old hall-porter at the Karenin residence, devoted to Anna and Seryozha.
- [Golenishtchev](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/golenishtchev.md): An old school friend of Vronsky's, a liberal intellectual living in Italy.
- [Monsieur Landau](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/landau.md): A French mystic and 'clairvoyant' who influences Countess Lidia Ivanovna and Karenin.
- [Professor Katavasov](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/katavasov.md): A scientist and friend of Sergey Koznishev who visits Levin's estate.
- [Metrov](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/metrov.md): A professor whose lecture on biology Levin attends with Katavasov.
- [Prince Serpuhovskoy](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/serpuhovskoy.md): A successful army comrade of Vronsky's who encourages him to pursue a military career.
- [Mihail Vassilievitch Sludin](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/mihail_vasilievitch_sludin.md): A conservative landowner and candidate during the provincial elections Levin attends.
- [Nevyedovsky](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/nevyedovsky.md): The young, successful candidate elected as provincial marshal with Sviazhsky's support.
- [Mihail Stepanovitch Snetkov](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/snetkov.md): The old provincial marshal of nobility whom Levin and his allies oppose in the elections.
- [Tanya](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/tanya.md): The eldest daughter of Stepan and Dolly Oblonsky.
- [Grisha](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters/grisha.md): A young son of Stepan and Dolly Oblonsky.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/anna_karenina_se/characters