In the section on the question How old was Anna Karenina in Tolstoy's novel? Which actress is closer to her age? given by the author Netochka Nezvanova the best answer is Let's go back to the source
Quote: I'll start over: you married a man who is twenty years older than you. You got married without love or without knowing love. It was a mistake, let's say.
Maybe 18 or 22
Karenina - 44 (not found in the text)
Anne - 24 - 26 (approximately)
Best Anna Karenina in film adaptations - Samoilova

And age has nothing to do with it...

Answer from soon[newbie]
In the film adaptation of Anna Karenina, Keira Knightley stars in the title role. There she says literally, "I got married at 18." They were married for 9 years. Therefore, she was 27.

Answer from sound combination[newbie]
24

Answer from Goga Vasmoisky[newbie]
28

Answer from Eurovision[guru]
Somewhere recently I read that Anna Karenina was 28 years old. Of course, in those days, she married late.

Answer from User deleted[guru]

Tolstoy wrote that Karenin was an old man. Although by today's standards, he is still young - he is only 44 years old. Anna is about 26-27 years old. She has an 8 year old son. In those days in Russia, she was no longer considered a young woman. Marriable girls were 16-17 years old, so for the 70s of the 19th century Anna was a mature woman, the mother of the family, and Vronsky was very young.

Answer from FLAME[guru]
Anna Karenina was 35 years old.

Answer from Natalia Kosinskaya[guru]
Tolstoy does not have a single mention of Anna's age. Karenin was 44, but with Anna - complete ambiguity. It is only known that she married late. Karenin married her by some coincidence. It is clear that this is the story of mature people.

I do not even know where to start. I will try to systematize the chaos that is going on in my head after watching the "bold film adaptation".

Plot. I understand that it is difficult to fit everything that L.N. wrote about in a two-hour film. Tolstoy in Anna Karenina, but this is no reason to turn a powerful Russian novel into a comic book. It seems that everything is in place - and the events are the same, and the key phrases in the book, and fictional characters are not observed, but there is no integrity.

Form. The action takes place in theatrical scenery, sometimes on the stage, the mise-en-scenes are well built - they can be seen in the style of the playwright Tom Stoppard, who wrote the script for the film. Transitions between scenes are kept to a minimum. Remember the episode from "Love and Pigeons", when the hero of Mikhailov leaves the deren hut, opens the door and jumps into the sea? In "Anna Karenina" the same technique is constantly used.

The characters of the characters, their age and external conformity. First, let's clarify the age of the main characters. The exact age of neither Vronsky, nor Anna, nor Karenin is unknown. If you think logically: Anna got married at the age of 17-18, her son Seryozha is 8 years old, then she is 26-28 years old. I definitely saw somewhere in the book that Vronsky was a little younger than her, I thought that I had left a bookmark on this fragment, but I never found it. Wikipedia has a link to unpublished fragments of the novel: “Vronsky was endowed with rare qualities: modesty, courtesy, calmness and dignity. According to family tradition, Vronsky wore a silver earring in his left ear, at the age of 25 he wore a beard and began to go bald. And in the novel there is such a character - Serpukhovskaya, it is said about him that he was a general and Vronsky was his age. Would you like to know at what age at that time it was possible to become a general? Really at 25? I found a lot of information about Karenin on the Internet, that he is 44 years old, I don’t know where she came from. In a conversation with Anna, Stiva says that Karenin is 20 years older than her. Thus, Anna 26-28, Vronsky 25-26, Karenin 46-48. More or less sorted out with age.
Now let's look at the similarities.

Anna Arkadievna Karenina

Everyone knows that the prototype of Anna Karenina is the daughter of A.S. Pushkin Maria Hartung.
"Anna ... in a black, low-cut velvet dress that revealed her chiseled, like old ivory, full shoulders and chest and rounded arms with a thin tiny tassel. The whole dress was trimmed with Venetian guipure. On her head, in black hair, her own without admixture, there was a small garland of pansies and the same one on a black ribbon of a belt between white laces. Her hairstyle was invisible ... There was a string of pearls on a chiseled strong neck.
As if Lev Nikolaevich painted a verbal portrait from this picture, right?

If you think that I posted a frame from another movie, you are mistaken. This is an episode from Anna Karenina, symbolizing the suffering of the unfortunate. The cigarette, apparently, hints at deep reflection.
I understand that external resemblance cannot be one hundred percent, but the type, in my opinion, must match the description. The character also failed - with Tolstoy you both understand and despise Karenina at the same time. Anna at Keira Knightley turned out to be flat, simplified, puppet.

Alexey Kirillovich Vronsky

Vronsky's prototype was Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy. Remember the romance "Among the Noisy Ball"? Alexey Konstantinovich wrote this poem to his future wife S.A. Miller-Bakhmetyeva, who left her husband and family for him. This story made a lot of noise in the world.
What do we know about Vronsky? "... there was a short, densely built brunette, with a good-naturedly handsome, extremely calm and firm face. In his face and figure, from short-cropped black hair and a freshly shaved chin to a new uniform wide from a needle, everything was simple and elegant at the same time. " "Vronsky ... began to grow bald prematurely."

And now compare with this cheerful baby doll. By the way, the actor who played Alexei Vronsky, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, is a brunette in life. I don’t understand what the director wanted to say by repainting him blond. And how could Kitty and Anna fall in love with this sugary youngster?

Alexey Alexandrovich Karenin

The prototype of Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin was Baron Vladimir Mikhailovich von Mengden, a landowner and official, a member of the State Council, a callous person, short and unattractive, married to the beautiful Elizaveta Ivanovna Obolenskaya. Karenin had a fresh Petersburg face, a self-confident figure, a slightly protruding back. When walking, he tossed his whole pelvis and blunt legs. A round big hat rested on the ears. He wrapped his chilly and bony legs in a fluffy blanket. Smiling revealed "unfading white teeth." The voice is thin.

Karenin is played by Jude Law in the film. I treat him well as an actor, but, in my opinion, it is too early for him to play such characters. Karenin in the book deep man: outwardly dry and stale, but with a noble and good soul. In the film, he turned out to be a kind of soft-bodied boring holy man, on whom you can wipe your feet. It is impossible to understand how a person with such a character could fly up the career ladder.

Konstantin Levin

But most of all I was shocked by Levin. By the way, the surname Levin is usually incorrectly pronounced through "e", correctly through "ё" (Levin).
Yes, yes, this village idiot Ivanushka is the nobleman Konstantin Levin. It is known that Leo Tolstoy himself is its prototype.

The story of Levin and Kitty looks very strange, and it is difficult for a person who has never read Anna Karenina to understand what these characters do in the film.

Stiva Arkadyevich Oblonsky

The only character that matched the description and character was Stiva - slutty, light and charming. Something between N. Mikhalkov and O. Menshikov.

Entourage. You know, I can accept that the Russian mentality is difficult to understand. I can understand that it is difficult for a foreigner to tell about the Russian soul, about the origins of communism, about peasants, history, Russian life. But why the hell does the Karenins' dacha in Peterhof look like a French garden with trimmed bushes as tall as a man, why do the Russian interiors of city houses in the French style. In this age of the Internet, it is enough to press a button and spend half an hour studying the issue.
See.

This is what a Russian train looks like according to the British. Why it is icy, hardly anyone can explain. Only bears are missing to complete the picture.

And this is what the noble estate of Konstantin Levin looks like. By the way, filmed in Kizhi. I did not find any other confirmation in the pictures, so take my word for it.

Well, for those rare birds who flew to the end of the immense post.
Gag. If you remember, there is not even a hint of bed scenes in the novel, they are present in the film with the comment: "this is love." And there was a moment when Karenin took out a case with a condom in the hope of fulfilling his marital duty. Apparently, this fragment was supposed to characterize Karenin as a pedant.

With this I will end, dear comrades. It's up to you to decide whether you watch this mess or not.

The author of the novel "Anna Karenina" is the public educator, psychologist, classic of romance, philosopher and Russian writer L. N. Tolstoy. Start it literary activity falls on 1852. It was then that his autobiographical story "Childhood" was published. It was the first part of a trilogy. Somewhat later, the works "Boyhood" and "Youth" appeared.

Another of the most famous works of Leo Tolstoy is the epic novel War and Peace. The reason for writing the work was the Sevastopol and Caucasian events. The novel describes a military campaign and the events unfolding against it. family chronicles. This work, the main character of which the author considers the people, conveys to the reader the “folk thought”.

L. N. Tolstoy reflected the problems of married life in his next essay, the novel Anna Karenina.

The value of Tolstoy's work

The works of the outstanding Russian writer have greatly influenced world literature. Tolstoy's authority during his lifetime was truly irrefutable. After the death of the classic, his popularity grew even more. There is hardly a person who will remain indifferent if he falls into the hands of Anna Karenina - a novel that tells not only about the fate of a woman. The work vividly describes the history of the country. It also reflects the morality that the life of the very bottom adheres to. The reader is shown the splendor of salons and the poverty of the village. Against the background of this ambiguous Russian life, an extraordinary and bright personality is described, striving for happiness.

The image of a woman in literary works

The heroes of the works of the classics of the past often became representatives of the beautiful half of humanity. There are many examples of this. This is Ekaterina from "Thunderstorm" and Larisa from "Dowry" by the writer Ostrovsky. The image of Nina from "The Seagull" by Chekhov is vivid. All these women in the struggle for their happiness oppose public opinion.

He touched on the same topic in his brilliant work and L.N. Tolstoy. Anna Karenina is the image of a special woman. A distinctive feature of the heroine is her belonging to higher level society. She seems to have everything. Anna is beautiful, rich and educated. She is admired, her advice is taken into account. However, she is deprived of happiness in her married life and experiences loneliness in her family. Probably, the fate of this woman would have been different if love had reigned in her house.

The main character of the novel

In order to understand why Anna Karenina throws herself under the train at the end of the work, one must carefully read the work of the great writer. Only understanding the image of this heroine will allow us to draw certain conclusions.
At the beginning of the story, Anna Karenina appears to the reader as an attractive young woman belonging to high society. Leo Tolstoy describes his heroine as benevolent, cheerful and pleasant in communication. Anna Karenina is an exemplary wife and mother. Most of all she loves her little son. As for the husband, outwardly their relationship is simply exemplary. However, upon closer examination, artificiality and falseness are noticeable in them. A woman is connected with her husband not by love feelings, but by respect.

Meeting with Vronsky

With her unloved husband, Anna lived in luxury and prosperity. They had a son Serezhenka. It seems that life is good. However, the meeting with Vronsky radically changes everything. The image of Anna Karenina from this moment is undergoing fundamental changes. The heroine awakens a thirst for love and life.

The emerging new feeling inexorably pulls her to Vronsky. His strength is such that Anna is simply not able to resist. Anna Karenina appears to the reader as honest, sincere and open. gives an understanding that she is simply not able to live in a false and difficult relationship with her husband. As a result, Anna succumbs to the passionate feeling that has arisen.

Parting

The image of Anna Karenina is contradictory. Confirmation of this lies in her life outside of marriage. According to the concepts of the heroine, happiness can only be possible when the laws are strictly enforced. She tried to start new life. At the same time, the misfortune of people close to her served as the basis. Anna feels like a criminal. At the same time, generosity emanates from Karenin. He is ready to forgive his wife and save the marriage. However, this high morality of her husband causes Anna only hatred.

Through the lips of his wife, the author compares Karenin with an evil and soulless machine. He checks all his feelings with the norms of the law, which is established by the church and the state. Undoubtedly, he suffers from the fact that his wife cheated on him. However, it does so in a unique way. He just wants to shake off the “dirt” that Anna “splashed” him with and calmly continue his own. At the heart of his feelings are not heartfelt feelings, but a cold mind. Karenin's rationality allows him to find a way of cruel punishment for Anna. He separates her from her son. The heroine is faced with a choice. And she goes to Vronsky. However, this path proved disastrous for her. He led her to the abyss, and this may explain the fact that Anna Karenina threw herself under the train.

The second protagonist of the work "Anna Karenina"

Alexei Vronsky is a brilliant representative of the highest circles of Russia of the period described in the novel. He is handsome, rich and has big connections. The aide-de-camp Vronsky is kind and sweet by nature. He is smart and educated. The lifestyle of the protagonist of the novel is typical for a young aristocrat of that time. He serves in the guards regiment. His spending per year is 45,000 rubles.

Vronsky, who shares the habits and views of the aristocratic milieu, is loved by his comrades. After meeting with Anna, the young man reconsiders his life. He understands that he is obliged to change her usual way. Vronsky sacrifices freedom and ambition. He resigns and, parting with his usual secular environment, is looking for new life paths. The restructuring of the worldview did not allow him to get satisfaction and peace.

Life with Vronsky

Why does Anna Karenina throw herself under a train at the end of the novel, because fate connected her with a wonderful young man, giving her a sincere and deep feeling? Despite the fact that love came to the main character, after leaving her husband, the woman cannot find peace.

Neither Vronsky's deep feeling for her, nor the born little daughter, nor entertainment and travel bring her peace. Anna's mental discord is further aggravated in connection with the separation from her son. Society does not understand it. Her friends turn away from her. Over time, Anna increasingly comes to realize the depth of her misfortune. The character of the heroine changes. She becomes suspicious and irritable. As a sedative, Anna begins to take morphine, which further enhances the feelings that have arisen. The woman begins to be jealous of Vronsky without any reason. She feels dependent on his desires and love. However, Anna is well aware that Vronsky, because of her, abandoned many important things in life. That is why she seeks to replace his whole world with herself. Gradually, it becomes more and more difficult to unravel the tangle of complex relationships, and thoughts of death begin to come to the heroine. And this is in order to stop being guilty, shifting the feeling that has arisen onto Vronsky, and at the same time freeing himself. All this will serve as an answer to the question: “Why does Anna Karenina throw herself under a train?”

Tragedy

In the image of the main character of his novel, Tolstoy showed a direct and whole woman who lives by feeling. However, it would be wrong to explain the whole tragedy of fate and position only by her nature. It is much deeper, because it was the social environment that caused Anna Karenina to feel the alienation of society.

The characterization of the image of the main character indicates that she is only concerned about personal problems - marriage, love and family. The situation that developed in her life after leaving her husband did not suggest a worthy way out of the situation. Why does Anna Karenina throw herself under a train? Her desperate step can be explained by the unbearable life that came due to the rejection of her act by society.

Origins of the tragedy

The difficult fate of women is described in many literary works. She did not pass Pushkin's Tatyana and Turgenev's Elena, Nekrasov's Decembrists and Ostrovsky's heroines. They have in common with Anna Karenina the naturalness and sincerity of actions and feelings, the purity of thoughts, as well as the deep tragedy of fate. The experiences of his heroine Tolstoy showed the readers most deeply, fully and psychologically subtly.

Anna's tragedy began not even when she, a married woman, posed a real challenge to society. Dissatisfaction with her fate arose even at the time when she, still a very young girl, was married to a royal official. Anna sincerely tried to create happy family. However, she did not succeed. Then she began to justify her life with her unloved husband with love for her son. And this is already a tragedy. Being a lively and bright person, Anna realized for the first time what true love is. And it is not surprising that a woman tried to break free from the world that was disgusting to her. However, she lost her son in the process.

The mental anguish of the heroine

Anna did not want to hide her new life from others. Society is simply shocked. A real wall of alienation has grown around Karenina. Even those who acted much worse in their lives began to condemn her. And Anna could not come to terms with this rejection.

Yes, the upper world has shown its hypocrisy. However, the woman had to be aware that she was not in a vacuum. Living in a society, one has to reckon with its laws and orders.

Tolstoy is a wise psychologist. He describes the mental anguish of the heroine of his novel simply amazingly. Does the author condemn this woman? No. He suffers and loves with her.

Publications in the Literature section

What are your years?

What kind of literary heroes do you imagine? Adults who have experienced a lot, they solve complex moral issues, change their own and other people's destinies. Have you ever tried to find out how old these people are? It turns out that many of them are quite young by modern standards.

"Anna Karenina". Anna - 25–26 years old

The exact age of Anna Karenina is not mentioned in the novel, but some conclusions can be drawn from the quotes of the characters themselves. So, at the time of the beginning of the affair with Vronsky, Anna had been married for eight years:

“Aleksey Alexandrovich smiled coldly with his lips alone, wishing to show her and himself the firmness of his conviction; but this ardent defense, although it did not sway him, irritated his wound. He spoke with great animation.
- It is very difficult to be mistaken when the wife herself announces this to her husband. Announces that eight years of life and a son - that all this is a mistake and that she wants to live again, - he said angrily, sniffing.
"Anna and vice - I can't put it together, I can't believe it."

Lev Tolstoy. "Anna Karenina"

The second remark, bringing us closer to unraveling Karenina's age, we meet in a conversation between the heroine and her brother Stiva:

"You can't see your situation like I can. Let me be frank with my opinion. Again he smiled his wary almond smile. - I'll start over: you married a man who is twenty years older than you. You got married without love or without knowing love. It was a mistake, let's say.
- Terrible mistake! Anna said.

Lev Tolstoy. "Anna Karenina"

"Captain's daughter" . Petr Grinev - 17 years old

The terrible events of the Pugachev uprising, the duel with the scoundrel Shvabrin and love that will last a lifetime - all this the hero of the story "The Captain's Daughter" experienced at a tender age by modern standards. However, even Pushkin's contemporaries were not at all surprised by the youth of Petrusha Grinev, and the events of the story, we recall, take place half a century before the birth of the author.

“I lived underage, chasing pigeons and playing leapfrog with the yard boys. Meanwhile, I was sixteen years old. Here my fate changed.
Once in autumn, my mother was making honey jam in the living room, and I, licking my lips, looked at the effervescent foam. Father at the window read the Court Calendar, which he receives every year. This book always had a strong influence on him: he never reread it without special participation, and reading this always produced in him an amazing excitement of bile. Mother, who knew by heart all his habits and customs, always tried to shove the unfortunate book as far away as possible, and in this way the Court Calendar did not catch his eye, sometimes for whole months. On the other hand, when he accidentally found him, he would not let go of his hands for whole hours. So, the priest read the Court Calendar, occasionally shrugging his shoulders and repeating in an undertone: “Lieutenant General! .. He was a sergeant in my company! .. Both Russian orders cavalier!.. How long have we…” Finally, the priest threw the calendar on the sofa and plunged into thoughtfulness, which did not bode well.
Suddenly he turned to his mother: “Avdotya Vasilievna, how old is Petrusha?”
- Yes, the seventeenth year has gone, - answered mother. - Petrusha was born in the same year that Aunt Nastasya Garasimovna became crooked, and when else ...
- Good, - interrupted the priest, - it's time for him to serve. It’s enough for him to run around girls’ rooms and climb dovecotes.”

Alexander Pushkin. "Captain's daughter"

"Eugene Onegin" . Onegin and the general, Tatiana's husband

Thanks to the indications of time, generously sprinkled on the novel "Eugene Onegin", the literary critic Yuri Lotman calculated the exact year of birth of the title character. He also drew attention to another interesting fact: Tatyana's husband, an "important general", whose name we don't even know, turns out to be not an old man at all.

“Contrary to popular belief, even N.O. Lerner (the essay "Tatyana's Husband" in the book: "Stories about Pushkin", L., 1929, pp. 213-216) showed that Tatyana's husband could well be a middle-aged man. Griboedov wrote to Begichev in 1816: “... Now most of the generals are such, whose chins have not fallen down” (A.S. Griboedov. Poln. sobr. soch., vol. III. Pg., 1917, p. 122). Onegin, who was born in or around 1795, might have been less than thirty in the spring of 1825. Prince N - his relatives and friend! - with whom Onegin on "you" could be five years older.

"Woe from Wit". Sofia - 17 years old

In the play “Woe from Wit”, Sophia appears as an adult girl, seventeen years old is the age of marriage, but we know that they met Chatsky earlier, moreover, they were in love with each other. And again, Yuri Lotman suggests that by the beginning of the behind-the-scenes story, Sophia could not have been more than fourteen.

“... Chatsky was absent for three years, therefore, he fell in love with her [Sophia] when she was 14 years old, and maybe even earlier, since the text shows that before his resignation and departure abroad, he served in the army for some time and for a certain period lived in St. Petersburg (“Tatyana Yurievna was telling something, / Returning from St. Petersburg, / With the ministers about your connection ...” - III, 3). Consequently, Sophia was 12-14 years old when it was time for her and Chatsky
Those feelings, in both of us the movements of the hearts of those
Which in me have not cooled the distance,
No entertainment, no changing places.
I breathed and lived with them, I was constantly busy!

Yuri Lotman. “Roman A.S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin". A comment"

"Poor Lisa". Liza - 17 years old

Another quite “adult” heroine, about whose youth the author nevertheless tells the reader. Liza fell in love with Erast at the age of seventeen, but already at fifteen the poor thing was left an orphan with a sick mother in her arms and was forced to forget childhood fun.

“One Liza, who remained after her father of fifteen years, - one Liza, not sparing her tender youth, not sparing her rare beauty, worked day and night - weaved canvases, knitted stockings, picked flowers in the spring, and took berries in the summer - and sold them in Moscow. A sensitive, kind old woman, seeing her daughter’s indefatigability, often pressed her to her weakly beating heart, called her divine mercy, a nurse, the joy of her old age and prayed to God to reward her for everything she does for her mother.

Nikolai Karamzin. "Poor Lisa"

"War and Peace" . Natasha Rostova - 13 years old at the time of the beginning of the novel; at the time of the death of Prince Andrei - 20 years

The action of the novel begins in 1805; it is reported that Natasha at that time was only thirteen years old, but she had already managed to make Boris swear eternal love for her, and he subsequently did not hesitate to give up this oath.

Years passed, and by the time the Napoleonic army appeared in Moscow, the heroine was already twenty. She managed to survive a number of disappointments and betrayals, and also suffered the death of Prince Andrei.

“The daughter of the guest was already adjusting her dress, looking inquiringly at her mother, when suddenly from the next room there was heard running to the door of several male and female legs, the rumble of a hooked and knocked down chair, and a thirteen-year-old girl ran into the room, wrapping something in her short muslin skirt, and stopped in the middle of the room. It was obvious that she accidentally, from an uncalculated run, jumped so far. At the same moment, a student with a crimson collar, a guards officer, a fifteen-year-old girl and a fat, ruddy boy in a child's jacket appeared at the door at the same moment.
The count jumped up and, swaying, spread his arms wide around the running girl.

Reading the classics at school, we rarely think about how old this or that character was. Recently, a friend of our company from Los Angeles sent a funny letter, here is its content:

• “Marya Gavrilovna from Pushkin's Snowstorm was no longer young: “She was in her 20s”;

• Juliet's mother at the time of the events described in the play was 28 years old;
• "Balzac age" - 30 years;

• Ivan Susanin at the time of the feat was 32 years old (he had a 16-year-old daughter for marriageable age);

• The old woman - pawnbroker from Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment" was 42 years old;

• Anna Karenina at the time of her death was 28 years old, Vronsky was 23 years old, the old husband of Anna Karenina was 48 years old (at the beginning of the events described in the novel, everyone is 2 years less);
• The old man, Cardinal Richelieu, was 42 years old at the time of the siege of the fortress of La Rochelle described in The Three Musketeers;
• From the notes of 16-year-old Pushkin: “An old man of about 30 entered the room” (it was Karamzin);
• Tynyanov: "Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was older than all those present. He was thirty-four years old - the age of fading";
• Pushkin wrote the poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila" at the age of 19;
• The great mathematical discovery of the genius Evariste Galois was made at the age of 19 - "Galois groups" (at the age of 20 he was killed in a duel for political reasons). Galois was the youngest of the greats and the greatest of the young."

Of course, this letter made us smile, but it also made us think. Does anyone now agree that 34 years is the age of fading, and the “old pawnbroker” and “old man Richelieu” at 42 sound somehow insulting.

Yes, “life is just beginning at 40,” as we were told in the film “Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears.”

In fact, we want to stay young as long as possible, we even added a few years to the “Balzac age” and we consider it to be 40 years. But in fact, the expression, which has become a classic, occurred after the release of the novel “The Thirty-Year-Old Woman” by the French writer Honore de Balzac.

What happened over time? Were our ancestors in a hurry to live, or are we stuck in our development, hoping that tomorrow will someday come and then we will “live for real”? Is the time not right? Or are we not? There is something to think about, right?

In the meantime, we present our answer to the classics. Indeed, at the age of 40, everything is just beginning!