Anna Karenina (AmazonClassics Edition) characters

Also known as Stiva

Appears from the start

A sociable Moscow civil servant whose affair with his children's former governess has thrown his household into crisis. Charming, careless with money, and readily forgiven by society, he hopes his sister Anna can persuade his wife Dolly not to leave him.

Also known as Dolly

First appears in chapter 2

Stiva's exhausted wife and the mother of their children. She is devastated by proof of his infidelity and must weigh her anger against affection, family pressures, and the practical limits facing a woman with a large household.

Also known as Konstantin Levin

First appears in chapter 5

Stiva's old friend, a wealthy but socially awkward country landowner who has come to Moscow intending to propose to Kitty Shcherbatskaya. Earnest and self-critical, he feels most grounded on his estate and is troubled by questions of work, family, faith, and how to live honestly.

Also known as Kitty

First appears in chapter 9

The youngest Shcherbatsky daughter, entering Moscow society and considering her prospects for marriage. She cares for Levin but is captivated by the polished officer Vronsky and expects him to make a declaration.

First appears in chapter 14

A wealthy, handsome cavalry officer admired in fashionable society. Attentive to Kitty without having promised marriage, he is confident that his conduct is harmless until a meeting at the railway station redirects his interest.

First appears in chapter 18

Stiva's sister, a married woman from St Petersburg who comes to Moscow to help reconcile Stiva and Dolly. Intelligent, poised, and warmly responsive to others, she makes an immediate impression on Vronsky while remaining conscious of her husband and young son at home.

First appears in chapter 24

Levin's troubled older brother, living in poverty with Masha, a woman he has taken out of a brothel. Proud, ill, and politically combative, Nikolai resents pity but remains an urgent object of concern for Levin.

First appears in chapter 31

Anna's husband, a senior government official in St Petersburg. Formal, disciplined, and strongly invested in duty and reputation, he receives Anna home after her visit to Moscow and views emotional display with suspicion.

Also known as Seryozha

First appears in chapter 32

Anna and Karenin's beloved young son. His everyday dependence on his mother gives Anna's domestic life a tenderness that contrasts with the rigid public world surrounding the family.

Also known as Betsy

First appears in chapter 41

Vronsky's fashionable cousin and a leading St Petersburg hostess. Her drawing room gives Anna and Vronsky opportunities to meet under the permissive conventions of their social circle.

First appears in chapter 72

A pious woman whom Kitty meets at a German spa. Quietly devoted to caring for invalids, she appears to Kitty to embody a purposeful life beyond romance and fashionable approval.

First appears in chapter 74

Levin's older half-brother, a respected intellectual and writer who spends time on Levin's estate. Courteous and rational, he discusses agricultural and political questions from a theoretical distance that often frustrates Levin.

First appears in chapter 76

The unmarried cousin who has long managed Levin's household. Practical and familiar, she represents the settled domestic order of his bachelor life even as he continues to long for a family of his own.

First appears in chapter 128

A society woman devoted to religious and charitable causes who takes a strong interest in Karenin during his personal crisis. She offers him spiritual reassurance while increasingly involving herself in his household.