Abstract

Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy is one of the greatest representatives of critical realism in literary history. Born to an aristocratic Russian family in 1828, but he showed great sympathy for the peasants and had strong condemnations for the evil of serf system. As one of Tolstoy's masterpiece, Anna Karenina enjoys great reputation worldwide. The studies of the tragic fate of Anna Karenina loom so large in world literature. Yet it remains to be enlightening to consider the injustice of her fate. Scholars have studied it from a variety of perspectives and these researches on the factors contributing to the tragic fate of Anna Karenina are mostly on her personal character, the unequal status, religion and inadequate feminist consciousness, while it is still a blank about the family relation, the different treatment of adultery towards men and female and so on. So in this paper, I will focus on the interactions of personal characteristics, patriarchy culture and society to explore how these factors suppress women’s nature. 

In society, women have been oppressed in an unequal status for a long time. Since women have taken up half of the total population in the world, the liberation of women plays an important role in the process of human liberation. In the nature of things, women should breach the limitation of traditional roles and strive for their status in society and family after years of indescribable adversity suffered. The research purpose of this paper is to analyze the tragic fate of Anna Karenina from the unique feminist perspective which reveals the status and value of women in society back then. The failure of Anna's liberation should be a warning to modern women and in order to avoid such repetition, a deep exploration of Anna's experiences is a must. 

It must be also acknowledged that there may be a more or less deficiency in the understanding of western culture based on my own learning of Russian literature and feminist thought. But despite all that, the paper is completed on the basis of objective and reasonable grounds. Since the development of feminism thoughts is in its full swing, there is no doubt that more and more people will be influenced to pay attention to the liberation of women.

Keyword：Leo Tolstoy; Anna Karenina; tragic fate; female image; feminist consciousness

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1. Introduction-1

1.1 Brief Introduction of Anna Karenina’s Historical and Social Background-1

1.2 Brief Introduction of the Objective and Significance of this Study-1

1.3 The Analysis Frame of the Paper-2

2. Literature Review-3

2.1 Previous Studies on the External Factors Contributing to the Tragic Fate of Anna Karenina-3

2.2 Previous Studies on Internal Factors Contributing to the Tragic Fate of Anna Karenina-4

2.3 Researches of Anna Karenina from the Perspective of Feminism-5

3. The Analysis of Anna Karenina as a Female Role-7

3.1 The Influence of Feudal Social System-7

3.1.1 The Unequal Social Status between Men and Women-7

3.1.2 The Traditional Discipline and Religion Fetters-7

3.1.3 Female Tragedies in Male-dominated Culture-8

3.1.4 The Social Status of Anna Karenina-8

3.2 The Influence of Family Relation-8

3.2.1 Women's Status in the Feudal Family-8

3.2.2 Anna's Status in the Feudal Family-9

3.3 Personality Differences between Men and Women-10

3.3.1 Personality Analysis of Male and Female-10

3.3.2 Negative Factors of Anna’s Characteristics-11

4. The Analysis of the Tragic Fate of Anna Karenina-13

4.1 The Burgeoning Feminist Consciousness of Anna-13

4.2 The Losing Feminist Consciousness of Anna-14

5. Conclusion and Enlightenments-15

5.1 The Conclusion of the Factors Contributing to the Tragic Fate of Anna-15

5.2 Enlightenments to Modern Women-15

6. Limitations and Suggestions-17

References-18