#kitty shcherbatsky

[jaeausten]

Costume Appreciation: Princess Kitty's White Ballgown in Anna Karenina.

[pcrsonaa]

“you look as lovely as ever, princess kitty.”

[veronicaleighauthor]

Levin and Kitty

Leo Tolstoy wrote the multi-faceted novel, “Anna Karenina” as somewhat of a cautionary tale. The romance between Anna and her lover Vronsky was ill-fated from the start, yet since the novel was published, the passion between the two has been glorified as “true love.” Somehow committing adultery and abandoning your spouse and child and living in exile with a lover is romantic. Anna Karenina refuses to give up her lover, despite her husband’s threats and eventual forgiveness. She leaves her husband and son behind and runs off to be with Vronsky. Her choice is not without its consequences. Anna is ostracized by society, whereas Vronsky is free to go where he pleases. Feeling isolated, she falls into a deep depression and when her love for him is no longer enough to live for, she throws herself in front of a train.

Though Anna Karenina’s storyline was true to life, I could never quite connect to it. I had sympathy and understanding for her, but it wasn’t what drew me in. There was another part of the novel that fascinated me.

Levin and Kitty.

Levin and Kitty play second-fiddle to Anna and Vronsky, however, it is their love that stands the test of time. While their romance is smiled upon by society, maybe considered boring” by the world’s standards, and has its ups and down, theirs embodies the notion of “true love” in its purest form.

Konstantin Levin had known the Shcherbatsky family since he was young and wanted nothing more than to be a member of it. Overtime he falls in love with the youngest Shcherbatsky daughter, Kitty, and though there is an age gap, contrasting religious beliefs and opposite temperaments, their differences complement each other. Unfortunately for Levin, Kitty’s head has been turned by the handsome and charming Alexei Vronsky…the same Vronsky who seduces Anna Karenina (he may be charming and good-looking, but I can’t stand Vronsky). Vronsky flirts with Kitty, leading her to believe that he feels more for her than what he really does. And Kitty, being young and naïve, fancies herself in love.

When Levin does work up the courage to propose to Kitty and she turns him down, he is devastated and retreats from society, secluding himself to his farm. Kitty expects a proposal from Vronsky and is confused when he pulls away and takes up with the married Anna Karenina. Her disappointment leads to sickness…heart sickness. She soon realizes that she had turned away a good and honest man, one that she could have had a future with.

Levin is determined to hate Kitty for refusing him, but his love for her won’t allow him. He comes to understand that perhaps he had not been the most dedicated suitor, distancing himself at times when he should have made his intentions clear.

Stiva, Levin’s friend, intervenes and does a little matchmaking, which leads to Levin and Kitty socializing once more. Through a game of letters, Levin relays his love to Kitty and proposes once more. This time Kitty accepts. However, the course of true love mirrors real life, as it does not run smooth for these two. Levin feels he must be honest with his future wife about the more sordid details of his past and shows Kitty his diary. Although upset, Kitty forgives him of his sins. On the day of the wedding, Levin gets cold feet and is about to call it off when Kitty convinces him that she loves him and wants to marry him. The wedding goes on without a hitch.

            Levin and Kitty are generally happy, though their union isn’t perfect. Levin is used to a solitary life while Kitty wants to spend all of her time with him and is more social. Their love is put to the test when Levin learns that his brother is on his deathbed. He has no intention of bringing Kitty, but she insists and is a comfort when his brother passes away. Their struggles are rewarded with the birth of their firstborn son. Though frightened by the prospect of being a father, Levin falls in love with his child.

He has personal troubles, including an identity crisis. He struggles through his own bouts of depression and searches for the meaning of life. In the past he was a skeptic of God and of the Russian Orthodox Church. But he eventually makes peace with God and finds his own happy ending with his family.

Levin and Kitty’s romance best illustrates 1 Corinthians 13:4-8:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 

It’s Levin and Kitty’s romance that gives me hope. It’s a love story of second chances – and that’s what we all need from time to time. A second chance.

[mskrianna]

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ❛ Несмотря на то, что туалет, прическа и все приготовления к балу стоили Кити больших трудов и соображений, она теперь, в своем сложном тюлевом платье на розовом чехле, вступала на бал так свободно и просто, как будто все эти розетки, кружева, все подробности туалета не стоили ей и ее домашним ни минуты внимания, как будто она родилась в этом тюле, кружевах, с этой высокою прической, с розой и двумя листками наверху ❜

[bookish-bi-mormon]

I know this is not the classic novel tumblr is obsessed with right now but I'm reading Anna Karenina and Kitty Shcherbatsky is ... queercoded? Very gay?

Firstly she definitely had a bit of a crush on Anna herself, even if that was mixed with jealousy. And now she's out people watching and she sees this girl and learns everything she can about her and develops such a crush!? And wants to tell her that she loves her! And she has given up all hope in a man+woman relationship.

So I'm gonna be queer kitty truthing on this page

[laurauniversidadcentral2023]

Condesa Natasha Rostova: las heroínas literarias

[tolstoybitch]

this is the song i listen to while i lay on my bed pretending to be kitty shcherbatsky ୨୧

[rosepompadour]

what are your favorite heroines written by fitzgerald? and by thomas hardy? and by dickens? and by your other favorite authors? ♡

i cannot believe i’ve had this blog for 84 years and i've never done an official ranking of my girls! i limited myself to twenty characters (one per author), but if an author has more than one amazing heroine, i will be talking about all of them. so let’s start at the beginning, a very good place to start! 💗 

1.) estella havisham. my forever girl, my number one heroine when it comes to serious literature, and the blueprint for all my bitchy rich girl faves - of which there are many on this list. but no one compares to estella! you might be a spoiled brat, but have you been bent and broken into a better shape? 

2.) natasha rostova / kitty shcherbatsky. i think i would ultimately choose natasha if it ever came to that - she’s just a richer character, and one of the only major literary heroines who has a killer sense of humor - but kitty is my sweet pink marshmallow. it’s a very close call!

3.) cosette / eponine. again, i can’t choose. i think eponine is the more complex and sophisticated character, but cosette is so GOOD! she’s just loveable, which is a very hard quality to pin down. i love them both so much. 10/10 for each!

4.) eustacia vye, followed so closely by tess that the difference is infinitesimal. tess is the greater heroine (goodness made interesting - name a bigger challenge in literature!), but god, i fucking love eustacia. the chapter introducing her in return of the native is still the single best in-depth breakdown of a character’s personality that i have ever encountered in a novel.

5.) anne shirley, because she’s been with me my entire life and has taught me more about happiness than any other character i’ve ever come across. “the iron has entered into my soul, diana!”

6.) isabel archer. does she make poor decisions? yes. would she have been better off without the money? double yes! but the drama is what makes her shine. i know this book is dense, but read it anyway - because if you don’t, you’ll never meet isabel, and you will miss out on one of the richest experiences of your life. it’s not a light read, but it is my favorite read.

7.) emma bovary, my favorite mess. she’s mean and unrealistic and a little stupid, but that scene at the end where she just cracks open and all her anger comes spilling out is what makes her amazing. the french have a flair for tragedy (c'est dans le fucking titre in the case of les mis!), but nothing compares to the heartbreak of watching emma, who thinks that death will be like falling asleep, when she feels the arsenic start to work and realizes she was wrong: “oh! it is beginning!” it will not be an easy death. she is not an easy character. but mon dieu, i adore her! 

8.) catherine barkley. brett ashley is hemingway’s best female character, but catherine is the one who has my heart. she’s incredibly romantic and feminine and starry-eyed (with the most beautiful hair in all of literature!), but what makes her great is that this dreamy quality is a deliberately willed reaction to intense trauma. she CHOOSES to love. she is proof that you can be a girly girl and still be made of iron and steel. she’s so smart and courageous, and i am forever obsessed with her!

9.) sibyl vane, the girl who died for believing in fairy tales.

10.) tatyana larina rounds out my top ten for leaving onegin on read after he left her on read. the russians have the best heroines. i will not budge on this!

11.) yvonne de galais. she’s a ten (or in fournier-speak: “the fairy, the princess, the dream of love itself!”), but she can’t hold on to her man. 💔

12.) emma woodhouse. i’m not a huge austen fan, but i feel like out of all the girls on this list, emma would “get” me the most and go out of her way to befriend me. we are, unfortunately, very much alike.

13.) beatrice. do you know how much i suffered over choosing just one shakespeare heroine? an impossible task, but a girl who loves to laugh as much as bea does deserves to be number one. (it’s why the très witty rosalind is a close second, followed by the more tragically-inclined ophelia.)

14.) rosemary hoyt. this was the hardest one. i ultimately went with rosemary because she has all the qualities of the quintessential fitzgerald girl (young, fun, glamorous, spoiled, beautiful), but she’s much more likeable than rosalind, gloria, daisy, or even my beloved jordan. also in the top three are eleanor savage, who would be number one if she had her own book (“here am i with the brains to do everything - too bright for most men, and yet i have to descend to their level!”), and cecilia brady, hollywood princess extraordinaire and the west coast equivalent of nick carraway.

15.) amy march, america’s least favorite sister - and my personal favorite. this country has no taste. no wonder amy left!

16.) linda radlett. a little awful, but terribly funny and, in a weird way, kind of admirable in her single-minded ~pursuit of love. my mom wanted to watch the lily james version, thinking it would be a nice downton-esque period drama, and i had to tell her v. bluntly that there is nothing nice about the pursuit of love and that i couldn’t watch it with her because i knew she would hate linda. some things are just too sick-making!

17.) miss holiday golightly, travelling!

18.) lucy honeychurch. aside from being a genuinely cool girl who rejects the second-worst man in all of literature (the ultimate worst being angel clare), she also has the greatest name in the canon, which guarantees her a position in my top twenty.

19.) marguerite gautier, just because she’s actually marie duplessis and my love for marie is boundless and obsessively documented.

20.) franny glass. there aren’t many girls who possess the crazy level of self-confidence required to order a glass of milk in a restaurant while wearing a glam raccoon coat, but franny is one of the few. i related to her an embarrassing amount when i was a teenager, and while the association has faded, she remains my favorite glass sibling to this day.

[shcherbatskya]

does everyone support jt….. it is me samael formerly known as amintadress….. named now after my dear dear katusha.. kitty shcherbatsky 🤷 and styled after the marriage of figaro and after christine phantom of the opera

[sardotin]

One day I was reading “Anna Karenina” and my friend sent me a meme with Robin from HIMYM. Suddenly I realized that Kitty’s surname (Shcherbatsky in English and Щербацкая in Russian) is pretty similar (almost identical) to Robin’s surname (Scherbatsky in English and Щербацки in Russian). So, I thought, maybe they can be relatives, Kitty can be Robin’s great-great-great-grandmother? Well, I now introduce you the crossover that you didn’t know you needed.

​In Anna Karenina we have the family of Shcherbatsky, they are Princes (or Knyazya, which is a way better translation). Sadly, the only son of this family has drowned and now they have only two daughters – Kitty and Dolly. Both took their husbands’ surnames after marriage, so it’s impossible for this branch of the family to pass their surname to future generations. But the father of these girls – Prince Shcherbatsky – probably has a brother (we are not sure about their family ties because Tolstoy doesn’t like describing minor characters especially when they are mentioned only once or twice). This brother has two sons – the first one is called Nikolay, the name of the second one we don’t know (because why do we need this information), and they are Kitty and Dolly’s cousins. In the beginning of the novel (1870s) they are pretty young, approximately 15-20 years (but we don’t know it for sure because once again, why do we need this information). We can take any of them because it doesn’t matter for us who will be the ancestor of Robin.

If in 1872 (let’s take this year as the beginning) he is 20, in the end of the novel (in 1904) he is around 52. Probably he already has children and among them there is one or maybe more boys that can keep and pass the surname to future generations.

​In 1917 after the February Revolution the family of Princes Shcherbatsky emigrate to Canada. Or maybe not directly to Canada, maybe at first, they go to some other countries but in the end, they found themselves in Canada (particularly in British Columbia because they could have some friends or relatives there).

While setting up house in anglophone society, they change the spelling of their surname to Scherbatsky so as it is easy for Canadian people to pronounce it. Around 1945-1955 a boy is born in this family, and he is given the name according to Canadian (or anglophone) traditions – Robin Charles. 20-25 years later he gets married to Genevieve Scherbatsky (her surname before marriage is unknown but her name is more French than English…. But it’s not our topic). In 1980 she gives birth to a girl. Robin has always wanted to have a boy and that’s why this girl is given his name – now we have Robin Charles Scherbatsky Jr.

At some point during her teenage years Robin decides to read the novel by the famous Russian writer Lev Tolstoy because many people told her that there is something similar between her surname and the surname of one of the families from the novel. Robin’s father runs into his daughter reading this book and thinks that it’s time to tell her about their ancestors because the novel is based on a true story and the Shcherbatsky from “Anna Karenina” are their relatives.

I don’t see any plot clashes, everything was the way I described it, try to change my mind

​

[kitsnicket]

Kitty Shcherbatsky i know what you are

[flowrsrot]

 [    dominique  devenport  ,  27  ,  cis  woman  ,  she  +  her  ]    in  the  time  of  dragons  ,  𝐝𝐚𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚  𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐲𝐞𝐧  𝐧𝐞𝐞  𝐭𝐲𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐥  is  entering  the  game  of  thrones  .  said  to  be  devoted  +  amiable  ,  we  can  only  hope  that  is  the  case  as  regrettably  they  are  also  well  known  to  be  fickle  +  cautious  .  when  asked  about  them  ,  people  are  always  reminded  of  idyllic  dreams  coming  to  fruition  as  you  pray  for  the  god's  blessings  ,  bedecked  with  wild  flowers  from  crown  to  chemise  ,  adam  and  eve  in  the  secret  garden  ,  the  last  pomegranate  seeds  ,  old  lullabies  sung  under  the  stars  -  little  fingers  held  tightly  in  your  own  ,  a  thin  veil  worn  to  cover  one's  sins  .  though  they  are  𝐭𝐡𝐞  𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬  𝐨𝐟  𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥  ,  their  true  loyalties  lie  with  house  tyrell  and  house  targaryen  and  rumour  has  it  that  if  given  the  choice  they  would  support  the  prince  of  summerhill  above  all  else  .  those  of  us  in  the  shadows  wish  them  luck  and  can  only  hope  they  will  survive  what  is  to  come  .

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫   𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐥𝐬   :      daphne  bridgerton    (    bridgerton    )    ,    margaery  tyrell    (    game  of  thrones    )    ,    persephone    (    greek  mythology    )    ,    princess  anna    (    frozen    )    ,    princess  diana    (    history    )    ,    buttercup    (    princess  bride    )    ,    kitty  shcherbatsky    (    anna  karenina    )    ,    princess  serenity    (    sailor  moon  ,  90s    )   ,    queen  susan  pevensie   (    narnia    )    .

NAME     daella    targaryen    nee    tyrell       .

TITLE     princess    of    summerhall    ,    lady    of    the    reach  .

FAMILY    former   ruling   lord   tyrell      -      father      (      deceased      )       ,       ruling   lady   tyrell      -      mother      (      deceased      )       ,       theon   tyrell      -      brother      ,       leyla   tyrell   nee   hightower      -      sister - in - law      ,       olyvar   tyrell      -      brother      ,       aster   tyrell      -      brother      ,       oriana   tyrell      -      sister      ,       alerie   tyrell      -      sister      ,       kassia   flowers      -      half   sister    .

OFFSPRING    rhaenyra   targaryen       -       daughter          ,       aerys   targaryen       -       son    

AGE    twenty    -    seven       .

SEXUALITY     bisexual        .

HEIGHT     5      ft      3      “ 

PERSONALITY     TRAITS     devoted   ,    amiable   ,    fickle   ,   cautious    ,    affectionate    ,    passionate    .

LANGUAGES     the    common   tongue    ,   high    valyrian  .

LOYALTIES    house   tyrell   ,   house   targaryen   (   some   )       .

daella  was  born  the  oldest  daughter  of  the  rulers  of  the  reach  ,  the  first  daughter  after  three  sons  .  her  mother  was  overjoyed  at  her  birth  ,  welcoming  the  child  into  her  heart  with  ease  .  she  was  her  mother's  whole  world  and  then  some  .  but  daella  would  soon  be  followed  after  by  two  sisters  of  her  own  and  thus  the  love  was  made  to  be  shared  .  she  was  a  jealous  child  in  the  beginning  ,  so  used  to  being  the  only  girl  in  the  family  .  when  her  sister  arrived  she  loathed  the  chubby  red  babe  -  threw  tantrums  when  the  attention  of  her  family  was  pulled  away  by  the  girl  .  in  time  ,  she  grew  to  understand  the  child  was  not  intending  to  steal  attention  from  her  .

their  father  never  paid  much  attention  to  the  girl  aside  from  ensuring  she  was  paying  attention  in  her  lessons  ,  granting  her  gifts  as  desired  and  allowing  for  her  to  roam  the  castle  without  his  watchful  eye  .  it  was  her  septa  that  cared  for  her  ,  mainly  ,  and  though  daella  grew  to  care  for  the  woman  -  she  made  the  decision  that  while  she  would  require  one  -  she  would  never  allow  a  septa  to  take  over  the  raising  of  her  children  .  

daella  spent  much  of  her  youth  attending  great  balls  and  events  ,  waiting  with  some  excitement  to  find  her  one  great  love  .  but  at  none  did  she  find  him  ,  though  her  father  introduced  her  to  many  suitable  future  partners  -  each  seemingly  more  perfect  than  the  last  .  but  none  would  offer  her  any  sort  of  happiness  .  comfort  ,  perhaps  ,  but  she  desired  love  .  betrothals  were  nearly  arranged  as  the  years  went  on  ,  but  her  parents  agreed  that  she  could  have  a  little  more  time  .

the  reach  would  play  host  to  numerous  guests  over  the  years  ,  and  daella  happily  spent  her  time  with  them  -  smiling  and  offering  pleasantries  over  teas  from  across  the  world  .  it  was  through  these  many  meetings  that  she  would  ,  for  the  first  time  in  any  official  capacity  ,  meet  the  prince  aegon  .  she’d  seen  him  in  passing  through  his  friendship  with  her  brother  ,  but  she’d  always  been  quick  to  hide  herself  away  -  cheeks  going  red  as  she  blushed  .  their  first  true  meeting  was  met  with  great  emotion  on  both  ends  ,  with  her  years-long  crush  coming  to  fruition  at  their  meeting  .

accompanied  by  a  train  of  ladies  ,  daella  would  arrive  to  the  capitol  draped  in  a  veil  of  myrish  lace  and  a  gown  made  to  appear  as  though  made  up  entirely  of  pale  flowers  .  her  wedding  to  the  targaryen  prince  was  one  to  remember  for  the  age  ,  a  glorious  ceremony  filled  with  the  wealthiest  and  most  powerful  people  in  the  realm  .

her  friendships  with  the  great  targaryen  royals  grew  with  ease  ,  her  newfound  sister  aerea  becoming  one  most  dear  to  her  .  they  would  spend  great  amounts  of  time  together  in  the  gardens  daella  had  designed  at  summerhall  ,  with  daella  summoning  her  youngest  sister  alerie  each  summer  to  join  them  .  rhaegar  too  grew  to  be  another  brother  to  her  -  but  this  time  the  first  younger  brother  she  would  possess  .  growing  to  be  beloved  sisters  ,  when  daella  gave  birth  to  her  firstborn  -  it  was  aerea  she  wished  to  be  by  her  side  when  she  did  so  .  she  was  so  fearful  in  those  first  days  ,  having  heard  so  many  stories  of  horror  from  mothers   around  the  capitol  .  

while  aerea  went  away  to  essos  ,  daella  grew  close  with  the  princess  laena  .  two  women  thrown  into  similar  situations  (  though  daella’s  marriage  was  one  of  love  and  warmth  )  ,  they  empathized  with  each  other’s  situations  .  when  daella’s  pregnancy  was  announced  ,  none  were  more  excited  than  laena  .  it  would  be  her  who  daella  would  plan  to  have  by  her  side  when  the  time  came  .

it  did  not  help  that  her  pregnancies  were  no  easy  feat  -  leaving  the  princess  bound  to  her  chambers  for  the  last  months  of  each  one  to  ensure  the  safety  of  both  her  and  her  unborn  son  .    but  it  was  all  made  worth  it  when  she  held  aerys  in  her  arms  .  still  ,  she  was  grieving  horribly  when  aerys  was  born  ,  longing  for  her  dear  laena  by  her  side  to  hold  her  hand  .

the  woman’s  death  hit  her  harder  than  many  of  the  court  believed  it  ever  could  have  ,  for  even  then  there  was  comparisons  made  between  the  two  princes  and  their  rights  to  the  throne  .  but  the  two  princesses  cared  little  for  what  those  of  the  court  believed  -  they  were  sisters  by  gods  given  right  .  

with  her  death  came  a  change  in  daella  .  for  though  a  part  of  her  had  always  wished  to  be  queen  ,  she  would  have  been  pleased  to  see  laena  upon  the  throne  .  but  with  her  loss  ,  daella  could  see  no  other  but  herself  taking  her  place  .  her  children  ,  laena’s  beloved  niece  and  nephew  ,  could  find  great  success  upon  the  throne  one  day  .  and  if  laena’s  own  could  never  do  so  ,  only  they  deserved  to  .  

the  betrothal  of  the  crown  prince  to  a  foreigner  so  quickly  after  the  death  of  dear  laena  pained  her  more  than  she  could  say  .  it  was  she  who  would  speak  against  it  to  king  lucerys  ,  though  only  in  small  words  .  he  waved  her  off  ,  dismissing  her  worries  as  though  speaking  to  a  child  .  though  she  held  some  fondness  for  him  in  her  heart  through  the  years  ,  with  this  betrothal  it  grew  slim  .

raised  as  a  lady  ,  daella  possesses the  feminine  graces  granted  to  her  by  the  gods  .  she  has  a  keen  interest  in  dancing  ,  singing  ,  flowers  ,  and  stories  of  romance  and  adventure  .  believes  in  the  good  one  can  do  for  others  ,  but  also  doesn’t  want  to  get  her  hands  dirty  to  do  so  .

is  very  much  the  people’s  princess  ,  both  laena  and  daella  were  greatly  beloved  and  so  the  loss  of  laena  pushed  some  of  that  love  to  her  .

was  named  queen  of  love  and  beauty  by  a  knight  in  her  eighteenth  year  ,  has  been  riding  that  high  ever  since  .

[lucydacusgirl]

Kitty Shcherbatsky I know what you are

[thegarveys]

Kitty Shcherbatsky and Levin…I’m rooting for these crazy kids

[thiagosrussianlitblog]

Week 5 Blog

The most important sentence of the week can be found on page 71: “‘Lord have mercy on us, Lord have mercy on us, Lord have mercy on us!’” Here’s why: After a party, Kitty’s parents had a fight about whether Levin or Vronsky would be the best husband for her. They left the fight with the same opinions as before, the mother thought Vronskhy, and the father thought Levin. But Kitty had already refused Levin’s proposal and the father’s argument made the mother doubt her thoughts about Vronsky. And they both went to bed thinking: “Lord have mercy on us, Lord have mercy on us, Lord have mercy on us!”

“Princess Kitty Shcherbatsky… had come out that winter” (not in a gay way) and she already had two options for marriage: Levin and Count Vronsky. Kitty’s mother and father, the prince and the princess, disagreed about who would be the best husband for her. The princess thought that Levin was a bad choice, as he was socially awkward, had strange opinions, lived and worked in an uncivilized life, and did not seem to be serious about the marriage, constantly showing up to their house, considering if he should ask her, and leaving. Meanwhile, Vronsky is very rich, intelligent, came from nobility, has an excellent career in the army and at court, and was charming. But despite this, she is still extremely anxious about who her daughter should marry – even more anxious than when her first two daughters, Dolly and Natalie, were getting marriage proposals. This is mainly because Russia’s social customs were changing (more women were going to university, more free in their relationships with men, drove out alone, etc.) and marriage was now in a strange in-between of frowning upon arranged marriages but not knowing how to marry or give in marriage, and the princess believed that letting young people choose their husbands may lead to them falling for men who had no good intentions. Later, her family sets up a ball, where Levin and Vronsky are invited. Levin shows up early to finally confess his love and propose without anything preventing him from speaking his mind, but she refuses the proposal. Before he leaves, Countess Nordston, whom he hates, arrives, who makes him stay just long enough for Krovsky to arrive. Kitty, the princess, and they have a conversation that leads to discussing spiritualism, where at the end Levin leaves upset at Kitty having chosen Krovsky as her potential husband. After the party ends, Kitty lies sleepless in bed full of regret, wondering if it was the right choice to reject Levin’s proposal. At the same time, Kitty’s parents were arguing with each other about whether it was good or bad too.

Word count: 454