Anna Karenin Wants to Experience the Feeling of Love

them…their tastes were not only similar but identical” pp.142-143. From this quotation, it can be seen that Anna is a different woman. She does not have the same interest as the people in general. She wants to be sincere and to live on her own terms. According to Soames 2004, women rights in Victorian Era were very limited. They were not formerly educated and were only encouraged to find a man to marry and to have children. Kent 1990 also supports the idea above by saying that marriage was considered as both the expected duty and best position of women p.91. In addition, Vickery 1993 states that, besides being married and bearing children, women were also obliged to “help with their husband‟s work”.p.389. In Leo Tolstoy‟s Anna Karenin, the roles of women in the society are all in accordance with what the above reviews stated. In the novel, it is stated that women are not fitted to be widely involved in government system, “in all probability they will be perfectly fitted when education becomes general among them” p.413. However, since women are not allowed to get proper education, their job is only to “assist man in his work for the community” p.143. Kent 1990 says that an arranged marriage was applied to women for the sake of their survival. They were not allowed to make their own living and should be dependent on their husbands‟ income p.91. Therefore, it is stated in the novel that “duties are bound up with rights—power, money, honours: that is what women are after” p.414. It means that women cannot get their own freedom of life because later when they are married, all that they own will be totally under the control of their husbands, including her body, identity and even children. However, as a heroic woman, Anna Karenin is brave enough to resist the traditional custom of an arranged marriage and the narrow-minded perception on women in society. Instead of dedicating her whole life for her indifferent husband and being closed to her son, she opts to have her own freedom in living and loving. When the society pays attention to an intense conversation between Anna and Vronsky about the continuity of their relationship in public, they start giving negative remarks and cynical gaze at them. „This is becoming improper‟, whispered one lady, with an expressive glance a t Anna, Vronsky, and Anna‟s husband. Not only those two ladies but almost everyone…looked more than once across at the couple who had withdrawn from the general circle, as if their having done so were disturbing fact p.157. Karenin realizes that the s ociety noticing Anna‟s improper behavior for having an intimate conversation with Vronsky, hence, he directly asks Anna to go home with him. However, Anna rejects his offer and still she opts to join the general conversation with the people around her p.157. Anna knows all of the horrible consquences that she must take from her affair with Vronsky; that she will not be forgiven by the society, but she is not afraid of it, and she is ready to accept it, “she knew they would not forgive her, that everything and everybody will be merciless to her now…but she said, “I must get ready” p.313. Anna does not try to hide her relationship with Vronsky from Karenin. On the contrary, she opts to be honest and bravely admit her love for Vronsky to Karenin. „You were not mistaken. I was, and I could not help being in despair. I listen to you, but I am thinking of him. I love him, I am his mistress; I cannot endure you, I am afraid of you and I hate you.‟ „Very well But I must insist that you conform outwardly to propriety until such time…as I take measures to secure my honour and inform you of them‟ p.231 The quotations above show a conversation between Anna and her husband. After admitting her incapability to love Karenin but to love Vronsky, Anna is asked to be outwardly pretending being a dutiful wife. It is intended to save Karenin‟s honourable position in the states and protect Anna‟s status in society p.388. However, since Anna does not want to be a deceitful person, she rejects Karenin‟s request by saying, “I cannot change anything” p.390. Because of her affair with Vronsky, Anna is even considered as an outcast by the society. Everyone, including her best friend, does not want to rehabilitate Anna in society but keeps away from her. You want me to go and see her, to ask her here, and to rehabilitate her in society; but do understand —I cannot do so. I have daughters growing up, and I must mix in society for my husband‟s sake…she will understand that I can‟t ask her here, or at any rate not when she would be likely to meet people who look at things differently. That would wound her. I can‟t raise her p.558. Knowing that now everyone has judged her as an irresponsible and priceless woman, Anna still does not lose her faith to to love and be loved byVronsky, “For me there is one thing and one thing only —your love. If that‟s mine, I feel so uplifted, so strong, that nothing can be humiliating to me. I am proud of my position” p.339. Losing her attribute as a grande dame and getting negative judgements from her surroundings become endurable burdens for Anna as long as Vronsky loves her.

2. The Extrinsic Motivation of Anna Karenin for Breaking Her Gender Roles

According to Ryan and Deci 2000, extrinsic motivation is “a construct that pertai ns whenever an activity is done in order to attain some separable outcome” p.60. They also state that “a person who has extrinsically motivated behaviors is usually valued by significant others to whom they feel or would like to feel connected, whether that be a family, a peer group, or a society” p.64. In brief, it can be concluded that external motivation comes from external factors or surroundings which encourage an individual to do particular actions. In this study, the external factor which motivates Anna to break her gender roles is the feeling of love from Vronsky to her.

a. Vronsky Fulfills the Needs of Anna Karenin to Love and Be Loved

In the novel, Vronsky is depicted as an aristocratic soldier with a handsome face and a well-built body. Vronsky was a dark, squarely-built man of medium height, with an exceptionally tranquil and firm expression on his good-natured, handsome face. Everything about his head and figure, from the closely-cropped black hair and freshly-shaven chin to loosely fitting, brand-new uniform, was simple and at the same time elegant p.64.