Misogyny in Anna Karenina

(In response to manolia's and Kelby Lake's arguments in http://www.online-literature.com/for...t=32974&page=3)

It's not a black-and-white thing, but on the whole I agree with the misogyny accusation levered on Tolstoy. To be sure, there are the two good points against that notion:

1) one could argue that his treatment of women isn't any more misogynistic than the general Russian 19th century mindest (that is, we fall prey to the famous historian's fallacy);

2) Anna Karenina, a female character with whom the reader is supposed to empathise, essentially claims that her right to pursuit happiness prevails over (then) contemporary social conventions and notions of a married woman's obligations.

This last point sure seems to hint at proto-feminism to me. But the novel isn't a proto-feminist one because in the end Anna is punished for her waywardness. She's a 'fallen woman' who in the end achieves nothing to be proud of. This is reminiscent of the novella 'Family Happiness', an interesting precursor of AK. In it, the female character, portrayed as being rather immature, flirts with the idea of adultery, but doesn't do it, and, upon letting her husband know she's unhappy in her marriage, she's told to forget about her lusts and find happiness in raising her child, which she does. Both stories together form what I think is what Tolstoy might have thought about what's 'right' and what's 'not right' when it comes to love and marriage.

But what do you think? Is Anna Karenina misogynous or proto-feminist, or neither?

Anna is predominantly punished by society and her fatalism. I suppose one could argue that Anna is being used to show what bad women are like and Kitty is an example of a good one, but it is realistic that Anna would meet a bad end. She allows her passion to consume her and is tortured by her lack of freedom as a wife/mother.

I don't think it is either. It seems to me that the novel is really a window into the different worlds of the sexes. Tolstoy allows us three glimpses of marriage for a woman of the time: Anna, Kitty, and Dotty. Kitty is happy, so she fits into her mold comfortably. Dotty is unhappy, but for the most part she finds happiness in her children. She has accepted unhappiness in marriage as something she must live with and cannot change without ruining her children. Anna is unhappy and cannot find happiness in her children, not enough to make her stay with her husband, at least. She made marital happiness her priority and acts accordingly. I don't think that there is a question of Tolstoy's misogyny or feminism, but rather his exploration of how they react given the roll of the dice that marriage so often brings. I don't think that we are supposed to totally empathize with any one character over another. And I also agree that what happened to Anna is a realistic, albeit dramatic, result of her situation and emotional/mental situation. I don't think Tolstoy purposefully did these things to her because he thought what she did was wrong. There is no right and wrong in this novel. There are only decisions, consequences, and reactions, determined by the people, place, and time.

I don't really find it misogynistic but simply realistic. A woman who abandons her children for a lover is going to find it hard to get sympathy.