Poor, poor Dolly Oblonsky. In my opinion,
the most underrated character in Anna
Karenina (by Leo Tolstoy). Dolly is many things: the wife of Stepan (Stiva)
Oblonsky, Anna’s brother; one of Anna’s closest friends and confidantes;
Kitty’s older sister and her guide to married life; and a mother of five young
children. It’s a lot of important roles she plays, but she’s still really a
supporting character. She helps a good many people, but nothing seems to turn
out right for poor Darya Alexandrovna (yeah, I don’t really see how they get Dolly from that either).
As the novel starts out, Dolly has just
found out that her husband Stiva cheated on her with the children’s governess.
She is distraught. In fact, the first four chapters focus on her situation.
Even at this early point, things are just bad. Instead of confronting his own
guilt, Stiva thinks that Dolly, a “worn-out, aged, no longer beautiful woman,
not remarkable for anything, simple, merely a kind mother of a family, ought in
all fairness to be indulgent” and let his actions slide (3). I had to include
that quote—it just makes me so angry. Nobody takes her side in the household. But
still, she stays so as to be a good wife and mother.
Nothing gets better for Dolly. Her
husband doesn’t change, and as a result of his exploits, despite their titles
of Prince and Princess Oblonsky, the money is nowhere to be found. Despite
this, despite all of the stress in her life, she fulfills all her duties, as a
wife, mother, friend, and a lady of high society. As much as I hate the
structure and ideals of the society that she belongs to, I think that is the
mark of a really remarkable woman.
Dolly seems to also have the role of
being almost all-knowing, the most perceptive character and one that seems to
have an opinion on all the goings on, if she is pressured to give it. One of my
favorite examples is an observation she makes about Anna: “[…] suddenly
recalling for some reason Anna’s strange new habit of narrowing her eyes. And
she remembered that Anna had narrowed her eyes precisely when it was a matter
of the most intimate sides of life. ‘As if she narrows her eyes at her life in
order to not see it all,’ thought Dolly” (628). I find it really interesting
that Tolstoy gave this role to her, a woman and one of the most unassuming
characters of the novel. I guess it fits her well. She knows all the people
with the drama, and they all confide in her; but she doesn’t really judge, and
is surprisingly analytical for a housewife who self-identifies as largely
ignorant.
I wish I could say that Dolly was my
favorite character, but one of her most important traits is also a major flaw;
as important a role she plays in the lives of others, Dolly really doesn’t have
control in her own life. A lot of this is because of the time; she’s a woman, a
noblewoman, and subordinate to her husband. But still, she seems too indecisive
and helpless. When Stiva cheats on her, she’s so angry she almost leaves, but
after talking to Anna for a few hours, she gets back in her role as obedient
wife to the cheating scum. When the household is strapped for cash, instead of
confronting her husband herself, Levin and her other brother-in-law Lvov are
asked to talk to him instead. If she could only be a bit braver in her own
personal life, she could be so much more of a powerful character. But every character
has their weaknesses.
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