Adultery in 19^th Century Russian fiction is often represented as a deterrent to civil order and as an exercise of personal liberty in affairs of the heart. Tolstoy’s “The Kreutzer Sonata” depicts adultery as the rebellion of a controlled life, where women are considered “leaky vessels.” Due to the social expectation of 19^th Century Russia, women are restrained from their freedom, making it desirable since it is something risky that is difficult to reach. According to the events in “The Kreutzer Sonata,” women are becoming freer from their husbands’ control because they are tired of being treated as a machine to conceive kids and take care of the family.

            The position of men and women in 19^th century Russia was very different. On the one hand, women are softer and weaker than men. Therefore, they need protection. Also, they must obey their husband or any other male figure in their family. On the other hand, men were courageous, imponent, and had to protect their female figures in their family and fit in all social circles. During that time, mates had to be chosen based on one’s interests in order to have a prosperous marriage. According to the author of “Finding a mate in the late tsarist Russia: the evidence from marriage advertisements,” men had to wisely choose their mate. They had to keep in mind “reaching a careful assessment of her good sense, intelligence, and morals, and not being distracted by looks or wealth.” (Lovell, 57). This is because, according to the author of “Sexuality and the Body in Russian Culture,” women “raise the virtues, animate the bliss, and sweeten all the toils of human life.” (Costlow, 60) Women were considered an element of support, creatures that existed to alleviate pain and guide the right path. Personality characteristics were one of the factors, but financial status was played a considerable role in the decision. According to “Finding a mate in late tsarist Russia,” “men should not try to marry into a family more prestigious that their own…a wife’s fortune was humiliating for a man.” (Lovell, 58) According to Russian society’s expectations, men were supposed to marry someone in a lower economic class so to be able to provide for the wife and state who ruled the relationship. This shows the point that Pozdnyshev makes during a conversation with a young group of people. He states that “a man does not bring offspring into the home; while a woman – a wife – is a leaky vessel” (Tolstoy, 162). When a man looked for a mate, they had to be sure that the woman would only serve her man at their best, that she will fear her husband, and always obey his orders. He suggests that a woman should only take care of the house and the children, leaving everything else to the husband, since a woman is too weak or emotional to handle duties outside the family’s care. Since Russia was a patriarchal society in which women were subservient to men, they could not raise their voice nor do what they wanted. Also, society’s expectations were high since women had to follow the male presence’s decision to facilitate their lives and give a better future to expected children. The restrictions provided by society were a significant burden on women. Freedom was limited and therefore became something desirable. This is when women begin to think about what they would be able to do to achieve freedom and how they will feel once reached. However, the journey is long and complicated, as marriage and children become the main problem.

            In “Bringing Order to the Russian Family: Marriage and Divorce in Imperial Russia, 1760-1760,” Armstrong states: “matrimony involved divine rite and sanction, it must be free from corruption or cessation: it was too sacred, too close to the divine, to permit profanation and abrogation by human beings.” (719) Marriage was considered to be a sacred event in which two people would come together and respect each other as stated by the church and expected by society. However, according to “Sexuality and the Body in Russian Culture,” in 19^th century Russia, marriage was much more: “the veil of modesty and pleasure tends to conceal (and is perhaps used to conceal) the social and economic realities of marriage.” (Costlow,72) Based on men and women’s position in both 19^th century Russia expectations and roles in a relationship, matrimony was a way for women to leave their parents’ house and alleviate their financial status. In Tolstoy’s “The Kreutzer Sonata,” Pozdnyshev and three other young people discussed marriage, adultery, and divorce. The young generation believed that “in the first place marriage must be the outcome of attachment – or love if you please – and only where that exists is marriage sacred… Secondly, that marriage, when not based on natural attachment… lacks that element that makes it morally binding.” (Tolstoy, 165) They approach the topic with an open-minded concept of love: as times change, also mentality does, therefore marrying someone because we love them is not as controversial as before. They stated that matrimony should be based on love to come together and respect each other, as the Church states. Also, a strong sentiment of love and care ensures that two people coming together will support each other over the long and complicated course of marriage. However, Pozdnyshev states that marriage is “nothing but copulation, and the result is either deception or coercion.” (Tolstoy, 167) Based on the society of that time, his point wins against the idea that the young generation had about matrimony since love is only a means to make sure that two people conceive of carrying on the bloodline and a continuous hate relationship. He would also ask that even if love existed, how long would it last, affirming his point again by saying that love does not play a role in marriage, but gender roles. The last fact made by Pozdnyshev gives an overview of what his marriage is like: an unhappy relationship that lacks love and security, characterized by distrust. In these kinds of relationships, people seek someone to talk to and most likely to succumb to adultery, as their time spent together also increases their affection for each other.

            According to the author of “Stricken by Infection: Art and Adultery in Anna Karenina and Kreutzer Sonata,” adultery is “the condition of excitement, curiosity, and the need of novelty which results from concourse for the sake of pleasure not with one, but with many.” (Herman, 20) Due to the Russian’s societal expectations and gender roles, women could not experience the meaning of love and marriage to the fullest, making them more likely to commit infidelity as their matrimony becomes a real burden. This is what Pozdnyshev thought during his business trip. His marriage was in ruin due to continuing fights and lack of communication. When Trukhachevsky, a fashionable, unmarried man and a skilled violinist, starts to give Pozdnyshev’s wife piano lessons, the situation worsens. Pozdnyshev considered music a “dreadful thing” (Tolstoy, 223) since music was a way to nearness and intimacy. “Music was sure not only to please but certainly and without the least hesitation to conquer, crush, bind her, twist her around his little finger and do whatever he liked with her.” (Tolstoy, 216) The idea that his wife was cheating on him would not leave his mind. Therefore he decides to go back home early, hoping to find them together and finally “punish her… get rid of her, and could vent his anger.” (Tolstoy, 234) When he gets home, with the “help” of the serves, he finally gets his “revenge” and finally reaches his desire to punish his wife. Poznyshev could not stand the idea that his wife could be committing infidelity, even though she did assure him that there was nothing between her and the violinist. However, Poznyshev distrust took the best and completely ignored what she said. This sequence of events exposed deep cracks in their matrimony that can lead to imminent disasters. There was little to no communication between them, and even what would happen, Pozdnyshev would not listen to his wife and never satisfy her needs. In this position, she is more repressed than before, with ulterior pressure by her husband, who was unable to fulfill his duties as both a man and a husband. Therefore, when they got caught together (with no concrete evidence), he believed that she committed adultery to escape a difficult marriage and finally obtain attention and pleasure with someone who had the same interests as her and had a better relationship with her.

            According to the author of “The Novel of Adultery,” “marriage was indissoluble except in four cases: adultery, impotency, total loss of rights through imprisonment or exile, and hopeless insanity, were all grounds for dissolution.” (Armstrong, 45-46) The idea that matrimony was something sacred, both parties were responsible for respecting it and fulfill their role in the relationship. Moreover, it would be humiliating to dissolve marriage based on the four cases listed above. It could stain a man’s dignity for not controlling his woman and a woman’s dignity for not being faithful to her husband and the church. Whereas women would break from their gender roles, the marriage’s success and the men’s reputation would be stained. This is due to the fact that 19^th century Russia was a patriarchal society in which women were subservient to men. When women would act as they please, people would believe that “women are assuming superiority over men” (Costlow, 65). According to Pozdnyshev, a man who was not able to bring order to his family and wife and instigate fear was “a fool…because if he’d pulled her up properly from the first and not have her way, she’d be living with him… don’t trust your horse in the field, or your wife in the house.” (Tolstoy, 163) Pozdnyshev highly emphasized the old and restricted mentality of 19^th century Russia, finding the basis of marriage and the significant relationship. Therefore, he would suppress the new concept of love, and that adultery is not as scandalous a before, but a means to make the other realize what is going wrong in their relationship. Even though there is no proof that Pozdnyshev’s wife cheated on him, Pozdnyshev still acted irrationally when he saw his wife with the musician, affirming his distrust in his wife’s doing. He completely ignored his wife, making anger and disappointment take over this rational thinking. He realized that his matrimony was failing, and instead of blaming himself for the fact that he was the source of all the problems in the relationship, he blamed his wife, justifying his decision by believing that this all happened because she took too much liberty and did not commit to her duties as both a woman and a mother. Suppose there was proof that Pozdnyshev’s wife committed infidelity. In that case, her decision is justifiable exactly because his husband failed to please her and satisfy her need, as well as his kid’s needs. Besides, her infidelity is also justifiable because her husband has denied the experience of love and joy for a long. This means that Trukhachevsky could please her, make her feel loved and important, show her that she would experience happiness, and finally show her kids what they should look for in a partner with him. Additionally, if she really committed, she would prove that the young generation made during the train ride, that the key to a successful marriage is love. By doing this, Pozdnyshev’s wife would also prove that society’s gender roles are outdated for a continuously changing society. It is time for women to speak up for themselves and prove that no one can make a better decision for them besides themselves.

            In conclusion, adultery is committed to exercise personal liberty and finally experience what was denied to them. It is crucial because women decided to provoke 19^th century Russia’s society and achieve what they wanted. This concept can be applied nowadays. In the present day, we still need to fight for human rights, respect, climate change, famine, etc. Unfortunately, older people with a restrained mentality have real control of these situations, but they do not finally bring a change. When this happens, we are the ones to suffer. Therefore, we need to mobilize ourselves, come together to speak up for what is best for us, for what we need. If this does not happen, the change will not occur, suggesting to these old politicians that we do not care. However, they do not know what we need, what we want. Therefore, breaking taboos can lead to a positive outcome.

Portfolio URL –  https://denisadodani.commons.gc.cuny.edu/

Work cited page:

1. Armstrong, Judith. “The Novel of Adultery.” The Novel of Adultery, Macmillan Education, Limited, 1976.
2. Costlow, Jane T., et al. “Sexuality and the Body in Russian Culture.” Stanford University Press, 1993.
3. Freeze, Gregory L. “Bringing Order to the Russian Family: Marriage and Divorce in Imperial Russia, 1760-1860.” The Journal of Modern History, vol.62, no. 4, 1990, pp.709-746. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1881061.
4. Herman, David. “Stricken by Infection: Art and Adultery in Anna Karenina and Kreutzer Sonata.” Slavic Review, vol. 56, no. 1, pp.15-36. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2500653.
5. Lovell, Stephen. “Finding a mate in late tsarist Russia: the evidence from marriage advertisements.” Cultural and Social History, vol. 4, no. 1, 2007, p. 51+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A174640667/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=9452bcea.