Anna Karenina Part 4, Chapter 20 Summary

  • Karenin sees Betsy out to the hall, and when he goes back to his wife he sees that she's been crying.
  • Karenin appreciates Anna's decision not to receive Vronsky.
  • Anna learns about the doctor coming to examine the wet nurse, and gets angry that she wasn't allowed to nurse the baby herself.
  • Anna wonders why she didn't die, then tells Karenin to go away because she is upset and being unfair. She's behaving fretfully, weeping and lashing out.
  • Karenin feels utterly helpless. He feels that society is forcing him in a direction contrary to his own inner desires, a direction that he doesn't fully understand.