Kitty

Also known as: Ekaterina / Katerina Alexandrovna / Katerina Alexandrovna Levin / Katya / Kitty Levin / Kitty Shtcherbatskaya / Princess Shtcherbatskaya / young Princess Shtcherbatskaya · Family: Shtcherbatsky · Role: young woman · First appears: PART ONE · Chapter 5

Early in the winter, after seeing the Shtcherbatskys in Moscow, Levin realized that Kitty was the sister he loved and returned with the determination to propose. Kitty invited him to skate with her and see her family that evening, but Vronsky was also courting her through balls, dances, and frequent visits. When Levin offered marriage, she refused him because she loved Vronsky, though Vronsky’s conduct soon wounded and deceived her. After the ball at which Vronsky failed to answer her loving look and asked Anna for the mazurka, Kitty’s suffering became severe; she later apologized to Darya Alexandrovna and nursed her children through scarlet fever.

At the end of the winter, Kitty’s doctors sent her abroad, where Princess Shtcherbatskaya presented her to a German princess and she stayed at Carlsbad with her mother. There she met Varenka, became acquainted with Madame Stahl, and found comfort in a new spiritual life, serving sick people and especially Petrov’s family. She eventually lost her idealized view of Madame Stahl, reconciled with Varenka after an angry quarrel, and returned to Russia cured and serene, with her Moscow troubles reduced to memory.

During the summer, Kitty stayed with Darya Alexandrovna, while Levin learned that she had once been uncertain between him and Vronsky. Seeing her again later, they resumed their affection and drew closer through a private communication; Kitty agreed to tell her parents that Levin would come the next morning. Their engagement was accepted by her parents, she forgave Levin after reading his diary, and on their wedding day she reassured him when he asked whether the marriage could still be stopped. They exchanged rings in the church, married, and left for the country that night.

Kitty and Levin’s early married life included frequent quarrels over trivial causes, followed by reconciliation and renewed happiness; by their third month together, life was proceeding more smoothly. She cared for the dying Nikolay Levin, reorganizing his sickroom and persuading him to receive extreme unction, and the doctor then confirmed that she was pregnant. Later she and Levin repeatedly reconciled after jealousy and misunderstandings, including his concern over Vronsky and Anna. Kitty survived childbirth and gave birth to a boy, and at Pokrovskoe she breastfed Mitya until mother and child became calm.