vengeance is mine, i will repay

we must not pass a judgement over anna karenina, we are warned, vengeance is god's alone. even if anna has left her husband, who may not have loved her, and even if she has left her son, who loved her, we must not join those who condemn anna, what do we know of love anyway, these secrets are not privy to everyone, anna, she has suffered and yet he, the man she left everything for, he has not been forsaken by society, he is free.

we must not judge anna, she had her compulsions, her passions, her reasons, vengeance is god's alone. even if anna feels betrayed and after the culminating moment of passion somehow ashamed, these matters are for anna alone to decide, we must step out of the way, let her droshka pass without any obstacle, let her be.

but what are we to do other than think of the betrayal when betrayed? how can we assume the loftiest of positions when we constantly sway from one passion to another, from one betrayal and day to another? the position to judge is neither lofty nor natural but the tendency to ask for coherence is a natural one. after all, the son is left alone, anna leaves him alone, the movement away, the first movement is the defining one, the die is cast.

the epigram at the beginning of anna karenina must not be ignored. if it sets an agenda or if it sets a moral tone remains to be understood. this delay in judgement, this doomsday reckoning is not fair. that only anna must be judged is not fair at all. that we should suspend all thoughts on this matter is not fair either.