A Psychological Perspective on Infidelity in the Context of a Literary Work: Anna Karenina-Lev Tolstoy

Abstract

Literature and psychology, which have different characteristics from each other, often try to study common issues. Both fields benefit from each other in terms of subject analysis. Just like in this regard, studies on the subject of deception, which are studied in both areas, are not considered sufficient in the literature. Studies in the field on the subject of infidelity are not considered sufficient and more factors that may be effective in infidelity are discoursed. The main purpose of this study is to examine the infidelity behaviors in the novel Anna Karenina written by Lev Tolstoy within the framework of psychoanalytic, attachment, schema theories, and risk factors. As a result, it was seen that risk factors such as attachment, psychoanalytic perspective, schema concepts, and gender corresponded to the examples of infidelity in the book. A similar result could not be reached with the duration of the marriage and the number of children, which are among the risk factors.