Adultery in Leo Tolstoy's, Anna Karenina

Like jealousy, fidelity is a concern of the three relationships highlighted in the novel. When a young man flirts with Kitty, Levin "already saw himself as a deceived husband, who was needed by his wife and her lover only in order to provide them with the comforts of life and with pleasures." Meanwhile, Dolly's trust in Oblonsky is shattered when she learns that he has been unfaithful. And, due to double standards of fidelity for men and women, Anna is punished the most of all for her infidelity. (Though, it must be said, that Anna also abandoned her husband and son, thereby causing the most damage.) The importance of fidelity, at least the fidelity of women, is underlined throughout the novel.

Anna Karenina- Count Vronsky

Prince Stephen Oblonsky had an affair with his children's governess.