Dimitri finally acknowledges his love for Anna. Anna Sergeyevna is revealed as a young, bored, upper-class married woman in Yalta for the first time. Her boredom is best shown when meeting Dimitri for the first time. She exclaims her visit in Yalta as " dull" (218). The reader gets a glimpse of Anna's inner life after "her fall" when she bursts out with a passionate remorse; "I am a bad, low woman- (220). Anna wants to be honest and pure, but she also craves excitement and adventure. While trapped in a suffocating marriage, she lies to her husband of an illness to escape to Yalta where she admits her "curiosity" and proclaims her desire for " something better" (220). After many encounters, Anna began to loose sleep over and feared that her lover " did not respect her sufficiently" (221). Here, the reader can sense that Anna's feelings may have increased for the stranger and also fears that her pure-like exterior may have been jeopardized. When Anna leaves her lover in Yalta "tearless," the reader is confused of her emotional status for Dimitri (224). Is it confirmed when Dimitri surprises her with a visit, that they love each other and will go to great lengths and sacrifices to be with each other. Their secret love affair will continue, yet they will have each other to console.
Because of the way the characters are portrayed, it is evident to the reader that the conflicts are both internal and external of which they both share. By learning that both Dimitri and Anna struggle within their own marriages this gives the reader insight that the characters are vulnerable to an extramarital affair. Anna's internal conflict is best shown when she attempts to portray an innocent, yet curious woman then struggles with herself at the time of her "fall" (220). Dimitri too suffers a strenuous marriage to where he has resorted to extramarital affairs just to fulfill the void in his life.
