The male quest and female journey in 'Anna Karenina'

This thesis identifies the differences between the heroic quest, from which Joseph Campbell devised his male monomyth, and the heroine's journey as explained by Maureen Murdock, Margaret Mead and others. The synthesized female journey and male quest are applied to two pairs of characters in the novel Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. Anna and Levin, as well as their partners Vronsky and Kitty, embark upon individual journeys. The female characters have a greater struggle than their male counterparts, due to patriarchal constraints. Anna and Vronsky fail to complete their journeys, while Levin and Kitty only partially succeed on theirs.