Resumo de The Sexual Politics Of Tolstoy's "the Kreutzer Sonata"

In many ways, Pozdnischeff, the protagonist in Tolstoy's The Kreutza Sonata, resembles Tolstoy himself. Written after his religious conversion, it is Tolstoy's attempt to understand the complex relationship between husband and wife in the marriage situation and perhaps his own unstable and erratic nature.
Tolstoy's own unhappy experience with marriage was the impetus for this exploration. Themes of jealousy, sensuality, motherhood, infidelity, children and the family and murder are all presented in a very realistic way in The Kreutzer Sonata. It is also a satire on the hypocrisy of marriage and infidelity in 19th century elite Russian society.
Tolstoy uses music and musical terms as metaphors for the deeper themes of lust, jealousy and murder. For example, Pozdnischeff states that the beginning of the sonata is the presto. The presto, in musical terminology, is a tempo that is fast and lively. He states that music has the power to transport a person from one frame of mind to another, much like love. It can also induce passion and can be dangerous in the wrong hands. It is the presto that causes Pozdnischeff to have compassionate feelings towards his wife, instead of the original feelings of jealously. Later he chillingly describes to his listerner, using the musical term crescendo to describe his state of mind at a fever pitch and still climbing the moment before he murders his wife. Crescendo here could be substituted for the word climax. The very title of this story comes from Beethoven's Kreutza Sonata, named after the celebrated violinist Rudolphe Kreutza. The original title for this sonata was the Spring Sonata. This musical piece was written for piano and violin and is said to be Beethoven's most famous piece for these instruments.
Tolstoy's use of musical metaphor is highly romantic; music and love are twin passions that are equally intense.

Tolstoy condemns, through his character Pozdnischeff, the practice of grooming young women to sexually entice and trap young men. Pozdnischeff makes some profound statements concerning 19th century courtship and marriage; he likens marriage to slavery. He also acknowledges that young women are looked upon by men as instruments of pleasure, that they have no other options besides enticing a man and that they are marginalized. This situation creates profound unhappiness for both the woman and man in a marriage and sets them up for deceit and infidelity. It also creates a double-bind for women; they are looked upon as instruments of pleasure and they use their sexual power over men as a vehicle for position and financial gain. Because of Pozdnischeff's understanding of the position of women, it does seem as if he could become a feminist's champion; however, in the end, he blames his wife for his own lack of control of his rage and subsequent murder of her.The judicial acquittal of Pozdnischeff for the reason of justification for his wife's murder reveals the political and social climate against women in that day.

The Kreutzer Sonata is almost as shocking today as it was in Tolstoy's time.

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