A Study on Mrs. Warren and Vivie in reflecting the ideas on the ideal woman through the binary oppositions of the two female characters Anna Karenina and Dolly Scherbatsky in Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina

In Anna Karenina, the writer finds many oppositions enveloping the two female characters Anna Karenina and Dolly Scherbatsky. She believes that from these oppositions, the novel tries to deliver a message concerning the ideal woman; whether she exists or not and if she does, what she is like. Therefore, the writer decides to contrast Anna and Dolly by using literary approach and structuralism as the theory. Since the study deals mainly with oppositions, binary opposition is considered as the perfect tool to be applied in this situation. The concept of ideal woman from two very different points of view: from the orthodox and the feminists, is also used. In the analysis, the writer contrasts the two characters? lives, their decisions, their qualities and how they are perceived by others. From the analysis the writer can conclude that the idea of whether a woman is ideal or not is subjective, meaning that it depends on the observers. Both Anna and Dolly are ideal in their own way. However, even the most ideal woman is not perfect, meaning that she also has flaws. It is just that sometimes they are shown and sometimes they are not