She is Prince Shcherbatsky's eldest daughter and Kitty's sister. She is married to Stepan Arkadyevich (Stiva), but her marriage has collapsed due to Stiva's endless infidelities. She is the primary representative in the novel of sacrifice, the suffering honest aristocratic woman, and motherhood. Because of her husband, her life revolves around poverty, children's illnesses, broken furniture, and the drafty rooms of a farmhouse. Despite this, she stands by Kitty during her illness, fills Levin with hope for marriage, and shows her friendship by visiting Anna Karenina at Vronsky's house while all of society has turned its back on her. Although she briefly envies Anna's passionate world there, she senses the deep devastation behind that mask and returns to the realistic peace of her life dedicated to her duties and children.
Her youth was spent in the noble, sheltered mansion of the Shcherbatskys as a very happy girl full of dreams. She thought she had made a love match with Stiva, but the nine years of marriage brought her only seven pregnancies, a lost child, and betrayal. She had to experience the end of her youth prematurely.
Although she was quite beautiful in the past, she is now a woman thinned by the marks of frequent pregnancies, childcare, and heavy sorrow, with thinning hair, prominent bones, pale skin, and clean but large, tired eyes.
Anna Karenina
Her sister-in-law and fateful friend, whom she was initially grateful to for giving her advice during days of disaster and for her mercy in protecting her home, but whom she later both pities and abhors due to her own stormy tunnel of immorality.
Konstantin Levin
Her most honest friend, whose sincerity and innocence she deeply trusts, and whom she senses will find true married love and the right life.
Kiti Şçerbatskaya
Her younger sister, whom she has always wanted to protect, show the right path, and ensure she establishes a good home with Levin, based on her own experiences.
Stepan Oblonski (Stiva)
Her careless husband, whom she does not respect due to his weakness and indolence, yet whom she tolerates and forgives for the sorrow of infidelity for the sake of their home and children.