SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF THE HEROINE’S INNER SPEECH AS A WAY OF REPRESENTING HER PSYCHOLOGICAL CRISIS (ON THE EXAMPLE OF ANNA KARENINA)

Abstract

This article explores the syntactic peculiarities of Anna Karenina’s inner speech in Leo Tolstoy’s masterpiece Anna Karenina as a sophisticated literary mechanism for depicting her progressive psychological crisis. Through detailed stylistic and psycholinguistic analysis, the study identifies and examines key syntactic features – including fragmentation, ellipsis, repetition, rhetorical questions, parataxis, and disrupted syntactic connections – that mirror the heroine’s emotional disintegration, identity conflict, guilt, jealousy, and existential despair. Following the IMRaD structure adapted for literary research, the paper demonstrates how Tolstoy’s innovative narrative technique transcends conventional description, offering readers direct insight into the chaotic workings of a tormented consciousness. The findings illuminate the intricate relationship between linguistic form and psychological depth, reinforcing Tolstoy’s status as a pioneer of psychological realism and providing valuable material for contemporary studies in literary stylistics, cognitive linguistics, and the representation of mental health in literature.