The Trial Analysis: The Political, Juridical And Philosophical Interpretations.

The Trial is Franz Kafka’s most famous novel, published in Berlin 1926. Max Brod – Kafka’s close friend – collected the originals and prepared them for publishing two years following Kafka’s death. Brod states that Kafka never gave the manuscript a title. He always called it ‘The Trial.’ Kafka still considered the book incomplete, despite having written the final chapter. Kafka felt that the mystery trial needed more depth, but Brod claims that Kafka didn’t tell him that he wanted to finish the work.

The story tells of a banker arrested one day for a crime not revealed to either him or the reader. Joseph K becomes confused by his unnamed arrest and the confusing legal system. He imagines tricks and scenarios that lead him into a legal nightmare. Not knowing who to trust, the man compiles a ‘defense,’ where he admits guilt and asks forgiveness. He signs this document as his punishment. Joseph K, the main character, is stabbed to death by two guards in the final chapter.

The citizen is accused of something he did not do. He is charged in a way that does not follow the rules. The only thing he has to do is show up at the courtroom. The citizen is from a clearly authoritarian nation. Kafka often sets his novels in the Habsburg Monarchy. In this context, every citizen might feel guilty, even if no one knows what they did. The Trial is a criticism of the Monarchy’s bureaucracy, and its overall social and political situation. According to a political interpretation, this novel is a prescient roman, which was triggered by the horrors that occurred during World War II. Joseph K, a young genius, represents a time when millions of people tragically died, like Joseph K.

Kafka has been fascinated with the paradoxes and complexity in law. In the legal sense, laws are created to serve the general good and should be followed, no matter how little one understands them. Kafka’s ‘Before the Law,’ illustrates this theory. Before the Law tells the tale of a man trying to gain access to the legal system. The gatekeeper challenges him. Before dying, the man tries to gain access to the law but he gets tired. The gatekeeper tells the man that the door had been made specifically for him and, since he is dying now, it will be closed. Another way to say it is that this could be called “the Death Gate”; but why would a door leading into a courthouse be referred to as the Death Gate? The law is what brings him there, and the same law prevents him from approaching it. Joseph K asks himself, “Where was that judge he never saw?” before dying. Kafka argues that people obey laws they don’t fully understand because of the abstract nature of the law. Kafka’s critique of the legal system suggests that it does not follow human logic, but is instead controlled by those who are the most powerful. Kafka says that the logic is unrefutable, but anyone who is willing to live won’t resist it.

Kafka presents his story on a philosophical level as well, presenting every man’s story as the heir to the original sin. The man had been expelled from Paradise and was accused of breaking the original law. The original sin is still affecting mankind in this world. Joseph K did not accept that, and he tried defending himself saying he had not been a follower of Christ or forgotten the essentials. Josef K., at this stage, has lost his senses of reality. What began with a drama based on suspicion turned into a dramatic story about the human fate. After the novel’s end, it is as if nothing ever happened. Human life is absurd. Everything takes place in a world where the idea that innocence has been murdered. The Trial explores many existentialist topics, including guilt. The existentialist principle is that each person is responsible for his or her own decisions, and that honest choices may not be the best ones. Joseph K will therefore feel guilt for his death, as he may not have made the best decisions or fulfilled his potential. K. is a ‘bad choice’ anti-hero, who surrenders, accepts and gives up his fate. In the final chapter, paradoxes and absurdity take over. He is aware that he will be executed, but does not attempt to save himself. He also stops saying he’s innocent. Existentialists, who are fond of absurdism, believe that life itself has no meaning. Joseph K passively accepts his fate. He’s lost his faith in God and his meaning of life. And he is now one with the captors. Death is a tragic event that comes with the absurdity of the death penalty. Joseph K stares out of all the windows, but they’re closed. A weak man is visible through one of the windows. Somebody who I can count on? A friend? A good person? These last thoughts demonstrate the loneliness and fear of death. And finally, tragedy occurs when Joseph K realizes that only his body will live. The society is a body that has no soul.

Joseph K’s tragic destiny is not fiction. Innocent lives have been lost throughout history because people were wrongly led to believe the worst. The Trial makes readers think about justice, liberty, justice, meaning of our lives, and destiny. Kafka’s powerful story is a tale of an ordinary citizen, like you and me, who lives in a ‘normal state’ where the rule-of-law is strong.