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Interpretation

Trying to pinpoint Franz Kafka's The Trial to one clear-cut interpretation seems impossible. The novel leaves enough room for several interpretations from different angles. Generally, there are five major perspectives:

• biographical
• historically critical: against the background of the social tensions in Austria-Hungary prior to the outbreak of World War I
• religious: especially regarding Kafka’s Jewish descent
• psychoanalytical: The Trial as a symbol of the awareness and projection of an inner process (in German, the word Prozess can refer to both a trial and a process)
• political and sociological: as a criticism of an autonomous and inhuman bureaucracy and of a lack of civil rights

Concerning these categories, however, there is one important point that should not be overlooked. Although the diverse studies theorizing about the novel provide valuable insights, they are often impeded by the critics' eagerness to squeeze these insights into a frame which, ultimately, is beyond the novel’s text. This, by the way, is not a phenomenon unique to The Trial. Kafka’s novel The Castle shows similar tendencies as well. Only later interpretations, e.g. by the German writer Martin Walser, express an increasing demand for a strictly text-based view. Current works, e.g. by the contemporary literary critic Peter-André Alt, go into the same direction.

Relations to other texts by Kafka

The myth of guilt and judgement discussed in The Trial has its cultural roots in the Hasidic tradition where tales of plaintiff and defendant, heavenly judgement and punishment, unfathomable authorities and obscure charges are not uncommon.

First of all, in Kafka’s The Trial there are many parallels to his other great novel, The Castle. In both novels, the protagonist wanders through a labyrinth, that seems to be designed to make him fail or even seems to have no relation to him at all. Ill bedridden men explain the system in lengthy terms. Erotically charged female figures turn to the protagonist in a demanding way.

Written around the same time, in October 1914, the short story In the Penal Colony bears close resemblance to The Trial. In both cases, the delinquent does not know what he is charged for. A single person – an officer with a gruesome machine – seems to be accuser, judge and executor in one.

The idea that a single executioner could be enough to arbitrarily replace the entire court is exactly what Josef K. is frightened about.

Three years later Kafka wrote the parable The Knock at the Manor Gate, which is essentially a summary of The Trial. An action is brought out of nowhere or without any reason and it ends in a disastrous entanglement and inevitable punishment. The fate strikes the narrator by chance in the middle of everyday life. Kafka scholar Ralf Sudau states that "[a] sense of punishment or perhaps an unconscious demand for punishment [...] and a tragic or absurd downfall are signalled in this context." ("Ein Vorgefühl von Strafe oder vielleicht ein unbewußtes Strafverlangen [...] und ein tragischer oder absurder Untergang werden dabei signalisiert.")

Individual aspects

Short text analysis

For Josef K., the court is an anonymous and unfamiliar power. Unlike the courthouse in the Palace of Justice, this court is characterized by widely branched, impenetrable hierarchies. There seems to be an infinite number of instances and K. only gets in contact with the lowest ones. In spite of his efforts, K. is unable to discover the court's nature. The clergyman’s words in the cathedral (“The court doesn’t want anything from you. It takes you in when you come and sets you free when you leave”) don’t provide any help. Could K. simply evade the court? His reality looks different. For K., the court remains mysterious and not really explicable.

Josef K. has to confront a cold world that puts him off. While the main character in Kafka’s parable Before the Law is asking fleas for help, Josef K. turns to women, a painter and advocates to help him. However, they only feign their influence and keep him waiting. In this way, the people K. is asking for help act like the door-keeper in said parable. They all accept presents from the main character, but only to put him off and to not disillusion him in believing that acting in this way will help his cause.

Diversity of interpretations

Like in Kafka’s novel The Castle, the range of manifold interpretations may only be covered selectively and not conclusively.

One possible interpretative approach is to read the novel autobiographically. This claim is supported by the similarities in the initials of Fräulein Bürstner and Felice Bauer. Elias Canetti points out that the intensely detailed description of the court system hints at Kafka’s work as an insurance lawyer.

Theodor W. Adorno takes the opposite view. According to him, The Trial does not tell the story of an individual fate but rather contains wide-reaching political and visionary aspects and can be read as a vision predicting the Nazi terror.

German scholar Claus Hebell offers a synthesis of these two positions and demonstrates that the negotiating strategy used by the bureaucratic court system during the process to demoralize Kafka is reminiscent of the deficiencies in the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s judicial system.

A few selected aspects of interpretation

Over the course of the novel, it becomes evident that K. and the court do not face each other as distinct separate entities but that they are interweaved. This interweaving between K. and the court system increasingly intensifies throughout the novel. Towards the end of The Trial, K. realizes that everything that is happening stems from his inner self and is the result of feelings of guilt and fantasies of punishment.

Worth mentioning is also the dreamlike component of the events: Like in a dream, K.'s interior and exterior world intermingle. A transition from the fantastic-realistic to the allegorical-psychological level can be made out. Even K.’s working environment is increasingly undermined by the fantastic, dreamlike world. It is, for example, a work order that leads to K.’s encounter with the priest.

Sexual references

The protagonist's feelings of guilt are likely to be rooted in the views on sexuality that prevailed at the beginning of the 20th century and are mirrored in the works of Sigmund Freud. According to Peter-André Alt, "sexuality and K.'s trial are connected in remarkable ways." Women are portrayed as sirens, the representatives of the court as lecherous. K. himself cannot control his lust for Fräulein Bürstner.

Furthermore, critics identified homoerotic elements in the text, for instance K.s ironic and almost loving view of his director. Elegant or tight-fitting clothes on men are mentioned several times throughout the novel. The half-naked flogger punishing the officers Willem and Franz, who are naked as well, resembles sadomasochism.

The Trial as humorous story

According to Kafka's friends, he laughed out loud several times while reading from his book. That is why it is reasonable to look for humorous aspects in The Trial despite its dark and serious essence.

This phenomenon is also addressed by Kafka biographer Reiner Stach: The Trial "is gruesome in its entirety, but comical in its details." The judges read porn magazines instead of studying law and order women like splendid food. The executioners look like ageing tenors. Due to a hole in the floor in one of the courtrooms, an advocate's leg peeks in the room below from time to time.