The Role Guilt Plays in Franz Kafkas The Trial Essay

What is guilt? Is Josef K. guilty? What is he guilty of? All of these questions come to mind when you read The Trial by Franz Kafka, but they are not easily answered. The question of guilt is a theme that runs through the entire novel, and it serves to enlighten the reader as to what, I believe, Kafka is trying to say. So what is Kafka trying to say? If one looks at the opening sentence, in the light of the rest of the novel, I believe that it helps to clue us into Kafkas message. The fact that K. believes he has not done anything truly wrong (3) harkens back to the question of guilt. So because K. feels he is not fully guilty of anything, why is he hounded by the law? This is where the main theme of the book comes into play in my†¦show more content†¦must come to terms with. The attraction to the court and by the many women to the accused shows just this. Additionally, while discussing his case with the chaplain K. says How can any person in general be guilty? Were all huma n after all, each and every one of us. (213) This statement further illustrates K.s guilt because he admits that he is doing something wrong, but as a man of course he does wrong. The priest responds that that is what all guilty people say. Could this perhaps be because all of them lead lives that deny human free will and rely on their instincts and the whims of those around them? So what is it that the court would have K. do to prove his innocence or at least rectify his guilt? The court wants him to look inside himself and examine his own life to find truth. This search for individual truth is best characterized in K.s conversation with the chaplain in the cathedral. The prison chaplain admonishes K. that he seeks too much outside help and tells him the parable of the countryman who seeks the law. This parable is very applicable to K. if you consider the ignorant countryman as K. and the law to be K.s own truth. The only thing standing in K.s way, much like the man from the count ry, is his own fear of the struggle to find truth and dependence on others to give it to him. The fact that it is a priest who counsels K. on the matters of finding truth within himself is particularlyShow MoreRelatedGreat Influence Of Franz Kafka s The Metamorphosis1467 Words   |  6 Pages Greatest Influence of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis has drawn readers to it’s pages for decades by the strong pull of an atypical beginning and deadly love story. While Harriet L. Parmet’s critical essay The Jewish Essence of Franz Kafka, of The Metamorphosis, relies on Kafka’s religious and parental struggles, and Peter F. Neumeyer’s essay Franz Kafka and England focuses on love and relationships, it is apparent that both topics were big influences in the author’sRead MoreA Concrete Human Existence, And The Conditions Of Such Existence1689 Words   |  7 PagesBeauvoir (1908-1986). Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.) Albert Camus- In The Stranger, Camus displays the absurd and the indifference of life. In his later novel, The Fall discusses the guilt of all men, not only in their actions, but in their inactions as well. The Stranger- Camus himself did not believe in God; many of his characters then follow the same path, or rather do not follow any path. Meursault is caught with the indifferentRead MoreThe Trial And The Metamorphosis2538 Words   |  11 PagesProject Essay The Trial and The Metamorphosis are the two foremost works Franz Kafka has ever written. By doing this, Franz makes the similarities and differences very obvious, yet each text is complex in their own way. In The Trial and The Metamorphosis, Kafka uses unique aspects to compare the characters in each novel. Each character is being forced by anonymous forces. They both go through loneliness to find the meaning behind their suffering. Each similarity and difference in The Trial and The MetamorphosisRead MoreEssay Existentialism1050 Words   |  5 Pagesexistence in the world that stresses its concreteness and its problematic character. Existentialism is often seen as an irrationlist revolt against tradiational phylosphy. Although this may be true to a certain point, existentialism has played a key role in the way people look at the world. Existentialism, for several reasons, rejects epistemology and the attempt to ground human knowledge. First of all,existenalist believe, human beings are not solely or even primarily knowers. They also careRead MoreKubler-Ross on Gregor Samsa and Meursault1589 Words   |  7 PagesIn the novels The Metamorphosis and The Stranger by Franz Kafka and Albert Camus, Kubler-Ross’s five stages of death are incorporated to emphasize the themes of individualism and isolation. While denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance are common emotions when dealing with death, denial, anger, and acceptance are essential in connecting to Kafka and Camus’s ideas regarding individualism. Through their experiences relating to those three stages of death, the protagonists, Gregor SamsaRead More The Nature of Power Essay3751 Words   |  16 Pagesbeginning of the 20th century. Taking into account the strength of nationalism in the 20th century, the phenomena surrounding the formation of the EU are hard to comprehend until the nature of power and its attraction to people is considered. Power plays a large part in human psychology, beginning when the infant cries in order to draw attention to itself and continuing as kids learn exclusion, join cliques, and as adults compete for respect and influence. Power is exercised from the most basic everydayRead Moreexistentialism Essay3317 Words   |  14 PagesMuch of the appeal and popularity of Existential- ism is due to the sense of confusion, the crisis, and the feeling of rejection and rootlessness that Euro- peans felt during World War II and its aftermath. Existentialism’s focus on each person’s role in cre- ating meaning in their life was a major influence on the Phenomenological and Humanistic traditions in psychology and on the â€Å"human potential† move- ment that emerged from them. Rene Descartes (1596-1650) said, â€Å"Conquer your- self ratherRead MoreANALIZ TEXT INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS28843 Words   |  116 PagesBecky’s slow but inevitable decline. Selectivity In deciding how much plot to include in a given work, how much emphasis to give individual episodes, and how these episodes are to be related to one another, the author’s selectivity comes fully into play. In general, the shorter the narrative, the greater the degree of selectivity that will be required. The very economy of the short story, for example, limits the amount of plot that can be included, a limitation of treatment that usually can be avoided