Kafka's "Before the Law"

Franz Kafka’s “Before the Law” tells the story of a man attempting to access what is known as “the law,” but unable to reach such destination because of a strict gatekeeper. While one can take this story for face value, more might be gained from reading the text with a specific literary theory in mind. For “Before the Law,” I’ve decided on juxtaposing the different viewpoints to be gained from reading the text with a Marxist approach in comparison to a Psychoanalytical approach and how these different lenses supplement the story in their own ways.

During discussion, my group unanimously agreed that the Marxist Criticism approach was the most befitting way to tackle this text. With Marxist Criticism having to do with economic systems and the consequential distribution of power, Kafka’s “Before the Law” contains several supporting components that are indicative of this theory. For instance, the text highlights the clear presence of a hierarchy defined by control. As the lowly country man has seemingly no power to progress past the first gate of the law, he finds himself at the bottom, directly beneath the first gatekeeper of the law and far beneath the succeeding gatekeepers, with “each more powerful than the other” (Kafka 1). This inability on the countryman’s behalf further emphasizes his inferiority, as he has no control over his destiny and his entire existence relies on the graciousness of the gatekeeper, which can be interpreted to reflect the ways of classism and its limitations on those of lower economic or social statuses. Assuming that the gatekeeper is a materialistic man—perhaps from his “fur coat” that indicates, once again, a wealth not beheld by the gatekeeper— the countryman attempts to persuade him by “spend[ing] everything, no matter how valuable” to win the permission of the gatekeeper (Kafka 1). Thus, with this inclusion of the concept of materialism, another element of Marxism is portrayed in order to emphasize the control that wealth, power, and economic class has on the characters. To further the advocation for this selection in critical theory, Gardner’s description of Marxism Criticism, the concept of “reification” or, the process in which an oppressed worker loses touch with their sense of “individual humanity” can be found in “Before the Law” accordingly (Gardner 170). As the countryman waits idly for the gatekeeper’s approval for years, he grows old and essentially begins to wither away, stuck in his place beside the gatekeeper and incapable of neither progressing nor fixating on anything other than how to please the man guarding the gate to the law. Meanwhile, the gatekeeper, as the man with power, does not seem to perish at all and instead remains towering over the countryman, and having to “bend way down” to level himself with old man, literally and perhaps even symbolically as a way to represent the class differences 

between the two men as the gatekeeper remains above and the countryman merely shrinks existentially. 

An alternative approach to this Kafka text might be to view “Before the Law” through a Psychological lens, which would observe the way that the “internal mental states, the desires, and the motivations” affect a literary character’s behavior (Gardner 174). While the gatekeeper does assert his authority and tells the countryman that he is not ready to access the law, he also does remark that the countryman may attempt to pass through “in spite of [the gatekeeper’s] prohibitions” (Kafka 1). So thus, if the man is able to at least attempt to advance without any mentioned repercussions, a psychoanalytic critic might question why the countryman doesn’t. Having waited his entire life at this first obstacle, the countryman merely takes the gatekeeper’s word for his unreadiness to progress to the next gate(s) without ever considering that he may already be equipped with the ability to control his fate. This abstinence from action can potentially be owed to an underlying fear of progress, an inhibiting moral uprightness, a subconscious ignorance that has no desire to access the law, or another unmentioned, psychological conflict. Nevertheless, for whatever reason, the countryman decides to take the passive route and believes it to be better to “wait until he gets permission to go inside” (Kafka 1). 

Of the two presented approaches, the Marxist take appears to win out over the Psychological standpoint. The main question at hand is whether the countryman’s hinderance of progress is owed to mental limitations or economical ones, and as an answer to this question, the latter provides more validating evidence. Because there is little access to the interior thoughts of the countryman, its ambitious to declare the reasoning behind his actions without making off-page assumptions. With more interior insight, more can be said about the mental state of the countryman and the reasoning for why he is never able to obtain access to the law. Meanwhile, several Marxist themes do make an appearance. Therefore, with what we do have, the Marxist theory is the more feasibly applicable of the two as it does does not require what is not on the paper. 

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