A Critical Interpretation of "Before the Law" Blog Post #1

Franz Kafka’s "Before the Law" can be a difficult piece of writing to analyze due to its ability to fit within the identities of multiple literary theories. Within our group for discussion, we decided interpret the writing from the Marxist perspective. To summarize our reading, we interpreted the “law” to be an elevated social status, increase in wealth, or another equivalent. This is supported by the fact that the gatekeeper, who has access to this law, is described wearing “a fur coat” (Kafka). This detail associates the character with wealth and a higher status than the man who seeks entry. The main piece of evidence within the narrative that supports the Marxist perspective is the implied class differences between the gatekeeper and the man that is attempting to gain access to the law. The access to and denial of the law being based upon social status emulates the Marxist belief that economy is the basis upon which society is built.  This includes the creation of class and the attempts to move from one to the other such as the man within the story does. The Marxist theory is also supported within the narrative because the narrative itself is an economic criticism. Kafka critiques society’s structure of class and hierarchal status through the struggles of the man attempting to gain entry to the law. When Kafka writes that “the law should always be accessible for everyone” (Kafka), Kafka uses the man to emulate the struggles of the lower classes and the inequality to those of higher classes that Marx himself proposes within his work. Additionally, the lines “here no one else can gain entry, since this entrance was assigned only to you. I’m going to close it now” shows how the poor individually suffer at the hands of the elite in their own attempt to achieve equality and basic privileges that the rest of society has.

However, the Marxist literary theory is not the only approach that can be applied to this piece. Another literary theory that easily applies to Kafka’s work is the reader response theory. With its vague wording in regards to what the law actually is, the reader response theory is crucial in the criticism of Before the Law because it is up to the readers themselves to determine what the law represents. Whenever the law is mentioned, there fails to be a description associated with it, as the most the reader knows about the law is that “the law stands open” (Kafka) and that the “law should always be accessible for everyone”(Kafka). Thus, this critical approach is useful in addition to our group’s initial Marxist approach because the story is really one that is open to interpretation, and different audiences will have different responses. It is up to the reader to determine whom the gatekeeper and the man themselves represent, as they are the ones that by reading the story, bring it to life.

While multiple literary theories can be applied to Kafka’s work, the theory of reader response, and additionally the psychoanalytic theory are the most convincing and useful approaches. The reason for this is because due to the narrative’s ambiguity, there is no one specific response that is to be expected from critical interpretation. While one may perceive an element of economic inequality that is associated with the Marxist theory, another reader may interpret the law as salvation. Furthermore the psychoanalytical critique is another great approach to interpreting Kafka’s work because this theory is defined as literature verifying what happens within reality. As a result, this theory can be well applied to the narrative because "Before the Law" can be considered as an allegory for the suffering one undergoes within life, and the desperation to achieve something that will never be attainable. This allegory verifies what occurs for many people in reality, always striving for perfection and success, whether in work or life, that will never be attainable. This endless pursuit is verified within the narrative, as the man wastes his entire life trying to gain entry based upon the false pretext of the gatekeeper telling him that entry “is possible, but not now” (Kafka). With all of this evidence, the psychoanalytic theory is an approach that is a just as convincing approach as the reader response view. While all the theories listed above are effective ways to attempt to understand the narrative and provide their own unique approach, one will never be able to truly criticize the law to the fullest extent, for there is a gatekeeper preventing each and every reader from accessing true knowledge, and that is Kafka himself.