Critical Analysis of Franz Kafka's "Before The Law"

Majid Firoozi

ENL-10C

4-16-18

Blog Post #1

        The critical approach that my group and I felt was most relevant in the short story, “Before the Law” by Franz Kafka was the Marxist criticism. We felt that this was the proper perspective to analyze this text with because of the clear social divisions as well as the way Kafka uses power or “the law” as the primary motive. The interactions amongst the characters who carry distinct different socioeconomic backgrounds, along with the way in which a constant struggle for power is presented in the text covers the very essence of what the Marxist approach is. This short story exhibits these Marxist ideals precisely as a poor countryman encounters the gatekeeper of “The Law”. The countryman is willing to do anything, from selling all his possessions, to patiently waiting for years to be able to attain this law. The Law itself possesses a very abstract identity but nonetheless has a very desirable nature. We as readers can’t help but acknowledge the hierarchy presented in the story as the gatekeeper and the countryman represent two distinct social classes. The gatekeeper was described briefly in the text as “the gatekeeper in his fur coat, at his large pointed nose and his long, thin, black Tartar’s beard beard….” (Kafka). The way in which the gatekeeper is described so elegantly creates the notion that he is of greater class than the countryman. His superiority is later proven as he continually rejects the countryman’s access to the law. All in all, the Marxist approach encourages the reader to analyze portions of a story as such, and to be able to recognize the social and economic influences that are present in a text. 

        Another very effective critical approach in analyzing this text is through psychological theories. This criticism focuses on the internal mental states of literary characters. This approach encompasses the motivations, desires, and the overall psychological development of the characters within a text. As mentioned prior, the country man desires the Law which is the most obvious motivation of story, but the way that he grows delirious and somewhat insane as the story progresses is important to recognize while utilizing this approach. This overwhelming desire leads to the countryman’s downfall as he begins having a battle with his sanity. When the country man first encounters the gatekeeper, he easily succumbs to his power for reasons that aren’t quite clear. Whether he was frightened, insecure, or just felt inferior to the gatekeeper, he told himself that patience was perhaps the only path to the law. As time passes and still no entry to the law, the countryman's desperation leads to irrational decision making. In hopes of winning over the gatekeeper, “The man, who has equipped himself with many things for his journey, spends everything, no matter how valuable, to win over the gatekeeper” (Kafka). Bribing the gatekeeper to the point where he was left with nothing was the first signification the country mans mental breakdown. As the story progresses the countryman’s mental instability intensifies as it mentions that he “grows old, he still mumbles to himself. He becomes childish and, since in the long years studying the gatekeeper he has come to know the fleas in his fur collar, he even asks the fleas to help him persuade the gatekeeper” (Kafka). This is where we are able to see the countryman’s internal conflict and how this obsession he has with the law is contributing to this mental breakdown. As the story comes to an end and the countryman takes his last breath still at the entry of the gate. Not only his death but the internal conflict that the country man had prior to his death encompasses what the psychological approach encourages the reader to acknowledge. 

        Both of these critical approaches can be utilized in gathering a deeper understanding of the text, but I feel that the psychological theory is a better suited approach. The marxist approach undoubtedly holds very true to the text, as the social divide is one of the most evident qualities of the story itself, but the psychological theory allows us as readers to better understand the characters and their development. The Marxist approach focuses on the various elements of the story and how there is a social and hierarchical influence. This approach doesn’t have much to do with the development of the story itself, rather it touches on the reasoning behind the occurances of the text. It is not necessarily an interactive or very thought provoking approach. As for the psychological theory, it allows the reader to dive deep into the minds of the characters themselves and observe how they develop in the story. Throughout the story we are able to apply this approach very easily because the bulk of the text is devoted to internal conflict the countryman has with himself. The marxist approach isn’t as easily applicable to the text because it simply doesn’t cover as much of the text as the psychological approach does. The entirety of the text is drawn towards the countryman’s mental breakdown and his underwhelming journey towards the law, which is why the psychological theory poses as a much more relevant and important perspective to analyze this text from.