Totalitarianism and Dystopia in Franz Kafka’s ‘The Trial’

This research paper focuses on examining the totalitarian and dystopian system of the court in Franz Kafka's ‘The Trial'. The main character Joseph K. feels impotent and helpless to defend himself or prove his innocence in a powerful and corrupt court against an unspecified crime. Kafka presents the court as an organization that has absolute authority and views members of society as worthless. The iron grip of the legal system in Kafka's narrative aims at restricting the freedom of people rather than protecting them, and influential court officials are not accessible or accountable. The corruption of the court agents can be viewed in the fact that they do not work as law-enforcers, but rather as criminals who steal and accept bribes. The terrifying death of Joseph K. at the hands of merciless executioners by getting stabbed in the heart in an isolated quarry represents the tyranny and surreal world of the court and destroys any possibility of justice.