Author(s): Barbita Ghosh

Abstract: This paper aims to posit the absurdity with which Franz Kafka has treated the element of Law and Justice in The Trial. It is through the character of Josef K., the protagonist, that one comes across the fragility of a citizen’s fundamental human rights and how one tragically succumbs to the inevitable trial and execution implemented by the bizarre judicial system. This paper piles up instances from the novel to validate its argument questioning the dysfunctionality of the jurisprudence: the baselessness of the arrest of Josef K., the unprofessional conduct of the court, the adulterous approach of the worker-lady in the court and, the ultimate execution of the accused. Josef K. being trapped in a labyrinthine network of bureaucratic traps, a Kafkaesque representation; this paper aims at exploring the totalitarian state of the novel’s setting and parodies the dark legal system that navigates throughout the novel leading to the transformation of the trials into a judgement. The existential misfortune to which all humans are destined, the inescapable suffering, brings out the absurd element of the novel.

Keywords: Absurdity, Law, labyrinthine, bureaucratic, Kafkaesque, totalitarian.

Article Info: Received: 17 Jun 2024; Received in revised form: 19 Jul 2024; Accepted: 27 Jul 2024; Available online: 03 Aug, 2024

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.94.24