In The Trial, although it is not torture in
the usual sense of the word, K is clearly being psychologically “tortured”
through this trial. Like we have talked about in class, the idea of power and control is a key part of
torture. During this torture of K, many
people hold power over him: the court itself, the judges and other court
officials, his uncle in a way, his lawyer, and various other people he meets in
certain senses. Throughout the story, K
is controlled by these various powerful characters and spends much of his time
trying to gain his own power and wrest control over his life from them.
One of the
recurring themes throughout the story is that of Josef K having sex or trying
to with just about every woman he encounters, whether they be his neighbor,
random women at the court or his lawyer’s maid.
This can be viewed as a component, whether subliminal or intentional, of
K’s attempts to gain power. Within the
court, many of the women sleep with many of the judges, thus attempting to gain
power for themselves through their connections.
Similarly, K is possibly trying to gain some sort of influence with the
higher powers of the court through sleeping with these women who have
connections with said higher powers. In
addition, sex is one of the few things K has control over in his life, and he
enjoys the feeling of being in power over these women, even if it is for a
limited amount of time. However, given
the way many of these women approach him, the question can be asked that is he
really as much in control of his sexual life as he thinks?
Great point about K's attempt to gain power through his sexual encounters! One could also argue that it was also a great contributor to his guilt. I like the question you presented at the end of your blog post. K might think he is in control of his sexual life but it seems more like the women are the ones who have control over him. He is being pulled in both directions, like a game of tug-of-war; on one side K is being formed by powerful men, and on the other side K is being weakened by alluring women.
ReplyDeleteK seems the tihnk he is gaining influence by associating with these women of the court, but it seems to me that he is only being dragged further in to the courts. The priest points out that K is harming his trial by seeking help from these women, and I agree as he is making himself more and more at the whims of the court. The women tell him what to do, and he ends up following these women around when they are at the beck and call of the courts, making him at the beck and call of the courts.
ReplyDeleteK's relationship with the women is the same as his relationship with the court. He believes he is in control while in truth he is insidiously misled and manipulated. Both powerful unseen men and women have more control over him than he would admit. I would say K seeks to gain power through his sexual encounters, even at the expense of compromising his trial and sentencing, simply because power has been taken from him by members of the court and upholders of the law.
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