In Franz Kafka’s The Trial, the protagonist, Josef K., encounters several women who he has power over, and several men, who have power over him. This shows that Kafka’s idea of women is that they are on the bottom rung of society, that even the lowest of men has dominance over women. Josef K. rents a room from a woman named Frau Grubach. She regards him as one her favorite tenants, and
Elsa
K. paid a weekly visit to a young woman named Elsa, who worked at night and late into the morning as a waitress in a wine house, and by day received visitors only in bed,” (20)
Fräulein Bürstner
“ ‘I find it odd,’ said Fräulein Bürstner, ‘to be forced to forbid you to do something your own conscience should forbid, namely, to enter my room when I’m away’ “. (28)
“ ‘You had to shout so! That makes me very unhappy.’ ‘There’s no reason to be,’ said K. and kissed her on the forehead as she sank back upon the cushion. ‘Go, go,’ she said, and quickly straightened up again, ‘go on, go away. What do you want...You’re tormenting me!’ ‘I’m not going...until you’ve calmed down a bit’” (32)
“ ‘Frau Grubach...practically worships me, and believes anything I say. She’s beholden to me in another way too, since she’s borrowed a large sum from me....You needn’t spare me in any way. If you want it spread around that I assaulted you, that’s what Frau Grubach will be told and what she will believe, without losing confidence in me, that’s how devoted she is to me.’ ” (32) he can do anything he wants to Fräulein Bürstner and it will be ok with Frau Grubach
“‘I’m surprised you don’t realize the insult to me implicit in your suggestions, along, of course with your good intentions, which I certainly recognize. But go now, leave me to myself, I need that more than ever now...’ K. seized her by the hand and then by the wrist: ‘You’re not mad at me, are you?’ She pushed his hand away and answered: ‘No, no, I never get angry at anyone.’ He reached for her wrist again, she allowed it now and led him to the door.” (33) after insulting her, he forces contact with her
“K rushed out, seized her, kissed her on the mouth, then all over her face, like a thirsty animal lapping greedily at a spring it has found at last. Then he kissed her on the neck, right at her throat, and left his lips there for a long time...he wanted to call Fräulein Bürstner by name, but he didn’t know it. She nodded wearily, allowed him to take her hand for a kiss as she was already half turned away, as if she were unaware of it, and entered her room with bowed head.” (33)
“half turned away” as if she doesn’t care what he is doing, or just wants to get away “with bowed head” indicating shame or indifference
Court usher’s wife
“ ‘I may not be tempting in general, but I am to him. There’s no way to protect myself, even my husband has finally come to terms with it; he has to put up with it if he wants to keep his job, because the man involved is a student and will presumably become even more powerful,’ ” (56) men in this society are more powerful than women, men involved in the courts are more powerful than everyone
“ ‘She’s offering herself to me; she’s depraved, like everyone else around here, she’s had her fill of court officials, which is understandable, so she accosts any stranger who comes along with a compliment about his eyes,’ ”. (57/58)
after saying that she can’t have any impact on his trial “ ‘You’re part of the group I have to fight, but you’re quite comfortable around them; you even love the student, or if you don’t love him, you at least prefer him to your husband,’ ” (59) he misjudges her
“ ‘Don’t be angry with me, please, please don’t, and don’t think badly of me; I have to go with him now, to this horrible man...But I’ll come right back, and then I’ll go with you; if you’ll take me along, I’ll go anywhere you wish, you can do with me what you like, I’ll be happy to get out of here for as long as I can, the best of course would be forever,’ ” (61) he wants to take her, as revenge on the examining magistrate
“...he [the student] drew even closer to the woman and put his arms around her. Se lowered her head as if she were listening closely to him, and he kissed her loudly on the neck as she leaned over...” (62) K saw this as “confirmation of the tyranny the student exercised over the woman” (62). The student says “If you’re impatient, why don’t you leave? You could have left even earlier, no one would have missed you. In fact you should have left the moment I arrived, and as quickly as possible’ ” (62/63). When K. tries to get the woman back from the student, the student “lifted her in one arm and ran to the door, his back bent, gazing up at her tenderly...stroking and squeezing the woman’s arm with his free hand” (63). The woman tells K that “ ‘it’s no use [to try to save her], the examining magistrate has sent for [her]...this little monster won’t let [her] go’ ”(63)
Leni
“I recruit women helpers, he thought, almost amazed: first Fräulein Bürstner, then the court usher’s wife, and now this little nurse, who seems to have and inexplicable desire for me. The way she’s sitting on my lap, as if it were the only proper place for her!” (107)
“ ‘She’s very tightly laced,’ said Leni, and pointed to the spot where, in her opinion, this was evident. ‘I don’t like her, she’s clumsy and rough. But perhaps she’s kind and gentle with you, you could gather that from looking at the picture. Big strong girls like that often don’t know how to be anything but kind and gentle. But would she sacrifice herself for you?’ ‘No,’ K. said, ‘she’s neither kind and gentle, nor would she sacrifice herself for me. But so far I haven’t demanded either of her. I’ve never even examined the picture as closely as you have.’ ‘So you don’t care that much about her,’ said Leni, ‘she’s not really your sweetheart.’ ‘Oh yes,’ said K., ‘I won’t take back what I said.’ ‘Well she may be your sweetheart now,’ said Leni, ‘but you wouldn’t miss her much if you lost her, or traded her for someone else—me, for example.’” (107/108) women often talk badly about one another
“ ‘Does she have a physical defect of any sort?’ ‘A physical defect?’ asked K. ‘Yes,’ said Leni, ‘I have a slight defect of that sort, look.’ She spread apart the middle and ring fingers on her right hand, between which the connecting skin extended almost to the top knuckle of her short fingers...‘What a whim of nature,’ K. said...‘What a pretty claw!’” (108)
