Differences in Class or Differences in Mind? : Kafka’s “Before the Law”

Our group believes that Kafka’s “Before the Law” pivots about the concept of interactions between different social classes, conforming to the Marxist literary criticism. Kafka’s audience can see that the immigrating man, upon arrival to the gate, is asked to gain entry to the law. The man expects an easy entry, as he believes that “the law should always be accessible for everyone” (Kafka 1) However, the gatekeeper denies him access, belittling the man as he “(bent) over in order to see through the gate into the inside” (Kafka 1). Subsequent to the denial of entry, the man decides to wait until he is granted permission to enter. However, the man only continues to age while the gatekeeper continues to exert his dominance by denying the man entry. Kafka’s audience can clearly see the power dynamic in play; the gatekeeper, of higher social class, has complete control over a person of a lower class. Kafka further plays into the social class idea with his use of certain details. Kafka describes the gatekeeper as one of prominence, who possessed a “fur coat, (a) large pointed nose, and (a) long, thin, black Tartar’s beard” (Kafka 1). Upon analysis of these details, we can see the stark differences between the immigrating man and the gatekeeper. Kafka’s audience can insinuate towards the idea that differences in social class prompt such materialistic differences between the two men. The differences in social class feed into the gatekeeper’s dominance over the future of the man and his adamant want to dominate those of the lower social class. The Marxist literary approach fits well into the overall structure of the progression of this short story. 

However, prior to the group discussion, I approached Kafka’s “Before the Law” through a psychological approach. The psychological theory is based on Freudian thinking, which argued that our mind could be divided into conscious and unconscious components. However, Freud believed that humans “are often motivated most strongly by the unconscious.” (Gardner 171) Kafka’s short story depicts an immigrating man who is motivated to incessantly persuade the gatekeeper in order to gain entry into the law. Initially, the man tells himself that it would be better to wait until he got permission to go inside. Despite his attempt at self-persuasion, the man continues to persuade the gatekeeper to let him in. He sat there for days and years and made “many attempts to be let in, and he (wore) the gatekeeper out with his requests” (Kafka 1). He had “equipped himself with many things for his journey, (spending) everything, no matter how valuable, to win over the gatekeeper.” (Kafka 1) The man seems to fixate on one particular gatekeeper, as “he forgets the other gatekeepers, and this one (seemed) to him the only obstacle for entry into the law” (Kafka 1). The man’s fixation on gaining entry through one specific gatekeeper, with no apparent economic or external motivation to enter, insinuates towards the idea that the man’s unconscious is driving him to act in such a manner.


Kafka’s “Before the Law” conforms to the ideas that the Marxist Literary Approach presents holistically. From the exposition to the conclusion of the short story, power derived from differing social classes is a necessary component that drives the story. It is the gatekeeper’s power that prevents the man from entering the law as he continues to age; as the man reaches a point in his life where he cannot physically put up a fight anymore, the gatekeeper utilizes his power to state that “this entrance (that) was assigned only to you,” (Kafka 1) was now going to be closed. The psychological literary approach, however, is dependent on whether or not Kafka’s audience deem Freud’s claim regarding the role of the unconscious on human actions valid. If the audience holds that the unconscious plays a huge role in how humans act, we could argue that the unconscious of both the man attempting to enter the law and the gatekeeper’s unconscious is motivating them to act the way they do in the story. However, if the audience believes that it is another factor, and not the unconscious, that is motivating the two men to act this way, the psychological theory would be debunked as a whole. The Marxist Literary Approach, contrary to the psychological approach, does not possess any of the extremes. Marxism is derived from the differences of the members of differing social classes, which we clearly see between the gatekeeper and immigrating man before the law.