Unjust Judicial System or Hierarchical Society ("Before the Law" Reading)

Stephanie Brand

“Before the Law” by Franz Kafka is a story about a man who is trying to gain access to the law, but is stopped by a gatekeeper. The man only learns, as he lays dying, that the gate he has spent all his years waiting to be allowed through was his, and his alone. This is why he never came across anyone else in all his years of waiting. The question remains: is the man forced to wait because of the rigid boundaries of social class; or, due to an uncaring judicial system? While both readings do work, neglect of the individual caused by a corrupt system provides a more convincing reading than one based solely on the constructs of social class.

As soon as the story begins, there are hints, in regard, to social class. The main character, the man, is described as being from the country. This would imply that he is from a lower class. Meanwhile, the gatekeeper is described as having “…[a] fur coat, at his large pointed nose and his long, thin, black Tartar’s beard” (Kafka). All of this serves to create a power imbalance between the man and the gatekeeper, which may explain the man’s compliance to the gatekeeper’s demands that he not proceed through the gate without express permission. This power imbalance is also never remedied throughout the story. As the man is dying, he asks the gatekeeper a final question. The gatekeeper is described as having to “bend way down to him, for the great difference has changed things to the disadvantage of the man” (Kafka). Again, this is another instance of the gatekeeper being shown as a greater presence than the man, albeit literally this time. All of this goes to show that the man is denied access to the law because he is lesser and, therefore, in the eyes of a class-based society, does not deserve to receive access to the law, or, at least, not in a timely manner. 

However, this reading does not work perfectly and does have one big problem: the man has his own gate. It is implied, throughout the story, that the man is of a lower social class. In the terms of a class-based society, this means that he is lesser and does not get the right to be treated as an individual. Yet, the gatekeeper claims, “‘Here no one else can gain entry, since this entrance was assigned only to you’” (Kafka). Someone from as low a class as the man would never receive his own gate into the law because a society like this would not view him as an individual. Instead, he would be viewed as a group and treated as such. There should be many individuals waiting with the man who are all trying to get through, but there are not. Hence, a reading of this nature cannot be used to fully decipher this story.

On the other hand, a reading based off the neglect of the individual by an unjust court system can fully explain all the aspects of this story. When the man arrives at the gate of law, it is open and it remains open for all his years of waiting, yet he is continuously denied access to pass through the gate. Considering there are multiple gates and he never makes it past the first one, essentially he never made it past the front door. The implication is that the law could help him, the gates are not shut, but chooses not to. The man realizes this unjustness early on in the story as he thinks,“the law should always be accessible for everyone” (Kafka). Technically, the law is accessible to him, the gates are not closed, but he is not permitted to enter. No matter how hard he begs, the gatekeeper will not yield. He is ignored; in fact, his story, the reason why he is seeking the law, is never revealed. The gatekeeper questions him, but only about his background not his problem because the gatekeeper, like the system denying the man his justice, does not care. The man must wait for years until this corrupt judicial system decides that he is worth the effort. In the case of the man, that is never and he dies without ever getting what he came for originally. 

No one reading is perfect, but an approach that looks at the hierarchal society presented in “Before the Law” cannot explain every aspect of the story.

(750 words)