The Law as Absurdity and Study of Legal Alienation and Bureaucratic Oppression in Kafka’s The Trial

Abstract

Franz Kafka’s The Trial explores the nightmarish experience of an individual entangled in a faceless, incomprehensible judicial system. The Trial is a haunting exploration of the modern legal system's potential for alienation, absurdity, and bureaucratic dehumanization. It is describe the picture of a society where laws are unknowable and justice is an illusion and the crushing weight of bureaucratic
systems, offering insights into Kafka’s prophetic vision of institutional horror and existential despair. This paper examines how Kafka uses absurdity, bureaucracy, and the psychological torment of the protagonist, Josef K., to critique blind legal systems and expose the dehumanizing effects of modern justice.