An Approach to Psychosis: A Psychoanalytical Reading of Franz Kafka’s The Trial

Abstract

Kafka’s The Trial (1925) provides an intricate narrative, it is enriched with complex feelings and perceptions that are difficult to grasp. Most of Kafka’s works allows the readers to experience states and feelings that go far beyond their normal understanding. Even though this text mainly focuses on the dystopian and totalitarian system of the court, it can also be viewed under a psychoanalytical lens. It narrates the story of Josef K., a bank clerk who’s arrested in a very abrupt manner without any predisposition. He’s never enlightened about the true nature of his crime. As K. tries to unfold the labyrinthine network of bureaucratic traps he slips into a state of complete delusion. This paper is an attempt to inquire as to how The Trial shows the crisis of a modern man in a dystopian world altogether leading him into a state of psychosis. This paper further argues as to how the main character of this text, Josef K. subverts the Cartesian position of being “I think therefore I am” with his constant attempt at making sense of his state as he tries to abject his superego. In the course of the paper through a detailed analysis it shall bring forth instances to appropriate the reason for Josef K.’s psychosis. It will further try to draw a parallel between his psyche and chaos by proving how he tries to conceal his logical inconsistency by presenting himself as someone who is rational and in order while lurking behind it is his pathological illness i.e disorder within order.