Kafka's Before The Law

Kafka’s work, Before the Law, follows the life of a man attempting to gain access to ‘the Law.’ In his endeavor, the man finds his passage to ‘The Law’ blocked by a doorkeeper. The story continues as the man wastes away in front of the door, never attempting to pass through the gate, and constantly requesting the doorkeeper’s permission to enter. Kafka’s work is trying to show that to pass through the gate one must have the willpower to ignore obstacles and try. He shows how without the willpower to attempt to pass through one will die without knowing whether one could accomplish this goal. The man, lacking the courage to question the doorkeeper’s statement, sits and waits. He loses his worldly possessions, his physical and mental attributes,

After asking if he may enter the doorkeeper responds by saying, “It is possible… but not at the moment” (Kafka 1). For one instance in the story, we see the man question the doorkeeper’s statement. Although the doorkeeper has told him that admittance at this point is impossible in the man’s proceeding actions the reader sees that he has not fully accepted this statement, “the man stoops to peer through the gateway into the interior” (Kafka 1). Here the man displays a willpower to question the claims made by the doorkeeper. The man wishes to see for himself if the doorkeeper’s statements are true, in this instance, we see a small display of independent willpower. Sadly this trait is soon lost following the doorkeeper’s next comment. Noticing the man’s attempt to look through the gate the doorkeeper says, “If you are so drawn to it, just try to go in despite my veto. But take note: I am powerful. And I am only the least of the doorkeepers. From hall to hall there is one doorkeeper after another, each more powerful than the last.” (Kafka 1). This threat from the doorkeeper causes the man to hesitate and his willpower to waver, Kafka shows this change in the man’s resolve when he writes, “these are difficulties the man from the country has not expected” (Kafka 1). The supposed danger the doorkeeper and the subsequent doorkeepers presents cause the man to pauses and question his courage. Quickly, following this threat, the man redirects his attention back to the doorkeeper and now, “He now takes a closer look at the doorkeeper in his fur coat, with his big sharp nose and long, thin, black tartar beard, he decides that it is better to wait until he gets permission to enter” (Kafka 1). This is the transformative moment for the man. In this instance, with his willpower wavering following the revelation of the