The Trial [Alpha DVD] characters

Appears from the start

A senior clerk at a bank who is unexpectedly arrested in his boarding house on his thirtieth birthday. The officials refuse to identify a specific charge and allow him to continue his ordinary life while proceedings continue. Accustomed to professional competence and personal independence, K. initially treats the arrest as an absurd mistake that can be defeated by confidence and reason.

Appears from the start

The landlady of the boarding house where K. rents a room. She is attentive to appearances and household respectability, and she attempts to reassure K. after the arrest while also speculating about what sort of proceeding may have begun against him.

Appears from the start

A young typist who lodges in the same boarding house as K. Her room is used by the arresting officials without her permission, and K. waits up to explain the intrusion when she returns from the theatre.

Appears from the start

One of the two warders who enter K.'s room and announce his arrest. Franz behaves with the casual assurance of a low-ranking official who expects obedience even though he cannot explain the charge or the authority behind it.

Appears from the start

A warder assigned with Franz to supervise K.'s arrest. He helps consume K.'s breakfast and offers vague advice about accepting the process, while insisting that officials at his level do not know the substance of a case.

Appears from the start

The official who briefly oversees K.'s arrest from Fräulein Bürstner's room. He confirms that K. is under arrest but free to go to the bank, offering neither a charge nor a useful explanation of what will follow.

First appears in chapter 2

The official presiding over K.'s first inquiry in a crowded room hidden inside a tenement. He rebukes K. for arriving late and attempts to conduct the hearing from a notebook whose authority K. openly challenges.

First appears in chapter 2

A woman who lives with her husband in the room used for K.'s inquiry and clears it for court sessions. She describes the attentions forced on her by a student and the examining magistrate, then offers to help K. because she has access to the magistrate's books.

First appears in chapter 6

K.'s uncle from the country, who comes to the city after learning of the case. Alarmed about the family's reputation, he treats the accusation as a grave practical danger and insists on taking K. to an experienced advocate.

Also known as The Advocate

First appears in chapter 6

A bedridden lawyer retained by K. through Uncle Karl. Huld claims long experience and useful personal contacts within the court, but explains the case through obscure procedures and private influence rather than a clear plan K. can evaluate.

First appears in chapter 6

Dr. Huld's nurse, who quickly takes a personal interest in K. She seems familiar with accused men and with the informal life surrounding the court, and offers K. affection and assistance while his uncle and the lawyer discuss the case.

First appears in chapter 7

A painter who produces portraits for court officials and has inherited his position from his father. Recommended to K. by a bank client, Titorelli lives beside court offices and claims practical knowledge of the limited outcomes available to an accused person.

First appears in chapter 8

A grain merchant and another of Dr. Huld's clients. His case has continued for years and has consumed his business, money, and dignity. He waits at the lawyer's house like a servant and tries to obtain information from several minor advocates as well.

Also known as The Prison Chaplain

First appears in chapter 9

A priest whom K. encounters alone in the cathedral after a business appointment fails to occur. He calls K. by name from the pulpit, identifies himself as a prison chaplain, and speaks to him about the direction of his case.

First appears in chapter 10

Two formally dressed men who arrive at K.'s lodging on the eve of his thirty-first birthday. They take charge of him without presenting any final judgment and lead him through the quiet city.