The Trial [Naxos AudioBooks] characters

Appears from the start

A senior bank clerk who is arrested on his thirtieth birthday without being told what offense he has committed. He is permitted to continue his ordinary life while an inaccessible court pursues the case, and he initially treats the proceeding as an absurd mistake he can master.

Appears from the start

K.'s landlady, who respects his position and attempts to explain away the disturbance caused by his arrest. Her concern for the boarding house's propriety leads to tension when she comments on another lodger.

Appears from the start

A young typist who lodges in the room used by the arresting officials. K. waits for her return so that he can describe and reenact the morning's intrusion, drawing her into his agitation about the case.

Appears from the start

One of the two warders who enter K.'s bedroom and announce his arrest. He and Willem behave more like opportunistic functionaries than conventional police, taking K.'s breakfast and inspecting his clothes.

Appears from the start

A warder who helps detain K. and insists that the officials need not explain the charge. Along with Franz, he represents the low-level personnel of a system whose authority is assumed rather than clarified.

First appears in chapter 2

The official who conducts K.'s first hearing in a crowded tenement room. His uncertain authority and reliance on a notebook deepen K.'s conviction that the court is disorganized and corrupt.

First appears in chapter 6

K.'s excitable uncle from the country, who learns of the case and fears that it will disgrace the family. He takes K. to an advocate believed to possess useful court connections.

Also known as Dr. Huld

First appears in chapter 6

An ailing advocate who handles cases before the secretive court and claims access to its officials. K.'s uncle retains him in the hope that personal influence will succeed where ordinary legal procedure cannot.

First appears in chapter 6

Huld's nurse, who quickly takes a personal interest in K. She is familiar with accused men and with the court's influence, offering K. intimacy and an alternative channel into the advocate's world.

First appears in chapter 7

A painter who produces conventional portraits for court officials and has inherited privileged knowledge of its lower ranks. He explains the limited outcomes an accused person can pursue, none of which amounts to a definitive acquittal.

First appears in chapter 8

A merchant whose long-running court case has consumed his business, independence, and dignity. He is another client of Huld and demonstrates to K. how completely an accused person can become dependent on an advocate.

Also known as The Prison Chaplain

First appears in chapter 9

A clergyman attached to the prison who summons K. inside the cathedral. He knows the status of the case and uses a parable about a man seeking access to the law to challenge K.'s understanding of the court.