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Who Is Fraulein Burstner's Disappearance?

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Beginning and ending K.’s trial with the appearance of Fraulein Burstner suggests her involvement in his sentence. Fraulein Burstner is the hidden judge who convicts K. Like the other women, she instills a false sense of security in K. by saying she recently got a job as a “secretary in a law firm” (Kafka 29). However, not only is her interest in politics peculiar, but her refusal or ‘inability’ to help K. in his trial suggest his unalterable fate. She serves as a witness and a victim to his actions. Arguably, his sexual enforcement could be viewed as the first incriminating act in his case. Even more, her disappearance throughout the rest of the novel until the end, suggest she remains an observer. After his failure to resist the court usher’s Wife and Leni, she reappears the moment he is being dragged away by two men. …show more content…

While it is never clear what her significance was, it can be argued that seeing her “forced [him] to concern himself directly with himself, his past and its justification” (Low 149). She leads him to where he will die, and when he decides to diverge from her path demonstrates his acceptance of his fate. Fraulein Burstner appearing at the last moments of the novel suggests “she might be acting for the court in leading the procession” (Boa 186). As she and other women have seen K. unable to resist their temptations, he further guilts and shames himself in his trial. She proclaims him guilty as K. his shameful execution, with the evidence pointing towards the women who enabled his

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