Josef K. – Hamlet in reverse: guilt, memory, and the loss of humanity in Franz Kafka’s “The Trial”

This article examines Franz Kafka’s novel The Trial through the lens of the intertwined concepts of guilt and memory. The primary focus is placed on the theme of forgetting as a catalyst for the protagonist’s dehumanization. The aim of the study is to interpret the metaphysical and religious aspects of guilt, positioning Joseph K. not merely as a subject of judicial persecution but as a symbolic representation of inner moral crisis. The methodology combines hermeneutic literary analysis, cultural studies, and intermedial references to cinema. Particular attention is paid to Biblical notions of sin, the Judaic understanding of guilt as a conscious act of memory, and the intertextual parallels with William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, where memory functions as an ethical imperative. The article also explores a comparative reading of Kafka’s novel alongside Steven Soderbergh’s film Bubbles (2005), where the protagonist’s loss of memory leads to moral collapse and emotional detachment. The analysis reveals that in The Trial, guilt does not require justification or evidence – its very existence stems from internal amnesia and self-alienation. The article argues that memory in Kafka’s narrative performs not only a cognitive but also an ethical function by maintaining the individual’s link to past responsibility and moral awareness. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of Kafka’s prose by highlighting how the dynamics of guilt and memory construct the existential framework of the text and determine the fate of the character.