The Superintendent tells K. in effect that everything on which he has so far placed his hopes is futile. It is not certain that a land surveyor has been summoned, and the Superintendent refuses to reveal whether a decision has even been taken over the question of summoning a land surveyor. The letter from Klamm has no official and only a personal significance. The telephone does not offer a true connection. Schwarzer is the son of one of the under-castellans, and a person of no importance. It all seems calculated to make K. give up, and yet he seems to become more dedicated to his task in spite of it. In a later, more direct attempt to reach the Castle K. seems quite happy and has lost none of his resolve. He at no time becomes disillusioned. That is partly because in attempting to undermine all K.'s hopes the Superintendent reveals the extent to which they have any kind of basis in reality. In giving K. something to resist the Superintendent gives K. the one thing he really wants, an opportunity to continue playing the game. It is not so much fun if he can't feel deprived of his rights.

When K. goes into the courtyard to intercept Klamm, he is pursuing his struggle, his game with the authorities by more direct means than he has done previously. On the previous occasion when he was close to Klamm, when Frieda allowed him to spy on the secretary through a peep-hole, one feels that he could have rushed in and confronted Klamm in his room. Undoubtedly such a move would have its pitfalls: Frieda would not have been impressed; Klamm is in fact asleep as it transpires; and to surprise a secretary in the middle of the night requires as Bürgel implies a degree of innocence, of accident, about it, which K. would not have possessed were he to do it deliberately. But as a reader one does feel frustrated.

Here the same frustration occurs. Both in K.'s waiting for Klamm, who elects not to emerge, and in the subsequent confrontation with Momus, which ends when K. walks out with apparently no desire to fill in a protocol, the reader is deprived of the opportunity to see K. making some headway with the Castle. Indeed in both cases it is K. who brings the impasse to an end, wilfully.

The interview with Momus is the peak of K.'s achievement with the Castle while he is living in the school with Frieda. As he is going home afterwards he meets Barnabas, who comes bearing the second letter from Klamm, the letter which undermines all K.'s hopes by confirming that Klamm is satisfied with the work he has so far done. K. has not in fact done any work.

There is a simple explanation for this, which goes back to the Superintendent's explanation of how the hiring of a Land Surveyor became such a burning issue. In an administration like the Castle it is likely that if it were possible that a Land Surveyor might be hired, letters would be drafted to welcome the new Land Surveyor, and to congratulate him on the work he had so far done. These would be form letters, written in advance to save time. Thus the second letter is the next one on the list. The fact that K. has not done any work so far is irrelevant. The administration would not want to concern itself with the land-surveying work, which it would consider K.'s province. The administration would want to exhort K. in the work it would presume he has done. Likewise K.'s extensive analysis of the first letter misses the point that that is probably a form letter too. The Superintendent's description of it is perfectly justified.

There is the question of why the Castle sends K. those letters. The way K. sees it, it would be part of the game that he and the Castle are playing. The second letter has been sent to highlight how little work K. has done, to hint by means of irony that he is not a true land surveyor, but I suspect that that is to read more into it than is actually there. As K. decides after his meeting with Erlanger, the system carries on regardless of him. If anything the sending of the second letter is a continuation of the face the Castle has already shown him, which he is left to take as he will. It is up to him to act for himself.

The Erlanger meeting shows what is at the root of the frustration of The Castle; K. could feel frustrated by it, but he immediately dismisses it from his mind. He experiences the feeling of futility, and after this point speaks and thinks of the Castle no more. The Castle doesn't need him, but neither does he need the Castle.

In The Castle everything that is set up is taken away later. Nothing is set up that is not taken away. One of the best examples occurs in K.'s conversation with Olga about Barnabas's messages. In most areas where K. has had reason to believe he had some substantial contact with the Castle he has been disappointed. Two points remain: the fact that K. has seen Klamm, and the fact that he has contact with him via Barnabas. Olga proceeds to undermine both of these. Klamm's appearance is not definite at all but a matter of debate and conjecture. There is one aspect only on which all observers are agreed, his coat. Likewise Barnabas speaks to Klamm, but isn't certain that it is indeed Klamm he speaks to. It could be someone else who resembles Klamm, it is probably some humble functionary whom Barnabas simply assumes is Klamm.

After this K. has no definite links with the Castle. But in the meantime he has become increasingly involved in the affairs of the village, and he is at this minute sitting with Olga, talking about her family and getting further involved. He cannot have anything definite, whatever he has that is definite he loses, but he can have things which are indefinite. Not the indefinite hope of a protocol with which he is teased in the interview with Momus and the landlady, but the indefinite things that can be found in normal human relations, personal links, being part of a community, trust.

So although there is a constant process of frustration that goes on with K., he is frustrated only in relation to his struggle with the Castle, of which he eventually tires. Inside the frustration actual fulfilment can be found.

Set up 14 December 1998

Last updated 08 March 1999

© R. Millar 1999