We see Klamm's influence on K. in other ways. K. at one point reflects that no matter how powerful Klamm is in official circles, that power is as nothing compared with the power he has over K.'s bed. K. and Frieda meet through Klamm, but equally through the deprivation of Klamm their romance falls apart. Frieda in the school is a pale shadow of her former self, and K., as the Bridge Inn landlady foretold, starts to lose interest in Frieda when he loses interest in pursuing Klamm (who seems so far away when they are at the school).

When we consider also the influence of Klamm as K. analyses it with Gardena, it is clear that we are talking about a very powerful personal influence, the influence of love. This affects K. very much in his relationship with Frieda. The relationship withers when he and Frieda have been away from Klamm for some time; but it is Amalia who kills it.

She appears only briefly-the longest she is in the story for a continuous period is four pages-and yet her effect on K. is decisive. K. goes to the Barnabas household to see if Barnabas is there with a message for him, but Amalia manages to keep him talking until Olga arrives. She asks first if he will wait for Olga, and then explains that she thinks that Olga is in love with him. When K. is doubtful, Amalia smiles, and then affirms her belief K. has really come not to check on some message from Barnabas but purely to see Olga.

This passage and a subsequent passage in which Amalia interrupts K. and Olga deep in conversation suggest that Amalia does not take interest in the Castle at all seriously and sees it as concealing a suppressed love for somebody else. She teases K. that "you wanted to go when you came and it's nearly ten now." Despite his protests he has remained there talking to Olga. She then tells a story which illustrates her view about 'interest in the Castle', about a young man whose obsession with it eventually turned out to be unrequited love for someone only vaguely connected. (But then this is the way that love operates.)

K. in fact stays up half the night talking to Olga. What Amalia says would therefore appear to be true. Whether it is completely true is a different matter: although K. does spend time with Olga, he does not return and does not think of her afterwards as he does of Frieda. This is a fear Olga has expressed. But Amalia has nevertheless managed to bring them together, she has softened K. up enough so that this does happen. It is down to her influence, to her talking about love. So in fact it is the influence of love, again.

But Amalia accomplishes something more. She has told K. that she was against his being taken to the Herrenhof, and that she thinks little of his betrothal to Frieda: she clearly does not see Frieda as being right for K., and brings his relationship with her to an end. It is because of Amalia that Frieda leaves K. and runs off with Jeremiah. Because she detains him, because he talks all night to Olga, she finishes it.

It is possible that Amalia fancies K. herself. She speaks for longer to him than she has spoken in three years to her family, her tone of voice in conversation with him is always flirtatious, teasing and deliberately contrary. At one point she says, "Well don't let me disturb you..." At another she accepts an invitation to visit K. and Frieda. Then she says, "Well go back to your young lady..."

In a subtle way she influences him. He defends her to Frieda later, in the Herrenhof corridor, saying that she kept herself reserved and that he was grateful to her for her reserve. In doing so, in that casual remark he may even be helping the family. K. at one point expresses to Olga his belief that she wants him to change Frieda's view of Amalia, perhaps because it was Frieda who first spread the story. Frieda is indeed shocked that he speaks of Amalia as reserved, but it is possible that she may be influenced by K.'s spirited defence.

In the corridor K. and Frieda enjoy a moment of love together such as they have not experienced at any point in their relationship. This may be due again to Amalia's influence, her indirect influence as much as her direct. Even without being fully aware of it (and need he be?) K. has heard the story of someone rejecting a brutal offer of love because of her conception of what love should be; in consequence he has more of an idea of it, it affects him more. It is ironic that they experience love only when the relationship is over and cannot be revived. (But then this is another indefinite thing that K. can actually have!) This happens, incidentally, when K. has gone back to the Herrenhof despite Amalia's attitude to him going there the first time.

It is interesting how K. defends Amalia despite completely misunderstanding her. As he leaves the family he considers that of the two it is Olga he prefers, with her bravery and prudence, overlooking Amalia's spiritual qualities, courage and wisdom. Olga's narrative is extremely unreliable, based on gossip and hearsay. She regards Sortini as being more retiring than Sordini, because she saw Sortini "only once", whereas Sordini is "often mentioned". Clearly she hasn't seen Sordini. (And if he is often mentioned, that might imply that he is not doing his job very well.)

At certain points even K. becomes aware of holes in Olga's narrative, although because of her comfortingness she is able to make him ignore these. At the end of the narrative he correctly observes that Barnabas seems to him to have been carrying messages longer than a week (which is all the time he has been in the village), and indeed Olga's history of the torments of her family over the messages suggest a protracted period and more than the two K. has actually received. At certain points, as with the Bridge Inn landlady, K. makes pertinent points which are ignored, such as what Olga wants from him. Her account of her family's tribulations, while undoubtedly true in essence, suffers from one fatal flaw, her own inability to come to terms with what Amalia has done and acknowledge her own jealousy and guilt.

K. asks at one point, "Do you, her own sister, suggest that Amalia should have run to the Herrenhof after Sortini?" Olga of course assures him that she does not, and in the point she is making clearly does not say that; but in reality that thought does hang over what she is saying, however much she may deny it to herself, because she herself would have run to the Herrenhof, and would have given anything to have the opportunity Amalia had (an opportunity perhaps too great to be made use of). Her jealousy can be seen in her crying over the way Amalia looks, prompting the Bridge Inn landlady to give her the garnet necklace. Giving the necklace to Amalia undoubtedly removes the jealousy she feels, but a trace remains. Olga does not have the same self-mastery. This is not to say that she does not also love her sister.

But however guilty Frieda may be of spreading the news about the incident with the messenger, Olga is nevertheless the root of misperception of Amalia. The letter from Sortini she describes in the following roundabout and misleading way: "Anyone who didn't know Amalia and saw the letter would consider a girl who could be written to like that as dishonoured, even if no one had laid a finger on her." K. asks later, why should a letter from Sortini shame Amalia forever? The answer is that it didn't. Olga is simply describing the impression of Amalia a stranger would have who saw the letter addressed to her. But it is easier to take one's own shame, one's own inaction, which Amalia's action would remind one of, and blame Amalia for it. All you have to do is believe that somehow, by Castle magic perhaps, the letter shamed Amalia, even though she had not done anything to be shamed by.

The relationship between Amalia and Sortini is a matter of endless speculation. But what we know of Sortini and the letter comes from Olga. Its contents are not necessary dirty or sordid. Olga is shocked about it, but all that she says about the language is that it is the 'vilest' ('gemeinste'). This could simply be a description of administrative language being used in a love letter. The fragment that she quotes from it implies that what was offensive about it was an inappropriate harshness of tone: "See that you come at once or else-!"

What does Amalia think about Sortini? The view of Olga and her family is that the sight of Amalia distracted Sortini in his work, with the result that he wrote the letter. The letter is an attempt to bury his love in work, in his writing. But Amalia's view becomes clear from what she says to K. about his interest in the Castle. She sees interest in the Castle as being used to conceal love for another person. She thinks that Sortini was in love with her but concealed this love in an interest in the Castle. That is why she sent the letter. Her disillusionment and cynicism are directed against the Castle, not against anything spiritual. As we have already seen, she affirms the value of love. That is the secret her sad smile reveals. It is possible that she still loves Sortini.

Set up March 1999

Last updated 08 March 1999

© R. Millar 1999