A Psychological Perspective on Judgement in Franz Kafka’s “The Judgement”

Abstract

Suicide is the final defence and lasting solution for people who find that all other resources have failed them. People who suicide sometimes relate that harm to themselves is tantamount to harm to others who made them choose it. This may be translated into direct action, such as what occurs in homicide-suicide tragedies involving family members or lovers. Although suicide is a personal choice, which is driven by personal feelings, it is certainly manipulated by many factors, especially the structure of society. This paper is about the suicide committed by Franz Kafka’s protagonist Georg Bendemann. It analyses the judgement given by his father that takes Georg’s life.