"Before the Law" is a parable contained in the novelThe Trial, by Franz Kafka. "Before the Law" was published in Kafka's lifetime, first in the 1915 New Year's edition of the independent Jewish weeklySelbstwehr, then in 1919 as part of the collection Ein Landarzt. The Trial, however, was not published until 1925, after Kafka's death.
A man from the country seeks the law and wishes to gain entry to the law through an open doorway, but the doorkeeper tells the man that he cannot go through at the present time. The man asks if he can ever go through, and the doorkeeper says that it is possible "but not now". The man waits by the door for years, bribing the doorkeeper with everything he has. The doorkeeper accepts the bribes, but tells the man that he accepts them "so that you do not think you have left anything undone." The man does not attempt to murder or hurt the doorkeeper to gain the law, but waits at the door until he is about to die. Right before his death, he asks the doorkeeper why even though everyone seeks the law, no one else has come in all the years. The doorkeeper answers "No one else could ever be admitted here, since this gate was made only for you. I am now going to shut it." In some English translations of the original German text, the word "Law" is capitalized. In the original German, the capitalization of the word Gesetz reflects a standard adherence to the rules of German orthography, which require that all nouns be capitalized, and does not necessarily have deeper significance.
In ''The Trial''
Josef K has to show an important client from Italy around a cathedral. The client does not show up, but just as K is leaving the cathedral, the priest calls out K's name, although K has never met the priest. The priest reveals that he is a court employee, and he tells K the story, prefacing it by saying it is from "the opening paragraphs to the Law." The priest and K then discuss interpretations of the story before K leaves the cathedral.
