[Music] on the morning of his 13th birthday ysep k a financial attorney in one of the city's most important Banks wakes up to the unpleasant surprise of finding two men completely unknown to him waiting for him in the room he rents the two who identify themselves as policemen are named Wilhelm and France respectively they make it clear that they intend to arrest him and also inform ysf that criminal proceedings are all already underway against him so although he is in a state of arrest the agents do not try to do anything against ysep but let him go about his daily life undisturbed he can also go to work at the bank as usual dazed by this sudden event the protagonist tells himself that he is sure that the whole thing is just a huge misunderstanding that same evening he talks to his tenant Mrs grubach she tends to downplay the matter and even assures him that the arrest wasn't that serious looking for some company and moral support he then visits his neighbor Miss bruer at the end of the conversation ysep suddenly gets carried away with his feelings and kisses her when he receives a telephone call in which he is expressly summoned to appear before the court on the following Sunday ysep Kay still confident in his complete strangeness in the face of all the facts charged against him goes to the first hearing of the case and follows the provided address which leads him to a suburb on the outskirts of the city inhabited by poor families the buildings all look the same and he has a little trouble Landing the seat of the courts when he finally manages to identify the building he finds that the courtroom is located in a Shabby attic here he meets the investigating judge who awaits him in a crowded courtroom ysep even though he still has not the slightest idea of what he is accused of immediately plunges into a passionate and heated defense speech in which he even attacks the poor functioning of the judicial bureaucracy during the long self-defense the Usher's wife finds herself in a dark corner engaged in a demanding sexual activity with a stranger all in Absolute General indifference when the speech is over ysep Retreats from the classroom without anyone saying anything the following week ysep Kay decides to revisit the courts for another conversation even though he has not been called back in but when he arrives he finds the courtroom bare deserted and dirty when he comes across the BFF's wife ysep begins a conversation with her he shows courage and self-confidence and confides in her that he does not take the trial and the impending punishments seriously the woman is very charming and tries to seduce him by showing him her legs and a hint of underwear in return for her company she offers to help him by giving him fresh information and news about her case at the trial but a student who suddenly broke in ends up taking her away then K meets the Usher who immediately complains about how everyone treats and takes advantage of his wife and invites Kate to Rebel in his place he therefore leads him to the district office located in the airless attic of the gray building here the protagonist meets a defendant who pushes him away believing that Joseph wants nothing more than to take away his place in line which is rightfully his a girl finally helps him find the exit back at home he Converses with Miss Montag another young tenant who shares a room with Miss bruer but he is interrupted by what he thinks is Miss bruer and another tenants Lance causing him to lose the threat of the conversation they almost seem to be in League with him during a normal work day at the bank ysep K Hears A groan coming from one of the office's closets or storage rooms he discovers that a thug is about to beat up the two officers who had informed him of his arrest he learns that this is a court punishment for the petty crimes ysep has accus them of in his speech ysf tries to dissuade the thug from his plan but he does not succeed the same scene is repeated the next evening but this time as he closes the door he casually asks the servants to clean the warehouse stained with their blood the young protagonist then receives a visit from his uncle who has learned of the trial he invites him to contact a well-known and esteemed lawyer for the poor named hold at the same same time he strongly advises him not to take the charges brought against him by the court lightly as he seems to have done so far ysep K follows his uncle's advice and meets in holds study a certain Lenny his assistant and Personal Nurse and he suspects perhaps his mistress who immediately takes a liking to him and advises him to be a little less uncompromising while not hesitating for a moment to woo him it ends with the two kissing as they talk to the lawyer it becomes increasingly clear how different this trial is from any other regular court case the alleged guilt is left entirely to the bureaucracy that administers it which is very extensive and multi-level keeping the rules of the Court secret beyond the identity of the judges the lawyer affirms that the defense letters sent to him do not necessarily mean that they will actually be read by anyone at the courts while they are still talking the lawyer reveals that the head of the court chancellory is currently hiding in a corner of the large room they are in eavesdropping when he is summoned he goes out to join the conversation but at that very very moment ysep is dragged by Lenny into another room here she also offers him her help and the two then have a sexual relationship upon leaving the room ysep finds his uncle visibly upset because the fact that he left just as the Chancellor's boss entered the scene represents in his opinion a serious disrespect that could seriously damage his case ysep k returns several times to see his lawyer but the more he talks to him the more things seem to be going in the wrong way hold in fact tells him how his situation is becoming more and more disastrous day by day without ever providing him any real explanations in the meantime yosef's work at the bank is becoming more and more difficult and is starting to lose quality as he is consumed by the worry of his case one day he receives a visit from an industrialist one of the most important clients of the bank where he works he has heard about his difficulties and offers to help him by sending him to a painter friend a certain tielli the latter will certainly be able to give him good advice since he has a wide and deep knowledge of the Court as it turns out tielli is the official court painter the Portrait Painter of the members of the entire court a title he inherited from his father and therefore knows the process very well ysep learns that as far as the painter knows the case of AC quiddle has never occurred in the kind of trial to which he is subjected when ysep loudly declares that he is innocent tarelli replies that it is difficult to withdraw the accusations made against the accused when the court begins no one is ever innocent the painter then explains to the young man that his only options at the moment are to obtain a provisional verdict of Innocence from a lower court which can however be overturned at any time by the higher courts of the tribunal which in this case would lead to the immediate resumption of the trial or to try to thank the judges of the lower courts in order to keep his case immovable after explaining the whole situation so well tarelli finally lets him go out the back door as soon as he passes the door the young man finds himself in a labyrinth maze that he soon recognizes as that of the Court offices with an oppressive and suffocating appearance ysf returns to hold to officially renounce his help having decided on the advice of the painter to regain full control of his practice at the lawyer's office he meets block a client of holds who strikes him as a subservience and downtrod an individual indeed his case has been going on for 5 years and he has gone from the successful businessman he was to a state of near bankruptcy the man is thus practically dependent on hold and Lenny with whom he also seems to have a kind of sexual relationship ysep coincidentally encounters him at the moment when he appears to be conversing with the girl leading to a brief display of jealousy upon finding the man in casual attire block describes in detail his whole experience with the trials saying that the accused tend to become superstitious and shut themselves off from the rest of the world Kay then has the opportunity to be received by the lawyer but the conversation between the two during which the lawyer even makes fun of block by calling him a little dog is abruptly inter interrupted and the chapter is therefore considered unfinished the bank asks ysep to accompany a wealthy Italian client who has just arrived on business on a tour of the city to show him the most important cultural sites and in short to act as a guide however the client does not seem to have much free time and therefore asks ysep to accompany him only to the cathedral they arranged to meet there for a certain hour but when ysep arrives at the appointed time the client is not there to pass the time ysep enters the large Church which at that moment moment is completely empty except for an old woman and a clergyman he notices that the priest appears to be preparing to preach a sermon from one of the smalls side secondary pulpits on the side of the nav ysep then begins to move away fearing that the priest will begin to speak and that he will therefore be forced to stay until the end of the celebration however instead of giving a sermon at a certain point the priest calls him by name in a loud voice from the pulpit as he approaches him the religious Golds him for some of his attitudes espe especially regarding women ysep asks him to go out but at that moment two men enter the church the priest actually works for the court ases a prison chaplain tells ysep that he knows all about his trial The chaplain's Words which he presents in a kind of parable about Justice a passage that the author actually wrote before writing the novel and which is entitled before the law seems to have the purpose of preparing ysep k for the worst the two then begin to discuss the proper interpretation of the parable but the priest concludes that the story which he also defines as quite old has been considered in turn by many court officials in his critical analysis each of whom has come to a different conclusion ysph finally comes to visit on the eve of his 31st birthday Two Gentlemen show up at the door of his room and take it without giving him any explanation he himself offers Little Resistance to this knowing that they are the enforcers of the sentence that the court has somehow finally come to the two taken by the arm and after Crossing almost the entire ire City on foot bring him to a quarry they place ysf in a hole whereupon one of them pulls out a double-edged butcher knife as ysep K takes a last look at his life he sees a man leaning out of the window at this sight a wave of Rage seizes him because he is seen while he is about to be executed you stab twice in the heart as he utters his last words like a dog the novel thus ends with the death of the protagonist the execution of the culprit has been carried out