Page 60 - GALIET KAFKABEL JOB, KANT AND MILTON: Omnipotence, Impotence and Rebellion IV+

341 Brod, Max. Franz Kafka. Schocken Books, 1937. 187
342 Brod, Max. Franz Kafka. Schocken Books, 1937. 181
343 Brod, Max. Franz Kafka. Schocken Books, 1937. 175
344 Brod, Max. Franz Kafka. Schocken Books, 1937. 175-76
A Biography. Trans. By G. Humphreys Roberts (Chapter I to VII) and by Richard Winston (Chapter VIII). New York, A Biography. Trans. By G. Humphreys Roberts (Chapter I to VII) and by Richard Winston (Chapter VIII). New York, A Biography. Trans. By G. Humphreys Roberts (Chapter I to VII) and by Richard Winston (Chapter VIII). New York, A Biography. Trans. By G. Humphreys Roberts (Chapter I to VII) and by Richard Winston (Chapter VIII). New York,
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suspect among suspects.340 Nobody can accompany anyone; no one can be assimilated to the strangers’ culture, particularly a Jew who can never “take root in foreign surroundings.”341 There, too, the world of God’s justice and human ethics is infinitely asunder.342 There, the Judge exists, but is everywhere hidden. There, in The Trial 3⁄4 every attic, manned by corrupt officials, becomes a Dionysus embodied whose imaginary Lady Justice is as perverse as Agave killing Pentheus, her son, in ecstatic revelry.
Order is to deconstruct tyranny and the metaphysics of guilt. Its key actors, ceasing to embody Kant’s Kingdom of Ends, opt for a Kingdom of Mean Ends. Chaos blindfolds order just as injustice blindfolds Lady Justice, the capricious Queen of the mercurial Court. She is evil and illogical to Josef K and to Kafka. “In Kafka’s The Trial, and The Castle, and In the Penal Colony...justice is presented in the image of a machine...of a refined cruelty, an inhuman, almostdevilishmachine.”343 JustasintheBookofJob,“Goddoeswhatseemsabsurdandunjusttoman.Butitis only to man that this seems so,” says Brod, and the final conclusion...in Job as in Kafka...is that God’s yardstick differs from man’s.344
In the deflection of light, Lady Justice diffracts. In her volatilities and multiplicities, her shrouded eyes cannot gaze at Milton’s galaxy: her other. Blindfolded, she is no longer Milton’s jeweled starry garland: “...what ought to be, above all other things, the strongest: she, the strength, the Kingdom, the power and majesty of all ages.”345 Her paragon and noblest gaze of old, is absent. In her blindness and multitudes, she is deceived and deceives.346 She
340 Brod, Max. Brod, Max. Franz Kafka. A Biography. Trans. By G. Humphreys Roberts (Chapter I to VII) and by Richard Winston (Chapter VIII). New York, Schocken Books, 1937. 186
345 Milton. Complete Poems and Major Prose. Ed. By Merritt Y. Hughes. Eikonoklastes. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 1957. 807
346 To Josef K, Lady Justice is the Goddess of the Hunt and Victory in one (T145). “Except for any imperceptible shading,” says K, “brightness still surrounds her...and in this brightness she seemed to stand out strikingly...now it looked just like the goddess of the Hunt” (T146). To K, justice ought not be winged. She ought to stand still so that her scales don’t sway (T145). In Lady Justice there is a multitude: Blindfolded, Hermes, Nike and Artemis. Stripped of her glory, Lady Justice is blind folded, winged footed, and victorious. Unable to see right from wrong she gropes in the dark. Her way fenced, she will not read and her trials pass. Thus unable to judge, darkness and strife sets in her paths. She cannot guard or deliver, save or protect her staff.346A Volatile and transient, a she- Hermes, she may wish to speedily flee away. Yet visionless, she shall neither reach Hades nor Mount Olympus’ stars. Vulnerable, she may just circle around or zigzag but straight paths 3⁄4 her delights 3⁄4 she cannot traverse. If she does, her aim she will not attain. Each step will infinitely subdivide. Unable to guide herself, she will bid farewell to her part. No longer a patroness of shepherds, heroes she will not guide. Without ingenuity, she will either spin, trip or from heaven plunge. And as she plummets into the abyss, nausea will strike. On land, the chances are she will oscillate like her scales when in flight. As a blind she-Hermes, there will be no abundance, fertility and prosperity in her lands.346B Only sombre decay, and her lyre will not play. If she trades, she blindly does. Like Hermes of the night, she will astutely rob, trick and deceive. Her multiplicity and stratagems and victories astound. By Zeus honoured with rivalry, strength and force, she thrills to war and compete. Notorious for athletics and warring against the Titans, trophies and fame she wins. Her military contests sweep her equal garlands, and her cult assumes Athena’s devotees.346 Two or four winged, evoking flight, she chases in giant strides and leads bulls to sacrifice.346C Her contests are agonies. In iconography, she decorates trophies and holds weapons.346D Ever victorious, her glories intimidate. If she is blindfolded, she will strike anyone. None can run, pass, contest or win victory. Everyone is trapped. No one can fulfil her pertinent role. Lady Justice limits motion. There is no clarity, only confusion. No one can perceive reality. Blindfolded Hermes is as blindfolded as Nike. None of the three deities know their identities. Without vision, vulnerability sweeps, and they shall fail at all things. The huntress will miss her real target. Thus, her target is random. She can assault anyone at any time. Good or bad. Nike will not know who her opponent is. Hermes will not delete traces. If the Gods are in the dark, everyone is. Chaos arises. Chance. These deities imply Zeus, Olympus and thus Olympus’ light out desires the other: clarity. In lights-out, no one can exercise his function. Justice cannot be Just, Hermes not wily, Artemis not victorious. Footnotes of footnotes. 346A Wisdom’s role is to guard (Prov 2:11), deliver (Prov 2:12), save (Prov 2:16) and protect (Eccles 7:12). See “Wisdom” in Dictionary of Biblical Imagery. Ed. By Leland Ryken, James C. Wilhoit, Tremper Longman III. Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1998. 956. In Job, Wisdom is believed to be an ‘independent composition’ and a ‘later addition’ (Peake, 245-6). Wisdom is worthy, yet she is hidden, and nowhere to be found. Hence, man is unable to attain it; only God knows it, but this is the very position Job chafes against. Job, of course, refuses this limitation, yet comes to grasp it only after the theophany and the divine speech (Hymn to Wisdom, Job 28, Peake 246).346B Hymn. Hom. Merc. 529. See also “Hermes.” The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Third Edition. Ed. By Simon Hornblower and Anthony Spawforth. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. 690-91. 346C See also “Nike.” The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Third Edition. Ed. By Simon Hornblower and Anthony Spawforth. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. 1044. 346D “The sculpted parapet of her temple on the Acropolis (c410) shows her as messenger of Victory, setting a trophy, administrating libations, leading bulls to sacrifice, and characteristically binding her sandal. She also
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