Nietzsche Vs. Kafka
In treatise two of Friedrich Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morality, the topic of punishment is first discussed. Nietzsche attempts to define the basics behind one of man’s oldest customs, while he also endeavors to explicate the purpose of a seemingly often cruel and barbaric practice. Nietzsche suggests that man will flock to the site of another human being suffering for the sake of retribution and punishment, and he describes this gruesome trend as a “festival”. Kafka follows the same thread of thought in his macabre short story “In the Penal Colony.” While most perceive his work to be the product of a mad man’s obsession with a torture machine, after a more thorough examination, the similarities between this so-called obsession and Nietzsche’s philosophical doctrine become quite apparent. One could even suggest that Kafka chose to follow Nietzsche’s logic in order to formulate the symbolic meaning behind his tale of torture.
Nietzsche suggests several reasons for the institution of punishment. The first, and most obvious being man’s overwhelming curiosity with the sight of his fellow man in pain. However, this is not the only reason that Nietzsche offers. Man is not a mindlessly cruel being. There is method to his madness. Punishment offered as public entertainment, otherwise referred to as the festival of punishment, was believed to deter others from committing the same social indiscretions. In order to completely discourage transgression of the law, it became necessary to burn the consequences of such transgressions into the minds of those who would undertake the same actions. Kafka’s descriptions of the sheer multitudes that arrived to witness the performance of the commandant’s complex torture machine directly follow Nietzsche’s argument concerning the festival of punishment. The officer states:
“The Commandant in his wisdom ordained that the children should have the preference; I, of course, because my office had the privilege of always being at hand; often enough I would be squatting with a small child in either arm. How we all absorbed the look of transfiguration on the face of the sufferer, how we bathed our cheeks in the radiance of that justice, achieved at last and fading so quickly!” (Kafka 116)
As Nietzsche stated in his second treatise, those who created the laws wished to create a spectacle horrific enough to brand the image of consequence into the minds of future offenders. Those in Kafka’s penal colony went so far as to subject children to this torture instrument; capturing their attention early enough to thwart any possible thoughts of wrong doing. However, one must not forget that Nietzsche also believed that man enjoyed witnessing others in pain. The simple fact that attendance to Kafka’s penal “festival” was not required in combination with the amount of people in actual attendance of the event is clear proof that Nietzsche’s suggestion rings quite true. It was not necessary to require attendance in order to formulate memories in people’s minds because this was merely an excuse to hold public torture sessions. The Commandant created the device with its terrible purpose because he understood the need of man to witness physical punishment. The crowd of women and children begging for a position in the front to witness the complete cycle of the instrument is proof enough of Nietzsche’s suggestion that man has a barbaric desire to witness physical discipline.
Despite Nietzsche’s lengthy discussions concerning physical punishment and its manifestations, he also undertook the task of explaining the shift from such physical punishment to the more refined forms of emotional torture. The outward sign of a more refined civilization came from such a shift. The guilty conscience inflicted upon one who transgresses certain laws gave way to reform and admittance back into society. It is believed that a culture which allows for its criminals to return into society after acknowledging their crime and admitting personal shame, is a culture far more advanced than one which subjects its criminals to spectacles of public torture. This is where Kafka’s story conflicts with Nietzsche’s philosophy. In Kafka’s penal colony, reform came in the sixth hour of physical torture when the man subjected to the workings of such an instrument realizes his crime and understands his guilt. This is the same concept behind the purpose of emotional torture in the advanced societies of Nietzsche’s theory. However, instead of a shift from physical to emotional punishment marking the refinement of culture, Kafka described a culture in which emotional punishment manifests itself within the physical. A very large question still remains. Is Kafka’s fictional society one of refinement based on its structure of punishment because the torture allows for reform and realization of guilt? One might be tempted to agree with this proposition based on the surface arguments of Nietzsche’s theorem. Yet, the reform within the penal colony comes tagged with the price of death, and it quickly becomes apparent that a dead man can not reenter society after reform through torture. The incredible fascination with the sixth hour of transformation simply marks a human obsession with physical punishment, despite its capabilities of inspiring reform through realization of guilt.
Both Nietzsche’s philosophical doctrine and Kafka’s short story discuss the inner workings of man’s system of punishment. Nietzsche first broaches the possibility of an obsession with the physical aspects of pain while Kafka takes this idea and continues the logic, creating a culture obsessed with this idea. But why is man obsessed with the images of torture? Why must he obsess over the physical punishment of another human being? Is this a manifestation of our humanity? Because we are human we are bound together by mortality? This may be a small role within the obsession; however, there is a more crucial piece based on Nietzsche’s philosophy. Man yearns for power. The people of ressentiment believed that the powerful were evil. They wielded their power only for personal material gain. Yet, as humans we are obsessed with power, and because the people of ressentiment refused to utilize power in the same fashion as the nobility, they devised physical and emotional torture, the creditors inevitable power over the debtor, in order to quench this desire. Nietzsche stated that punishment was used to initiate revenge, and to instill “fear of those who determine and execute the punishment” (Nietzsche 53). By fear, man gains power. Within the penal colony, not only was the Commandant able to obtain the satisfaction of power over another, but the masses of people gathered for the festival of punishment were satisfied by the realization that they were in a position of power over one of their fellow human beings. As a community, with the commandant leading the way, they were taking revenge and exerting power over another.
Because, as Nietzsche believes, we are people of the slave revolt, we have created the institution of punishment in order to obtain power over others with the guise of learning as a readily available scapegoat. By Nietzsche’s philosophy, Kafka’s society is not one of advancement because there is little chance for reform that does not come with the price of death. Man believes that a community able to readmit its criminals back into society is a culture of refinement. However, with our reliance on emotional torture awakening the feelings of continuous guilt in a man, are we not simply perpetuating the exertion of control over another through his guilt, perhaps reveling in control a while longer? Following this logic, Kafka’s penal colony would be a more refined society because it does not eternalize control over men, their suffering ends quickly at the merciful hands of torturous death. They are not required to be faced with their guilt daily, thus Kafka’s society is one of mercy, rather than those who allow for reform. Yet, man is still obsessed with power through emotional punishment, and the shroud of reform is still readily available to cover this morbid desire. Until man realizes what is truly driving him to seek out reform for criminals, Kafka’s barbaric penal colony, fraught with wild torture and grim deaths, will be a far more advanced society than our own.
Return to WEBRINGS AND MISC. DOCUMENTS
Return to the MAIN PAGE