Introduction
The problem of faith is a rather controversial one. Different people have different views on what faith is. Some consider it to be a code of moral principles without which one cannot exist; others find faith a human’s failure to explain the life around. As long as humanity goes on as long there will exist both those who believe in some power and those who refuse to put their trust into it.
Literature as a reflection of a human’s attitude to life comprises a lot of works that are concerned with the problem of faith. Kafka’s parable ‘Before the Law’ and Nietzsche’s parable ‘The Madman’ are those of the kind. Though the main themes of these allegorical readings are Law and God, their revealing goes along with the problem of faith that the characters are tested by.
Kafka’s parable ‘Before the Law’
For days and years, Kafka’s character sits before the Law and waits for the gatekeeper to enter it for him. Various attempts he makes to let in and requests that he addresses the gatekeeper does not help. But the man does not lose his faith in the Law and desires to reach it. The reader is free to interpret the law in various ways: it may either be a society or human’s fear or human’s most cherished dream. But what Kafka stresses is not the very object of his character’s longing for, but on the feelings that fill the man’s heart during the poignant years of waiting. This is faith that helps the man to come every day to the gatekeeper. Maybe he is unconscious of it, but it is the driving force that makes him insist on his wish to enter the Law.
Kafka’s parable is the mirror image of present-day life: day by day every person sets some goals and tries to achieve them. No matter, whether he or she sees the aims and ways of achieving them, the faith, even if it contradicts his or her will, leads the person to success. We are not sure that Kafka’s character had a clear assumption of what he was going to reach, but, at least, he had some goal and wanted to achieve it. In this context, faith is equal to the goal that one has to attain.
If the law in Kafka’s work is interpreted literary, faith in such a case is the man’s belief in justice and the last resort he can appeal to. The same may apply to the present-day law system, only the plaintiff’s faith in the equity and firmness of law inspires him or her to seek justice in the court.
Nietzsche’s parable ‘The Madman’
If we consider Nietzsche’s work, here, on the contrary, the question of the absence of faith prevails. The madman appears to be accusing the villagers of being nonbelievers, or, being incapable of defining what faith is. The villagers are believed not to have the courage to face up to the truth that they do believe in God but under a different name. The madman claims that God is dead and these are people who killed him:
I mean to tell you!… We have killed him, you and I! We are all his murderers! But how have we done it? How we were able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the whole horizon? What did we do when we loosened this earth from its sun?
By saying this, the man does not mean that God is physically dead, it stands for the fact that the idea of God does not longer exist as a code of moral principles the humanity is ruled by. Nietzsche speaks about the crisis that will appear after the ruin of moral considerations. Primarily, the madman addresses the atheists – he admits the necessity of retaining a system of values in the absence of God. Also, the madman goes to the churches, where he reminds that the death of God is a part of the Christian creed that cannot be forgotten and neglected by Christians, he claims that the experience of God’s absence is crucial for Christian existence.
Saying that God is dead, Nietzsche implies that people are no longer able to believe in any cosmic power as they fail to recognize it. The absence of cosmic order, according to Nietzsche’s conception, will lead to the rejection of a belief of this order, and a rejection of absolute values themselves as well. Humans will no more believe in an objective and universal law that unites individuals, nihilism will become the main principle of their life.
Similarities and differences
Thus, the two works under consideration differ in the very essence of the characters’ assumption of faith. If in the case of the man who spends years in front of the Law, he lives on faith, in the second parable the absence of faith is the braking force that threatens humanity.
The man from ‘Before the Law’ may see the law as truth, perception, grace, and happiness, i.e. everything that humans from the second parable will lose if they do not believe in the divine power. Contrary to Kafka’s character who is persistent in his attempts to reach the Law, people from Nietzsche’s work seem to be reluctant even to admit the depth of the problem they are about to face. Therefore, while reading the first parable, one is more optimistic about the character’s destiny, whereas, the second work under analysis leaves a touch of bitterness in his or her heart. The man who is persistent in his attempts and believes in something has more chances to survive in this world than the people who resist understanding the importance of faith in their life.
We cannot but admit that there is a certain similarity in the two works discussed: the two parables seem to flow one from another. The man from ‘Before the Law’ at the end of the parable cannot lift his stiffening body, his sense of hearing diminishes, he is almost dying as he cannot get what he wants. These tortures seem to become a just punishment for those who fail to believe in God. Sooner or later, the humans from Nietzsche’s parable will face the same problems as the man had.
Conclusion
Though being rather different in their approaches to the themes of religion, Kafka and Nietzsche made one more attempt to solve the mysteries of religion and its impact on humans’ life. Reading the parables, one is given a wonderful opportunity to think over one’s attitude to religion and appreciate its significance in his or her life.
References
Kafka, F. Before the Law.
Nitzsche, F. The Madman. Web.