Amalia’s Secret

aside, we have very clever advocates here who can make a great deal out of a mere nothing, but in this case they hadn’t even the mere nothing to go on, there was, on the contrary, the disrespect to Sortini’s letter and the insult to his messenger.” “But what is all this about punishment and advocates?” said K. “Surely Amalia couldn’t be accused or punished because of Sortini’s criminal proceedings?” “Yes,” said Olga, “she could, not in a regular suit at law, of course; and she wasn’t punished directly, but she was punished all right in other ways, she and our whole family, and how heavy the punishment has been you are surely beginning to understand. In your opinion it’s unjust and monstrous, but you’re the only one in the village of that opinion, it’s an opinion favourable to us, and ought to comfort us, and it would do that if it weren’t so obviously based on error. I can easily prove that, and you must forgive me if I mention Frieda by the way, but between Frieda and Klamm, leaving aside the final outcome of the two affairs, the first preliminaries were much the same as between Amalia and Sortini, and yet, although that might have shocked you at the beginning, you accept it now as quite natural. And that’s not merely because you’re accustomed to it, custom alone couldn’t blunt one’s plain judgment, it’s simply that you’ve freed yourself from prejudice.” “No, Olga,” said K. , “I don’t see why you drag in Frieda, her case wasn’t the same, don’t confuse two such different things, and now go on with your story.” “Please don’t be offended,” said Olga, “if I persist in the comparison, it’s a lingering trace of prejudice on your part, even in regard to Frieda, that makes you feel you must defend her from a comparison. She’s not to be defended, but only to be praised. In comparing the two cases I don’t say they’re exactly alike, they stand in the same relation as black to white, and the white is Frieda. The worst thing one can do to Frieda is to laugh at her, as I did in the bar very rudely⁠—and I was sorry for it later⁠—but even if one laughs it’s out of envy or malice, at any rate one can laugh. On the other hand, unless one is related to her by blood, one can only despise Amalia. Therefore the two cases are quite different, as you say, but yet they are