The antagonist of The Trial is not a villain, but "The Court." It is an entity that exists everywhere and nowhere. The courtrooms are located in attics of dirty tenement buildings; the officials are corrupt, tired, and indifferent.
K., a respectable bank officer, wakes up to find two strangers in his boarding house. They do not arrest him in the traditional sense; they do not take him to a police station. Instead, he is allowed to go to work and live his life, yet he is "under arrest." This sets the tone for the entire novel: a nightmare where the stakes are life and death, yet the setting is mundane and bureaucratic. il processo