# The Castle — Character guide

> Key figures in The Castle by Franz Kafka.

- [K.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_2_se/characters/k.md): K. wakes in a village inn to find that sleeping there requires the Count's permission, and that his claim to be the expected Land Surveyor is met with telephone calls and contempt. He is neither deferential nor humble; h
- [Frieda](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_2_se/characters/frieda.md): Frieda is the one person in the village who can move between K. and Klamm's world, serving at the Herrenhof while knowing exactly what Klamm's favor is worth. Her decision to leave her position for K. costs her the landl
- [Klamm](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_2_se/characters/klamm.md): Klamm is the official K. has supposedly been summoned to serve, and the one everyone in the village measures themselves against — the landlady guards his keepsakes, Frieda served his beer, Momus speaks in his name. He is
- [Barnabas](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_2_se/characters/barnabas.md): Barnabas is K.'s one live wire to the Castle, delivering messages that may or may not come from Klamm, and he believes in his errand with a sincerity that makes his lack of an official suit painful to watch. His family's
- [Olga](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_2_se/characters/olga.md): Olga is the family's memory and its negotiator, the one who can talk about the Castle's bureaux, barriers, and official suits without either worship or despair. She loves her brother, worries about his endless, unrewarde
- [Amalia](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_2_se/characters/amalia.md): Amalia is the sister whose one act of refusal — rejecting Sortini's letter — turned her family into pariahs and made her the still center of their ruin. She is cold, upright, and unreachable, with a gaze that always seem
- [Jeremiah](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_2_se/characters/jeremiah.md): Jeremiah arrives at the inn beside his double, Arthur, and the two are so alike that K. declares he will treat them as one man called Arthur — a decree they quietly resist. Their blank denials (no apparatus, no surveying
- [Brunswick](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_2_se/characters/brunswick.md): A village shoemaker and father of Hans, who becomes involved with K.
- [Sortini](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_2_se/characters/sortini.md): A Castle official whose offensive letter to Amalia triggered the family's downfall.
- [Pepi](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_2_se/characters/pepi.md): A young chambermaid at the Herrenhof who briefly replaces Frieda.
- [Schwarzer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_2_se/characters/schwarzer.md): A Castle official's son who first questions K.'s arrival at the village.
- [Momus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_2_se/characters/momus.md): A Castle secretary who conducts a village records interview with K.
- [Father](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_2_se/characters/father.md): K.'s father, briefly mentioned in his memories and reflections.
- [Seemann](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_2_se/characters/seemann.md): A village man who appears briefly in the narrative.
- [Fräulein Gisa](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_2_se/characters/fraulen_gisa.md): A schoolteacher who interacts with K. during his time at the school.
- [Arthur](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_2_se/characters/arthur.md): One of K.'s two assistants, later dismissed.
- [Erlanger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_2_se/characters/erlanger.md): A Castle official who summons Frieda for an interview.
- [Mr. Teacher](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_2_se/characters/mr_teacher.md): A schoolteacher who interacts with K. at the village school.
- [Hans](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_2_se/characters/hans.md): Brunswick's young son who befriends K. and delivers a message.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_2_se/characters