# Sortini — The Castle character guide

> Sortini in The Castle by Franz Kafka.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Sortini

**First appearance:** 0018-amalia-s-punishment

## Snapshot

A frail, retiring Castle official whose single written summons to Amalia set off the ruin of an entire village family.

## Who they are

Sortini is rarely seen and barely known, a small, reflective man with furrowed brow who once handed over a fire-engine at a Fire Brigade celebration and then vanished back into the Castle's anonymity. His note to Amalia — obscene, imperious, and never explained — is the event around which the Brunswick family's catastrophe turns. He never appears again in person, and that absence is precisely the point: the Castle's damage is done by officials who are not there to be confronted.

## Relationships

### [Amalia](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_se/characters/amalia)

_psychological_

Sortini, a Castle official, made a crude sexual advance toward Amalia, which she defiantly rejected, leading to her family's ostracism.

### [Olga](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_se/characters/olga)

_psychological_

Olga is obsessed with Sortini, the official who disgraced her family, and tries to understand his motives to restore their honor.

### [Olga](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_se/characters/olga)

_psychological_

Olga is obsessed with Sortini, the official who disgraced her family, and tries to understand his motives to restore their honor.

## In the story

### [Amalia's Secret](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_se/chapters/amalia-s-secret)

Sortini sent a lewd letter to Amalia after seeing her at the fire-brigade festival, then left the village in anger.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_se/characters/sortini
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_se/characters