character analysis essay of metamorphosis

A Summary and Analysis of Franz Kafka’s ‘The Metamorphosis’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Metamorphosis’ is a short story (sometimes classed as a novella) by the Czech-born German-language author Franz Kafka (1883-1924). It is his best-known shorter work, published in German in 1915, with the first English translation appearing in 1933. ‘The Metamorphosis’ has attracted numerous interpretations, so it might be worth probing this fascinating story more closely.

You can read ‘The Metamorphosis’ here before proceeding to our summary and analysis of Kafka’s story below.

Plot Summary

Gregor Samsa, a travelling salesman, wakes up one morning to find that he has been transformed into a giant insect. Although he briefly considers this transformation, he quickly turns his thoughts to his work and his need to provide for his parents (he lives with them and his sister) so that they can pay off their debts. He also thinks about how much he hates travelling.

He realises he is already late for work, but hesitates to call in sick because he has never had a day off sick before, and knows this might raise alarm bells. When he responds through the bedroom door after his mother calls to him, he realises that his voice has become different as a result of his metamorphosis into an insect. When his family try to enter his bedroom, they find the door locked, and he refuses to let them in.

Then there’s a knock at the door and it’s the chief clerk for whom Gregor works, wondering where Gregor has got to.

Still Gregor refuses to open the door to his family or to his visitor. The chief clerk is affronted and tells Gregor through the door that his work has not been good enough and his position at the company may not be safe. Gregor seeks to defend himself, and assures the clerk that he will soon return to work. However, because Gregor’s voice has changed so much since his transformation, nobody can understand what he’s saying.

Gregor opens the door and his mother screams when she sees him. He asks the chief clerk to smooth things over at the office for him, explaining his … sudden metamorphosis into an insect.

Later that evening, having swooned and dozed all day, Gregor wakes up at twilight and finds that his sister had brought him milk with some bread in it. Gregor attempts to drink the milk, but finds the taste disgusting, so he leaves it. He climbs under the couch so his family don’t have to look at him, while his sister tries to find him food that he can eat.

Gregor overhears his family talking in the other room, and discovers that, despite their apparent debts, his parents have some money stashed away. He has been going to work to support them when he didn’t have to.

As well as the changes to his voice, Gregor also realises that his vision has got worse since his transformation. He also discovers that he enjoys climbing the walls and the ceiling of his bedroom. To help him, his sister gets rid of the furniture to create more space for him to climb; Gregor’s mother disagrees and is reluctant to throw out all of Gregor’s human possessions, because she still trusts that he will return to his former state one day.

When he comes out of the room, his mother faints and his sister locks him outside. His father arrives and throws apples at him, severely injuring him, because he believes Gregor must have attacked his own mother.

After his brush with death, the family change tack and vow to be more sympathetic towards Gregor, agreeing to leave the door open so he can watch them from outside the room as they talk together. But when three lodgers move in with the family, and his room is used to store all of the family’s furniture and junk, he finds that he cannot move around any more and goes off his food. He becomes shut off from his family and the lodgers.

When he hears his sister playing the violin for the lodgers, he opens the door to listen, and the lodgers, upon spotting this giant insect, are repulsed and declare they are going to move out immediately and will not pay the family any of their rent owed. Gregor’s sister tells her parents that they must get rid of their brother since, whilst they have tried to take care of him, he has become a liability. She switches from talking about him as her brother and as an ‘it’, a foreign creature that is unrecognisable as the brother they knew.

Gregor, overhearing this conversation, wants to do the right thing for his family, so he decides that he must do the honourable thing and disappear. He crawls off back to his room and dies.

Gregor’s family is relieved that he has died, and the body is disposed of. Mr Samsa kicks the lodgers out of the apartment. He, his wife, and their daughter are all happy with the jobs they have taken, and Mr and Mrs Samsa realise that their daughter is now of an age to marry.

The one thing people know about ‘The Metamorphosis’ is that it begins with Gregor Samsa waking up to find himself transformed into an insect. Many English translations use the word in the book’s famous opening line (and we follow convention by using the even more specific word ‘beetle’ in our summary of the story above).

But the German word Ungeziefer does not lend itself easily to translation. It roughly denotes any unclean being or creature, and ‘bug’ is a more accurate rendering of the original into English – though even ‘bug’ doesn’t quite do it, since (in English anyway) it still suggests an insect, or at least some sort of creepy-crawly.

For this reason, some translators (such as David Wyllie in the one we have linked to above) reach for the word vermin , which is probably closer to the German original. Kafka did use the word Insekt in his correspondence discussing the book, but ordered that the creature must not be explicitly illustrated as such at any cost. The point is that we are not supposed to know the precise thing into which Gregor has metamorphosed.

The vagueness is part of the effect: Gregor Samsa is any and every unworthy or downtrodden creature, shunned by those closest to him. Much as those who wish to denigrate a particular group of people – immigrants, foreigners, a socio-economic underclass – often reach for words like ‘cockroaches’ or ‘vermin’, so Gregor’s transformation physically enacts and literalizes such emotive propaganda.

But of course, the supernatural or even surreal (though we should reject the term ‘Surrealist’) setup for the story also means that ‘The Metamorphosis’ is less a straightforward allegory (where X = Y) than it is a more rich and ambiguous exploration of the treatment of ‘the other’ (where X might = Y, Z, or even A, B, or C).

Gregor’s subsequent treatment at the hands of his family, his family’s lodgers, and their servants may well strike a chord with not just ethnic minorities living in some communities but also disabled people, people with different cultural or religious beliefs from ‘the mainstream’, struggling artists whose development is hindered by crass bourgeois capitalism and utilitarianism, and many other marginalised individuals.

This is one reason why ‘The Metamorphosis’ has become so widely discussed, analysed, and studied: its meaning is not straightforward, its fantastical scenario posing many questions.  What did Kafka mean by such a story? Is it a comedy, a tragedy, or both? Gregor’s social isolation from his nearest and dearest, and subsequent death (a death of despair, one suspects, as much as it is a noble sacrifice for the sake of his family), all suggest the story’s tragic undercurrents, and yet the way Kafka establishes Gregor’s transformation raises some intriguing questions.

Take that opening paragraph. The opening sentence – as with the very first sentence of Kafka’s novel, The Trial – is well-known, but what follows this arresting first statement is just as remarkable. For no sooner has Gregor discovered that he has been transformed, inexplicably, into a giant insect (or ‘vermin’), than his thoughts have turned from this incredible revelation to more day-to-day worries about his job and his travelling.

This is a trademark feature of Kafka’s writing, and one of the things the wide-ranging term ‘Kafkaesque’ should accommodate: the nightmarish and the everyday rubbing shoulders together. Indeed, the everyday already is a nightmare, and Samsa’s metamorphosis into an alien creature is just the latest in a long line of modernity’s hellish developments.

So the effect of this opening paragraph is to play down, as soon as it has been introduced, the shocking revelation that a man has been turned into a beetle (or similar creature).

Many subsequent details in Kafka’s story are similarly downplayed, or treated in a calm and ordinary way as if a man becoming a six-feet-tall insect is the most normal occurrence in the world, and this is part of the comedy of Kafka’s novella: an aspect of his work which many readers miss, partly because the comedic is so often the first thing lost in translation.

And, running contrariwise to the interpretation of ‘The Metamorphosis’ that sees it as ‘just’ a straightforward story about modern-day alienation and mistreatment of ‘the other’ is the plot itself, which sees Gregor Samsa freed from his life of servitude and duty, undertaking a job he doesn’t enjoy in order to support a family that, it turns out, are perfectly capable of supporting themselves (first by the father’s money which has been set aside, and then from the family’s jobs which the mother, father, and daughter all take, and discover they actually rather enjoy).

Even Gregor’s climbing of the walls and ceiling in his room, when he would have been travelling around doing his job, represents a liberation of sorts, even though he has physically become confined to one room. Perhaps, the grim humour of Kafka’s story appears to suggest, modernity is so hellish that such a transformation – even though it ends in death – is really the only liberation modern man can achieve.

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• Annotated Full Text
• Literary Period: Modernism
• Publication Date: 1915
• Flesch-Kincaid Level: 12
• Approx. Reading Time: 1 hour and 46 minutes

The Metamorphosis

Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to find that he has become a gigantic beetle-like bug. Now a burden to his horrified family, Gregor must adapt to an unpleasant existence of living in garbage and eating putrid waste from the floor. The true theme and purpose of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis has perplexed scholars and readers since its publication in 1915. Obvious themes of alienation, isolation, and inferiority are plausible; however, Kafka never reveals an explicit message, philosophical purpose, or reason behind Gregor’s sudden transformation. This puzzling, unclear purpose adds to the unsettling, visceral response that this novel evokes. Using poignant descriptions told from Gregor’s perspective, Kafka makes the reader’s skin crawl along the floor with Gregor and heart break because of his family’s cruelty. While this book is short and the sentences are confoundingly Kafkaesque, Gregor’s crisis of identity touches on everything from universal questions about our civilization to minute insecurities within our own identities. Read as an allegory, The Metamorphosis gets at questions of what it means to belong, what it means to be an alien, and what it means to be trapped within one’s own skin.

Table of Contents

• Chapter III
• Character Analysis
• Historical Context
• Literary Devices

Study Guide

• Franz Kafka Biography

Teaching Resources

• The Metamorphosis Teaching Guide

Themes and Analysis

The metamorphosis, by franz kafka.

'The Metamorphosis' is a masterpiece on hitting important themes, such as transformation, alienation, and responsibility.

Article written by Emma Baldwin

B.A. in English, B.F.A. in Fine Art, and B.A. in Art Histories from East Carolina University.

Such themes in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis touch on what it means to be human and what happens when those around you stop regarding you as such.  

The Metamorphosis Themes  

Transformation  .

The first and most important theme in The Metamorphosis is transformation. There is the primary transformation in the novel, that of Gregor, a human man, into a large insect , but there are several others as well. As the novel progresses, Gregor struggles to hang onto his humanity, it slips from him as he turns to the things that bring him pleasure in his new form. He finds sanctuary in dark places, joy in crawling on the ceilings and the walls, and is only able to stomach rotten food.  

Additionally, there is the transformation that his family members undergo. It is seen most prominently in Grete, his sister . At first, she cares for Gregor’s needs, feeding and visiting him. But as time goes on, Grete grows older and her priorities change. It becomes easier for the family to ignore the fact that Gregor exists than to continue caring for him.  

Gregor’s transformation brings with it a series of emotional transitions and obstacles that he has to overcome. The main one being the separation from his family, job, and previous role as the main breadwinner. Gregor is alienated from his former humanity, generally, as well as his former personality and role, specifically.  

Gregor is also physically alienated in his prison cell-like room. It is from there, separate from the family, that he listens to their lives carry on without him.  

Responsibility

When Gregor first discovers that he’s no longer in his human body, his first thought is for his family. He worries immediately that he’s not going to be able to get to work on time and is going to lose his job. The first pages of the novel are devoted to Gregor’s struggle to force his new body to do what his old one could easily. He cares about the responsibility he has to his family, to pay off his father’s debts and support his sister and mother.  

A reader should also consider what responsibility his family has for him after his transformation and how they didn’t fulfill it. His generosity was not repaid.

Analysis of Key Moments in The Metamorphosis

• Gregor wakes up and discovers that he’s been transformed into a giant insect.  
• Gregor’s family and boss come to check on him.  
• The family is confronted by Gregor’s new form.  
• Grete feeds Gregor and he discovers he loves rotten food.  
• Gregor leans to climb the walls and they take the furniture out of the room.  
• Gregor tries to save the image of the woman in furs.  
• Mr. Samsa attacks Gregor believing he hurt Mrs. Samsa. Gregor is badly injured.  
• Lodgers move into the house and Gregor watches his family from his room.  
• Gregor decides his family will be better off without him and he dies.  
• The family feels relief now that Gregor is gone, they move on with their lives.

Point of View and Poetic Techniques in The Metamorphosis

Narrative point of view.

As a modernist novel, there are several techniques that will likely be familiar with in The Metamorphosis. These are related to the point of view, language, and poetic techniques. The point of view employed by Franz Kafka in the novel is third-person/limited omniscient. This means the main perspective of the story comes from Gregor Samsa. The reader is within Gregor’s mind, hearing his thoughts and discovering what happened to his body at the same time as he does. Information is given to the reader when it’s available to Gregor, we are not aware of anything he isn’t. For example, Gregor struggles with eating and what it is, after his transformation, that he’s interested in.  

The reader doesn’t become aware until he is that he wants to eat rotten foods. All that being said, there are a few moments in the novel in which Kafka moves outside Gregor’s mind to give the reader a bit of information from the perspective of the other characters. These are rare moments and are reserved for occasions that benefit from the change in perspective.

Poetic Techniques

The Metamorphosis was originally written in German and titled Die Verwnadlung, this means that some poetic techniques will be lost or devised in the translation into English. Within the novel, a close reader can find examples of metaphor, irony, and symbolism. The first on this list, metaphor, is a comparison between two unlike things that does not use “like” or “as” is also present in the text.  

When using this technique a writer is saying that one thing is another thing, they aren’t just similar. It’s quite important in this novel and immediately confronts the reader. The theme of imprisonment is woven throughout the story. Metaphors reveal to the reader that Gregor is at once a prisoner of society, money, his family, and the most obvious, his new bug body. He’s trapped, in one way or another, but his prison varies.  

Another less obvious example is the weather. One moment, in particular, comes to mind at the beginning of the story when Gregor is waking up. He notes that he’s waking up late, feels poorly, and there is “still such a fog” outside. The fog lays heavy on the city. Its dreary, dark, and it obscures warmth and light. It is used as a metaphor and allusion to what is to come. His future lies within the house, not without, and it’s going to be just as dark as the weather that morning.  

Symbols in The Metamorphosis  

The picture of the woman  .

One of the most poignant symbols in The Metamorphosis is the picture of the woman on the wall of Gregor’s room. In the photo, she’s wearing furs, a hat, and a boa. It’s unclear who she’s supposed to be, but she’s there as a reminder of Gregor’s lost future, the warmth of human company, and his own distant humanity. More than anything else, the fact that he acquired, hung, and admired the photo while he was still human is important to him.  

When the furniture is removed from his room Gregor begins to panic. Gregor turns to the picture as the single thing he’s going to fight to keep. He’s desperate at this moment, and through his actions, a reader should interpret a need to hang on to some piece of his humanity.  

Gregor as an Insect  

The creature Gregor turns into, sometimes referred to as a giant insect, bug, or vermin, is representative of the life that Gregor led before he was transformed. His human day-to-day life was made physical. Once transformed, the toll that his job, family, colleagues, and money worries had on him is realized in the real world.

Food  

Food is a symbol of the Gregor’s family’s remaining regard for their son. Grete, the most important secondary character in the novel takes on the responsibility for feeding and checking on Gregor. It is due to Grete that he’s able to eat and maintain a shred of his humanity. At first, they believe he’s going to eat the same things he did when he was human, but they soon discover that he’s only able to eat rotten food. As time passes, the family loses interest in Gregor and become exhausted from remembering that he’s there. They stop feeding him and he is forced to suffer, starving, as the new lodgers eat in his kitchen.  

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About Emma Baldwin

Emma Baldwin, a graduate of East Carolina University, has a deep-rooted passion for literature. She serves as a key contributor to the Book Analysis team with years of experience.

About the Book

Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka is best remembered as the Existentialist author of novellas and short stories such as ' The Metamorphosis ' and ' The Trial '.

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Kafka's Best Books

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Kafka and Absurdism

What was absurdism and how does it relate to Franz Kafka's literary works?

You will get to know me better; there are still a number of horrible recesses in me that you don’t know . Franz Kafka

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The Metamorphosis Characters

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka has central and supporting characters who interact with Gregor Samsa, the main character. The Samsa family plays a significant role, influencing his emotions the most. Minor Metamorphosis characters have a supporting function. Through them, Kafka gives the reader additional insight into the Samsa family and Gregor in particular. See the article composed by our writers to learn more.

• 🌳 Family Tree
• 👨 Gregor Samsa

👱‍♀ Grete Samsa

👴 mr. samsa, 👵 mrs. samsa.

• 🧑 Other Characters

🎓 References

🌳 the metamorphosis characters: family tree.

The family plays a vital role in the story. After Gregor’s transformation, his parents and sister become his whole world, as he can’t leave the apartment. In this short character map, you can see the whole Samsa family.

👨 Gregor Samsa: The Metamorphosis Main Character

Gregor Samsa is the protagonist of the novel The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. The author gives an insightful description of the character.

Gregor is a traveling salesman. He resents his job and the unfairness of his higher-ups but works tirelessly to provide for his family. Moreover, he does not have any close or intimate relationships outside of his family circle. It’s all due to the nature of his job and schedule. Gregor loves his father, mother, and sister Grete, none of whom work at the beginning of the story. In The Metamorphosis , Gregor’s character could be described as an altruistic, devoted family man.

Gregor’s Relationships

Before his transformation, Gregor’s relationship with his family can be pictured clearly. He supports them financially while they give their love back by cleaning his room and encouraging his endeavors. Grete also regularly writes him letters about their routine when Gregor is traveling for business. One could say that the Samsas have every trait of a normal functioning family.

Gregor Samsa Character Traits

Gregor’s metamorphosis is the key event in the book. One morning Gregor Samsa wakes up only to realize that he turned into a monstrous insect-like creature. This event dramatically affects both Gregor’s character and his relationships with his family.

How does Gregor react to his transformation ? Obviously, at first, he cannot fully grasp the whole image of his situation. In the morning after the bizarre event, his mind is still human, even though it suspects something is wrong. Gregor is confused when he sees how his family reacts to his new look.

Even though the transformation has drastic effects on Gregor’s physique, it barely changes his life in terms of isolation. Before the event, Gregor barely had any intimate or personal relationships outside his family. His job prevented him from doing that. Despite traveling and seeing the world, Gregor was an isolated person. So, after the transformation, his isolation did not suddenly occur but only turned into literal confinement. He was now locked in his bedroom and still separated from social life.

Moreover, his metamorphosis affected the family’s attitude towards him. The disgust and sadness on Mr. Samsa’s face were apparent when he first saw an insect instead of his son. He subconsciously realized that a bug could not financially support anyone.

Even before Gregor’s transformation, Mr. Samsa had the money to pay off the family’s debt but never did so, putting pressure on Gregor to work more. His family took their financial comfort for granted.

Gregor’s metamorphosis brought some personal ups and downs for him. On the one side, Gregor did not have to work anymore, which freed him from his hated job and bosses. However, his primary concern was that he could not earn money to provide for his family. From this point of view, the whole idea of Gregor’s metamorphosis can be interpreted as a metaphor for human laziness.

Even though Gregor’s physical metamorphosis happens overnight, his mental transformation keeps developing throughout the whole book. Gregor’s inability to communicate causes a disconnection between him and his family. One of the first examples of the conflict between his body and mind happens when he realizes that he prefers rotten food over fresh one. “Am I less sensitive now?” – Gregor asks himself while enjoying his nauseating meal. Gregor’s concerns also gradually switch from thinking about his family to only caring about himself. As his mental metamorphosis develops, crawling around the room and food occupy his mind most of the time.

Nevertheless, Gregor is deeply hurt because of the negligence from his family. In particular, Gregor and Grete’s relationship influences his emotions the most. He only wants the best for his sister. He dreams about sending her to the Conservatorium, so she can practice her violin skills, while her resentment for his vermin lifestyle only grows. In Chapter 3 , Gregor is mesmerized by his sister’s violin performance because the melody brings his human emotions back.

In conclusion, throughout the whole novel, Gregor is experiencing a conflict between his body and mind. He dies peacefully in his room, thinking about everyone else’s well-being. One could say that Gregor Samsa’s death freed him of his eternal suffering.

💬 Famous Quotes by Gregor Samsa

“Oh God, he thought, what an exhausting job I’ve picked on! Traveling about day in, day out. It’s much more irritating work than doing the actual business in the office, and on top of that there’s the trouble of constant traveling, of worrying about train connections, the bed and irregular meals, casual acquaintances that are always new and never become intimate friends.” (Chapter 1)

“Well, there’s still hope; once I’ve saved enough money to pay back my parents’ debts to him-that should take another five or six years-I’ll do it without fail. I’ll cut myself completely loose then.” (Chapter 1)

“I’m loyally bound to serve the chief, you know that very well. Besides, I have to provide for my parents and my sister. I’m in great difficulties, but I’ll get out of them again. Don’t make things any worse for me than they are.” (Chapter 1)

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka has a number of characters with complex personalities. One of them is Grete Samsa.

Who is Grete in The Metamorphosis?

Grete is one of the main characters in the book. She has a mother, a father, and a brother Gregor. Grete spends most of her time playing her violin. Her brother truly loves her and wants to pay for her future education.

Grete appreciates her brother’s devotion to work and family. She regularly sends him letters while he is away. Even though her parents also appreciate Grete, they think of her as “a somewhat useless daughter.”

Grete’s Relationships

After Grete finds out what happened to Gregor, she shows sympathy towards him, unlike her father and mother. Grete starts bringing him food and cleaning his room. However, her sympathy gradually decreases. Even on the first day, the reader can notice that she has hidden disgust towards Gregor when she takes his untouched bowl “with a cloth.” This feeling grows throughout the whole novel. Due to Gregor’s inability to communicate, Grete is frustrated with him, and his insect-like behavior towards the end makes her believe that her brother is no longer there.

What kind of job does Grete have?

After her brother’s transformation in Chapter 1, she started working as a salesgirl, a job very similar to the one Gregor had. But unlike him, she spends her free time educating to become better at her duties.

Grete Samsa Character Traits

Food is a vital symbol in the novel for the brother-sister relationship. At first, Grete brings her brother a fresh meal which he used to love, but Gregor cannot eat that anymore. So, she starts bringing him rotten food. Later, she loses motivation and empathy, starts neglecting the responsibility of feeding him. Towards the end of the novel, Grete completely gives up on bringing Gregor meals, showing her open loathing towards him. It could illustrate their gradually fading emotional connection. The worse the food, the worse the relationship.

Grete’s feeling of responsibility for caring about Gregor also changes its nature. Her mind becomes corrupted with the sense of power, as she worries more about the fact of taking care of him rather than Gregor’s own needs. When Grete loses her sympathy towards Gregor, she stops caring about him at all.

Grete’s frustration reaches its peak when Gregor interrupts her violin concert in front of the lodgers. Her irritation with her brother and the exhaustion from new duties may have taken their toll on her perception of Gregor’s humanity. She simply cannot cope with the vermin that used to be her brother.

To summarize, Grete’s character develops within the novel. She is having her own “ metamorphosis .” In The Metamorphosis , Grete grows from a “useless” daughter to a mature young woman, working a job and taking responsibilities in the family. The Samsa’s view on her changes. After Gregor’s death, the parents notice her sophistication and decide to choose a husband for her. Grete becomes a new hope for the Samsa family.

💬 Famous Quotes by Grete Samsa

“At the other side door his sister was saying in a low, plaintive tone: “Gregor? Aren’t you well? Are you needing anything?”” (Chapter 1)

“My dear parents, said his sister, slapping her hand on the table by way of introduction, “things can’t go on like this. Perhaps you don’t realize that, but I do. I won’t utter my brother’s name in the presence of this creature, and so all I say is: we must try to get rid of it. We’ve tried to look after it and to put up with it as far as is humanly possible, and I don’t think anyone could reproach us in the slightest.” (Chapter 3)

“He must go,” cried Gregor’s sister, “that’s the only solution, Father. You must just try to get rid of the idea that this is Gregor. The fact that we’ve believed it for so long is the root of all our trouble. But how can it be Gregor? If this were Gregor, he would have realized long ago that human beings can’t live with such a creature, and he’d have gone away on his own accord. Then we wouldn’t have any brother, but we’d be able to go on living and keep his memory in honor. As it is, this creature persecutes us, drives away our lodgers, obviously wants the whole apartment to himself and would have us all sleep in the gutter.” (Chapter 3)

Mr. Samsa is the father of Gregor and Grete. As a figure of authority in the household, he appears in all chapters of the book.

The father leads a retired lifestyle with his wife and takes his financial comfort for granted. He is the first person to become openly aggressive to his son. He subconsciously realizes that a bug cannot support anyone.

Though, he was stunned when he first saw Gregor in his insect form. He “knotted his fist with a fierce expression on his face…, then looked uncertainly around the living room, covered his eyes with his hands and wept till his great chest heaved.” Concerning his character, there is one crucial question:

How does Mr. Samsa change in The Metamorphosis ?

He looks old and unhealthy at the beginning of the story, unable to take care of himself, let alone of his family. However, he considers financial stability his responsibility after Gregor’s transformation. So, he finds a job and starts wearing a uniform.

His uniform is one of the crucial symbols in the novel. It gets dirtier as Mr. Samsa’s exhaustion increases. At the end of chapter 2, we see him as an authoritative, impressive, and dangerous figure through Gregor’s eyes. But in chapter 3, he presents as an old man in a nasty uniform that he refuses to take off at home.

💬 Famous Quotes by Mr. Samsa

“Gregor,” said his father now from the left-hand room, “the chief clerk has come and wants to know why you didn’t catch the early train. We don’t know what to say to him. Besides, he wants to talk to you in person. So open the door, please. He will be good enough to excuse the untidiness of your room.” (Chapter 1)

“Just what I expected,” said his father, “just what I’ve been telling you, but you women would never listen.” It was clear to Gregor that his father had taken the worst interpretation of Grete’s all too brief statement and was assuming that Gregor had been guilty of some violent act.” (Chapter 2)

“If he could understand us,” repeated the old man, shutting his eyes to consider his daughter’s conviction that understanding was impossible, “then perhaps we might come to some agreement with him. But as it is-“ (Chapter 3)

“Leave my house at once!” said Mr. Samsa, and pointed to the door without disengaging himself from the women. [..] “I mean just what I say,” answered Mr. Samsa, and advanced in a straight line with his two companions towards the lodger.” (Chapter 3)

Mrs. Samsa is the wife of Mr. Samsa and the mother of Gregor and Grete, displayed in all chapters. She is a loving and submissive character.

Mrs. Samsa in The Metamorphosis keeps her love for Gregor after his transformation, calling him “her unfortunate son.” However, she cannot bear his new look and faints the first time she sees Gregor.

Mrs. Samsa worries about her son. She is willing to visit Gregor’s room and help taking care of him, but Grete and Mr. Samsa refuse to let her in for her own good.

In chapter 2 , she assists Grete in moving furniture from Gregor’s room and questions this action. She wonders whether these familiar objects help her son to keep his humanity. Thus, she expresses her belief that Gregor is a human in an insect body. Later that day, she loses her consciousness again when she encounters her son for the first time in months.

Just as her husband, Mrs. Samsa took Gregor for granted before his transformation. Later in the book, she starts working to support the family.

💬 Famous Quotes by Mrs. Samsa

“He’s not well,” […] “he’s not well, sir, believe me. What else would make him miss a train! The boy thinks about nothing but his work. It makes me almost cross the way he never goes out in the evenings; he’s been here the last eight days and has stayed at home every single evening. He just sits there quietly at the table reading a newspaper or looking through railway timetables. The only amusement he gets is doing fretwork.” (Chapter 1)

“Do let me in to Gregor, he is my unfortunate son! Can’t you understand that I must go to him?” (Chapter 2)

“And doesn’t it look,” […] “doesn’t it look as if we were showing him, by taking away his furniture, that we have given up hope of his ever getting better and are just leaving him coldly to himself? I think it would be best to keep his room exactly as it has always been, so that when he comes back to us he will find everything unchanged and be able all the more easily to forget what has happened in between.” (Chapter 2)

🧑 Other Characters in The Metamorphosis

A “gigantic bony” charwoman appears in the last chapter when the Samsas hire her to take care of the house. She is a servant of senior age with a blunt personality who lacks fear towards the giant insect. She is inconsiderate towards Gregor’s suffering and is the one who disposes of his body at the end.

The three lodgers play the role of catalyst in Gregor’s final demise. They are taken up by the Samsas as a prospect of additional income in the last chapter. These are “serious gentlemen… with full beards” who cannot tolerate anything dirty and look down on the family. When the lodgers spot Gregor, they declare that not a dime will be paid to the Samsas.

Chief Clerk

The chief clerk is the unfair boss of Gregor. He appears in the first chapter when he arrives looking for his subordinate, only to run away in horror. Standing near the closed door of Gregor’s room, he accuses the salesman of stealing money and being lazy.

Servant girl

The servant girl works for the Samsa family and appears in the first and second chapters. She is terrified of Gregor. The girl leaves the house when the Samsas are forced to cut on their expenses in the third chapter.

The cook works for the Samsa family before the events of the novel and at its beginning. She only appears in the second part, begging Mrs. Samsa to let her leave. She departs swiftly after.

Thank you for reading the article! We hope that know you understand The Metamorphosis’ characters better than before. For more information on the themes and symbols of the story, check other articles.

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• Chapter III
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The Metamorphosis

Franz kafka.

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Gregor Samsa Quotes in The Metamorphosis

As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.

You amaze me, you amaze me. I thought you were a quiet, dependable person, and now all at once you seem bent on making a disgraceful exhibition of yourself.

The chief clerk must be detained, soothed, persuaded and finally won over; the whole future of Gregor and his family depended on it!

"What a quiet life our family has been leading," said Gregor to himself, and as he sat there motionless staring into the darkness he felt great pride in the fact that he had been able to provide such a life for his parents and sister in such a fine flat. But what if all the quiet, the comfort, the contentment were now to end in horror?

…He must lie low for the present and, by exercising patience and the utmost consideration, help the family to bear the inconvenience he was bound to cause them in his present condition.

At first whenever the need for earning money was mentioned Gregor let go his hold on the door and threw himself down on the cool leather sofa beside it, he felt so hot with shame and grief.

If he could have spoken to her and thanked her for all she had to do for him, he could have borne her ministrations better; as it was, they oppressed him.

Do let me in to Gregor, he is my unfortunate son! Can't you understand that I must go to him?

Nothing should be taken out of his room; everything must stay as it was; he could not dispense with the good influence of the furniture on his state of mind; and even if the furniture did hamper him in his senseless crawling round and round, that was no drawback but a great advantage.

The serious injury done to Gregor, which disabled him for more than a month—the apple went on sticking in his body as a visible reminder, since no one ventured to remove it—seemed to have made even his father recollect that Gregor was a member of the family, despite his present unfortunate and repulsive shape, and ought not to be treated as an enemy, that, on the contrary, family duty required the suppression of disgust and the exercise of patience, nothing but patience.

Instead of being allowed to disturb him so senselessly whenever the whim took her, she should rather have been ordered to clean out his room daily, that charwoman!

"I'm hungry enough," said Gregor sadly to himself, "but not for that kind of food. How these lodgers are stuffing themselves, and here I am dying of starvation!"

He felt hardly any surprise at his growing lack of consideration for the others; there had been a time when he prided himself on being considerate.

Was he an animal, that music had such an effect on him?

We must try to get rid of it. We've tried to look after it and to put up with it as far as is humanly possible, and I don't think anyone could reproach us in the slightest.

But how can it be Gregor? If this were Gregor, he would have realized long ago that human beings can't live with such a creature, and he'd have gone away on his own accord.

He thought of his family with tenderness and love.

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The Metamorphosis

Background of the novel.

It has attracted much scholarly attention because of its mysterious nature. Scholars view it from different angles, and their opinions regarding it vary. Some consider it a feminist piece, some think of it as a tale of oppression told allegorically, some take it as an autobiographical piece. Its importance for the scholars lies in the fact that seen from any angle; it never disappoints the scholars. It has been studied using psychoanalysis, political, and social criticism, and from the religious or philosophical point of view, it has never-exhaustingly yielded results. Scholars have referred to it as a work that ‘depict(s) the mercilessness of the world.’

The Metamorphosis Summary

He thinks about the miseries in his life. He considers how constant travelling has affected his life, not being able to make friendships. His job is difficult and can’t quit it though he wants it to. His parents are in debt, and if he quits his job, it will create problems for his whole family. He is facing a dilemmatic situation. His boss is an irritable person, and it’s hard to bear his constant nagging nature. He has overslept, and if he gets late, he will scold him.

In the evening, when Gregor wakes up, he sees somebody has kept food for him in the room. There is a bowl of milk and bread, and his appetite forces him to taste it. But he cannot take it, it tastes bad. He tries to listen if anybody is talking, but all he can hear is complete silence. Probably his family’s routine has changed because he can’t hear his father reading the newspaper. 

In a month, Gregor recovers from the wound that the apple has made. His family reconsiders their perception of Gregor, not taking him just a bug but rather part of their family who has transformed into this vermin. Their attitude towards him has changed; they care about him. In the evenings, his room’s door is slightly left open so that he can have fresh air and see them busy in their activities.

 Stuff from the boarders’ room is taken and stored in Gregor’s room to ensure cleanliness. This pleases him because he can move around it, but it later depresses him. The boarders have replaced the family members as mere servants and now take their meals in the living room while the family takes its meals in the kitchen. Because of the boarders now his door stays closed and he can’t see what’s happening around. 

Grete is angry due to this turn of events due to him and asks her family to get rid of him because it isn’t her brother. She says that if it were her brother, he wouldn’t have made their life miserable. He is much pained by this and resolves to bring their miseries to an end. He stays awake till three in the morning and falls. The next morning he is found dead.

The Metamorphosis Characters Analysis

Gregor samsa.

He initially thinks that his condition will change and he will again be able to support his family. But later he alters this though because there is no escape. At the acceptance of this thought, certain changes come to his psychology. He is happy in dark places, eats things that are filthy and fit for insects. Though there are changes in his psyche, there are still some human feelings that he hasn’t lost. One of them is feeling sympathy for his family members, whose life has been badly affected by this disaster. 

The Chief Clerk

The chief clerk is an employee at Gregor’s workplace. He is a typical boss whose sole purpose of life is to make a hell of his subordinates’ lives. He is not bold and confident as he shows himself, it can be seen when Gregor as a bug comes out of his room.

The Charwoman

Themes in the metamorphosis, the absurdity of life, sympathy and its limits, incongruous relationship between mind and body, estrangement, man and the natural world, life, consciousness, and existence, morality and ethics.

Sometimes our wishes come true, but they prove fatal if compared to the misery we are already in. Gregor wanted to get a short period of isolation but changed into a bug, being isolated forever. This was a desire that ruined his life. Though it seems somewhat supernatural, the author conveys the message that we should be careful regarding our wishes. The same happened to Gregor, and he had no option except to feel shame for the form he transformed into. So there may be a message to reconcile with the society, and if we don’t want to, then the consequences may be grave.

The Metamorphosis Literary Analysis

Bug as a metaphor, familial relationships.

It is a scrutiny of a dying society where family relationships have been reduced to merely financial relationships. In this type of society, family relationships exist if a person is able to help the other members financially if he loses this ability; he loses his value. This novella asks the father and son’s relationship to be reconsidered and reshape the family where perks and perils are equally divided. It asks for the reconsideration of the idea that one is considered a human being in the family until he is earning, otherwise bug. Thus a universal problem is analyzed, giving a specific example.

Identity crisis is another issue that modern humans face. In modern society, identity is based up to a greater extent on financial questions. Our financial matters decide our class, social interactions, and identification. If one is stable, he is easily accepted, if it is not, so rejection is the fate that is faced everywhere. Thus through this novella, the author asks for the reconsideration of standards of identity to decide a bug or human.

The tone of the narrator is dispassionate. He doesn’t utter a single word of sympathy for Gregor or against his family. He relates all this as a scientist describes the steps of a lab procedure. He doesn’t let the reader know about how he feels for Gregor or show any sympathy for him. The story is absurd, and the feeling of one to whom it happens is horrible even in imagination. But the narrator speaks of it as if Gregor was working on a food recipe and ended up giving a tasteless food. He doesn’t express his loathing even for the incident that took place.

Point of View

Setting of the novella, magic realism.

It is a piece of magic realism, in which events that are not possible in the world are described as if they are real. This affirms its modernist value as a piece that excellently portrays the human miseries and nonsense nature of the world. This story employs the stream of consciousness technique to tell the readers about how Gregor felt at this incident. It juxtaposes the realist setting with the fictional happening and forms a masterpiece modernist work.

Significance of Title

The original title of this novella in German is Die Verwandlung, which means transformation. But this is translated into The Metamorphosis as it is used more formally, and has literary connotations. It is often compared to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which tells the stories of punishments of mythical characters that were penalized for their sexual offences. Thus it relates this work both to ancient and modern literature opening ways for many connotative meanings. Though there is nothing told of Gregor’s crimes, rather, all he has done is good. This title smells a bit ironic!  

Significance of Ending

Symbolism in the novella.

Gregor is called a bug, and the word used for it in German is Ungeziefer, which was used for Jews by Nazis and had connotations of loathing. This signifies the meaning through the use of religious imagery because this word is taken from Jewish mysticism. Thus it may also be seen from a Jewish point of view.

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The Metamorphosis

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Home › Experimental Novels › Analysis of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis

Analysis of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on August 1, 2023

“As Gregor Samsa awoke from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a giant insect.” So begins The Metamorphosis , a sinister allegory of dehumanization and hopelessness in the modern world by Franz Kafka (1883–1924). Once rendered an insect, Gregor becomes a functionless and embarrassing eyesore in a household, whose members grow to resent and neglect him to the point of death. There is no place in domestic, social, and professional life, Kafka’s tale suggests, for the unproductive and the nonconformist.

Written in 1912, The Metamorphosis was one of the few works Kafka published in his lifetime. Owing to the author’s general reluctance to publish and editorial reservations about the story’s bizarre content, The Metamorphosis did not go to press until 1915.

Like much of Kafka’s fiction, The Metamorphosis expresses dominant themes in the author’s own life. In a letter, Kafka mentioned the similarity between Samsa’s name and his own; both writer and character, furthermore, were pressured to take on largely pointless office jobs. Kafka’s anxieties about ill health and fear of physical collapse play out in the unfortunate Gregor, who dies from a wound inflicted on him by his father. But the story resonates most profoundly with the real circumstances of Kafka’s family life. Like his creation, Gregor, Kafka was continually berated by his imposing father, who considered his only son to be an unmitigated failure. Gregor, likewise, cowers in fear of his father, who finds him repulsive and attacks him at every turn. Although Kafka had earned a law degree in part to appease his father, he would remain an object of patriarchal disdain and repudiation—particularly in light of his fictional work, which his father deemed “a waste of time.” Kafka’s mother, like her alter ego in the story, was ever-deferential to her husband and offered little solace to her son; his sister, Ottla, was normally a compassionate ally, but on one occasion she joined the parents in insisting that Kafka increase his hours at the office; shortly thereafter, Kafka wrote The Metamorphosis, in which Gregor’s sister betrays him by insisting that the family get rid of him.

In addition to these autobiographical references, The Metamorphosis alludes to a number of literary works, including the Russian Nikolay Gogol’s The Nose, in which a man wakes up to find his nose missing; preposterously, the nose goes on to attain a high-ranking position in the civil service. Kafka’s text was also inspired by a Yiddish play, Gordin’s The Savage One. Kafka wrote extensively about the play in his diaries. All of the characters in The Metamorphosis find analogues in The Savage One. Gregor Samsa’s counterpart is an idiot son, who is unable to communicate with his family, stays locked in his room, and fears the wrath of his father. The Metamorphosis, furthermore, resembles Gordin’s drama in its entirely domestic setting and episodic narrative structure. All three texts connect materialism and status consciousness with the degradation of humanity.

In alignment with Kafka’s largely cynical philosophical views, The Metamorphosis supports a decidedly pessimistic interpretation of human nature. Speaking to his friend Max Brod, Kafka once explained that he thought human beings were God’s nihilistic thoughts. Brod asked whether there was hope elsewhere in the universe. To this, Kafka replied, “plenty of hope, for God—only not for us.” This dismal prognosis, a sense of terminal confinement, is represented by Gregor, whose only alternative to the world in which he has unintentionally entered is death. There are glimmers of hope in the concluding lines of The Metamorphosis, as the Samsa family sets about reconstructing itself, but this might also be seen to indicate the unfortunate perpetuation of the worst human qualities. In any case, after the story’s publication Kafka said that he regretted this ending, insisting that it was “unreadable.”

Along with the bleak determinism of The Metamorphosis , the surrealistic scenario depicted—its particular mixture of the impossible and the real—is typically “Kafkaesque.” In several works, Kafka posits an unlikely situation and portrays its development in realistic detail, both psychologically and materially. In his novel The Trial , for example, a man is accused and found guilty of a crime without ever being informed of the charge’s precise nature; in “Before the Law,” a man passes decades waiting to enter the gates of Justice, only to have the guardian, finally, close them in his face. The realist aspect of these texts encourages the reader to probe beyond the specific circumstance—a man, for example, literally becoming an insect—to uncover its symbolic and allegorical implications.

The image of the insect is evocative on several levels. As early as 1907, Kafka described the best part of his creative self as a “beautiful beetle”; he imagined his body moving around in the world while his “true writing self”—a beetle—remained behind. In later years, when his idealism faded, this authorial image was replaced by “filth and slime,” a phrase he applied to his piece “The Judgment” (it tells of a rebellious son condemned to suicide by his father). Gregor Samsa, a giant insect who becomes progressively more and more filthy, may be interpreted as a metaphor for disillusionment.

Analysis of Franz Kafka’s Novels

Analysis of Franz Kafka’s Stories

BIBLIOGRAPHY Bridgewater, Patrick. Kafka’s Novels: An Interpretation. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2003. Greenberg, Martin. The Terror of Art: Kafka and Modern Literature. New York: Basic Books, 1968. Stach, Reiner. Kafka: The Decisive Years. Translated by Shelley Frisch. Orlando, Fla.: Harcourt, 2005. Stern, J. P., ed. The World of Franz Kafka. New York: Holt, Rinehard, 1980. Weinberg, Helen. The New Novel in America: The Kafkan Mode in Contemporary Fiction. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1970.

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The Metamorphosis Study Guide

by Franz Kafka

• Introduction
• All Plot summary
• All Characters
• Gregor Samsa
• Grete Samsa
• The Charwoman
• The Office Manager
• The Boarders
• Transformation
• All Literary Devices
• By character
• All Infographics
• Character Map
• Biography of author

The Metamorphosis: Introduction

Exploring the history of existential upheaval and profound transformation in one person’s life: An introduction to Franz Kafka’s Metamorphoses.

The Metamorphosis: Plot Summary

The story of Gregor Samz in The Metamorphoses, when he wakes up one morning transformed into a grotesque insect.

Full Book Summary

Plot Summary By Chapters

The Metamorphosis: Characters

Exploring the Characters of Metamorphoses: A Comprehensive Analysis

The Metamorphosis: Themes

Exploring deep themes in Metamorphoses, including the nature of identity, the absurdity of existence, and the struggle for autonomy in an indifferent world.

The Metamorphosis: Literary Devices

An explanation of the literary devices used by Franz Kafka in Metamorphoses

The Metamorphosis: Quotes

Deep and haunting quotes from Metamorphosis

The Metamorphosis: Infographics

Explore the intricate world of Metamorphosis with captivating infographics

Explore the author’s fascinating life and literary legacy Metamorosis: A Biography of Franz Kafka

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The Metamorphosis

by Franz Kafka

The metamorphosis character list, gregor samsa.

A traveling salesman who hates his job but is forced to keep it in order to support his family and pay off his father's debts. Gregor suddenly finds himself transformed into a giant insect. Never coming to terms with his metamorphosis, he struggles with intense feelings of guilt as if his inability to support his family were his own fault. Though freed from his job, Gregor is now a burden to his family and is kept locked in his room. Isolated and neglected, Gregor is a metaphor for the human being oppressed by capitalism and alienated from work, family, and himself.

Gregor's younger sister. She is the only one in the family with whom Gregor was intimate. At first, she takes it upon herself to clean his room and feed him. With time, however, she loses interest in this and leaves him alone. Grete, who first cared so much for Gregor, is also the first to assert that the family must get rid of him. Gregor had planned to use all his money to send Grete to the Conservatory to study violin, and her playing awakens his humanity.

Gregor's father, having lived a "laborious though unsuccessful life" and collapsed his business, has become exceptionally lazy, doing nothing while his son earns all the money. When misfortune strikes, Mr. Samsa puts on a uniform and goes to work. He is suspicious of the transformed Gregor from the beginning, and always assumes the worst if his son emerges from his room. He first wounds Gregor while trying to shove him into his room and then cripples him by throwing an apple into his back.

Gregor's mother is also forced to go to work to make money for the family. Her relation to Gregor is one of dutiful and loving mother, but her tendency to faint upon seeing him is not conducive to helping him. After begging to see Gregor, she is finally allowed in his room, but faints as soon as he appears. She then proceeds to save Gregor from his father's apple-throwing wrath. Yet, since Mrs. Samsa is extremely quiet and always does what she is told, her opinions on family affairs remain unknown and her personality is subsumed in her husband's authority.

Gregor's boss at work is the great symbol of everything wrong with capitalism. He sits behind his desk, talking down to his employees. Gregor knows that if he calls in sick for the first time in five years, his chief would come in person to call him lazy.

Chief clerk

The Chief Clerk is the Chief's mouthpiece. He himself arrives at Gregor's house when the former is late to work and thus throws the entire family into disorder. When Gregor does not unlock his room, the Chief Clerk tells Gregor, in front of the family, that he is under suspicion of having stolen money and that his work is very unsatisfactory, though this isn't true.

The charwoman is the last servant left in the family, taken on after the others are dismissed. She is not repulsed by Gregor but rather attempts to play with him, annoying him greatly. She is the only character who attributes intelligence to Gregor. The charwoman is excited both by Gregor's existence and by his death.

The Lodgers

Caricatures of gentlemen, the lodgers dominate the overly servile Samsa family. They are taken on because the family needs money, and they take it upon themselves to run the household, making sure that everything is ordered and nothing is superfluous. The lodgers carefully inspect their food and rudely show displeasure at Grete's violin playing. At the first sign of Gregor they give notice and refuse to pay for the room. Mr. Samsa finally asserts himself, revealing the lodgers' cowardice in the face of authority.

Servant girl (Anna)

The servant girl stays on after Gregor's metamorphosis, but asks that she be allowed to lock herself in the kitchen unless summoned. She is dismissed by the Samsas once they run out of money to pay her.

Begs for permission to leave the family as soon as she finds out about Gregor's metamorphosis. She is extremely grateful when she is allowed to go and promises to tell no one about Gregor. Like the other servants, the cook serves to demonstrate the "high life" that the family was living at Gregor's expense.

The Metamorphosis Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Metamorphosis is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Do you have sympathy for Gregor? If so, why and at what times? If not ,why not?

You have to feel sorry for Gregor to some degree.... he's overworked, responsible for everyone, and feels like he's living in a dead end. To become an insect changes his world.... he is no longer significant, no longer needed.... he's a pest.......

In paragraph 57, note the parts of sentences that are set off in parentheses.

I'm sorry, you will need to provide the text in question.

Paragraph Eight does not pertain to Gregor's relationship with his family. What section are you referring to?

Study Guide for The Metamorphosis

The Metamorphosis study guide contains a biography of Franz Kafka, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Metamorphosis
• The Metamorphosis Summary
• The Metamorphosis Video
• Character List

Essays for The Metamorphosis

The Metamorphosis literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Metamorphosis.

• Separate and Alone: Alienation as a Central Theme in Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Kafka's Metamorphosis
• Sacrifice in Kafka
• Starving for Attention: Food in Kafka's Metamorphosis
• A Biographical Analysis of Kafka's The Metamorphosis
• Distorted Literature: Metamorphosis

Lesson Plan for The Metamorphosis

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to The Metamorphosis
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• The Metamorphosis Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for The Metamorphosis

• Introduction