The Northern Newsletter

‘As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect’ – One of the most bewildering yet bizarre expositions to a novella ever written, Metamorphosis is argued to have secured Franz Kafka’s podium within literature as ‘20th Century’s most significant writer’. His cacophony of anxiety and alienation has established his own writing technique within the human emotional spectrum – ‘Kafkaesque’. Kafka’s society isn’t pleasurable, reflecting the tiresome torment of an inescapable nightmare yet for some dark periods of time we will eventually end up there.

Therefore, Metamorphosis is the petrifyingly perfect example of Kafkaesque. Portraying the treachery of family it is riddled with arbitrary power, with Gregor Samsa’s misfortune decreeing life is simple taking and not giving. Critiquing capitalism and our desires for profit and wealth, our protagonist’s mental state is displaced by his family’s increasing thirst for money.

But what is the enduring tale of Metamorphosis? Be warned, this piece of writing will include spoilers. As the narrative hook indicates, Gregor Samsa awakes to find himself altered into a ‘gigantic insect’. Although this may appear startling or distressing, our protagonist is not fearful or panicked. Instead, he resorts to returning to his slumber and concluding that it was just a bad dream. However, as he finally reawakens to reality Gregor realises his appearance has been mutated into hideous vermin. Due to Kafka’s original text being written in German, translations wildly differ in the description of Gregor Samsa. Unexpectedly, Gregor is able to easily accept his new form but discovers his first difficult challenge. Getting out of bed. This pivotal extract can provide the portrayal of those within society who value compassion over inconvenience and are willing to come to Gregor’s aid. Unfortunately for our tragic hero, Gregor is shunned and dehumanized later being referred to as an ‘it’ as if the metamorphosis has entirely alienated him from society. This ignorance and disgust towards Gregor only progresses throughout the novella causing mental and physical harm upon him. The motif of abuse from a father-like figure can be argued to have been influenced by Kafka’s own experience with his own father. Who would constantly subject Kafka to abhorrent and malicious actions. Towards the denouement of the novella, Gregor Samsa has found himself developing exceedingly more bug-like characterises. He is consuming rotten and stale food while crawling on the walls more frequently; this only causes further belief that Gregor is a problem rather than a provider. Initially, his sister, Greta, used to comfort and care for Gregor despite his obvious differences, but she suddenly despises Gregor and views him as a selfish burden. This then leads the family to unanimously decided to attempt to abandon Gregor. However, Gregor is able to unfortunately beat his family to that. By starving himself and finally ‘his head sank down to the floor, and from his nostrils streamed his last weak breath’. As if the family haven’t disrespected Gregor enough, they forget his existence and instead focus on Greta’s own ‘metamorphosis’.

Overall, Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka can be perceived as a fictional story but metaphorically its themes contrast that belief. The novella symbolises the dehumanizing impact of modern society on the individual regarding business, social interaction or identity. Finally, I believe that everyone will eventually experience a similar lamentable destiny like Gregor Samsa. Denial. Acceptance. Decline.

Recently I attended a performance of Kafka’s Metamorphosis at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry. Despite my fears of the performance being unable to rise to the standard of Kafka’s own novella, it in fact distanced itself allowing it to be independent. But still having obvious themes and references to the original influence. I was pleasantly surprised by the crescendo of Gregor’s insanity climaxing, the motif of overworking putting strain upon his mental health was effective. Unfortunately, however there was no actor in an enormous vermin costume but instead the metamorphosis was acted out with a plethora of allusions. The two most notable being a very powerful and creative scene where our protagonist played by Felipe Pacheco used chairs to construct the appearance of multiple legs and a beetle-like shell. The other final notable allusion was Felipe Pacheco’s acrobatic talent which allowed him to scale and hang of walls reflecting Gregor Samsa’s bug qualities.