In Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”, the transformation of the character Gregor from a man to one of the most repellent insects, a cockroach, may seem exaggerated and ridiculous, becoming more so over the course of the story as the action builds and emotions become more charged. Kafka’s intention, however, is to expose and explore the impoverishment of human psychology with respect to the ways in which changes in one’s circumstances and conditions reshape notions of justice and mercy. These themes will be explored further in this character analysis of Gregor in “The Metamorphosis”.

While it is the subject of this character analysis, Gregor who has been mysteriously and inexplicably reduced to one of the lowest forms of animal life in this story by Kafka representing the absurd, it isGregor’s family in “The Metamorphosis” whose psychological development is least human and humane. Gregor has changed physical form, but Kafka clearly indicates that his essential being has not changed in any fundamental way. Gregor still has human feelings and needs, he still wishes to relate with his family and other members of society, and he still wishes to be responsible. As this character analysis of Gregor in “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka suggests, his mother, father, and his sister have not changed form, but their metamorphoses are the most profound because they demonstrate how easily one’s beliefs, values, and basic treatment of others can be compromised because of a failure to adapt psychologically.

From the opening of “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka, the character of Gregor is portrayed as a whole and complex human being. Like many people, he detests his job, but he recognizes that his work is necessary because it supports his family. He applies himself “with great earnestness” (Kafka 35) to his grinding work as a traveling salesman, not only because he wants to support his parents and pay off a debt that they incurred, but because he dreams of sending his sister, Grete, to a conservatory where she can learn to play violin professionally (Kafka 37). At this early point in Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” in fact, a character analysis of Gregor would yield rather little in terms of character depth. However, this devotion demonstrates just how thoughtful and compassionate Gregor is.

In a brief time, however, it will be shown both in the Metamorphosis and in this character analysis of Gregor that his family members are not nearly as kind and considerate; in fact, they completely lose their capacity for justice and mercy. When Gregor wakes up one morning and learns that he has metamorphosed and Gregor has been transformed into a cockroach he is shocked and incredulous, as any human being would be. Yet he comes to accept, as he must, the irreversibility of his new condition. Though unwanted, there is nothing that Gregor can do to change his situation. The only action that he can, and does take, is to adjust his attitude about this unbelievable change. His family members, however, are apparently incapable of making the same kind of psychological adaptation.

Bloom contends in his broad character analysis and study of “The Metamorphosis” by Kafka, that symbolically speaking, Gregor’s metamorphosis from man to cockroach represents his “judgment on himself by his defeated humanity” (21) because he cannot find a way to leave his job behind and assert his own needs and identity because of his loyalty and sense of obligation to his family. Upon closer analysis, the judgment of Gregor’s family, however, is even more severe and distorting. While they initially try to accept him, his external characteristics preclude their fair treatment of him. They react irrationally, exercising neither justice nor mercy in their response to his condition. They come to a point at which they can no longer connect the new Gregor with the person he once was, and though only his physical characteristics have changed, they view him with disgust and without compassion. While Gregor is the family member who has become literally dehumanized, the psychological and symbolic dehumanization of his mother, father, and Grete are more profound and severe.

In his new state, Gregor is particularly vulnerable to his family member’s abuses. His parents and sister, the people who should accept him unconditionally and protect him according to the traditional code of family relationships, are those who abuse him the most. His father wounds him deeply with a newspaper and a walking stick. Poor Gregor remains undeterred. Though wounded, he repeatedly attempts to connect with his family, and he remains capable of being moved by beauty and human expression. The most poignant scene and the one where many of the points touched upon in this character analysis of Gregor in “The Metamorphosis” are realizes, not to mention the one that demonstrates the complete collapse of mercy and justice in the family, is when Gregor creeps from his room to hear Grete play her violin. Hearing Grete’s music, Gregor feels, as is stated in one of the important quotes from “The Metamorphosis” by Kafka, “as if the way were opening before him to the unknown nourishment he craved” (37). He is erroneous to think that he can connect with Grete by expressing his appreciation for her music, and the stage is set for his complete dismissal and condemnation by his family. He is essentially given a death sentence.

Kafka’s The Metamorphosis is an exaggerated symbolic tale that tackles an ambitious number of themes.One of the most important of these is the collapse of justice and mercy, even among those people who are expected to be most fair and compassionate. Gregor’s metamorphosis is indeed terrible, but more terrible still is the psychological corruption of Gregor’s family. Their inability to adapt to the changes that have occurred signal a total breakdown in the family structure, and offer a cautionary tale about the fragility of notions of justice and mercy.

Other essays in the Literature Archives related to this topic include :   The Themes of Claustrophobia and Guilt in Kafka’s Metamorphosis   •   Transformation & Narration in Metamorphosis, Gulliver’s Travels and The Death of Ivan Ilych

Work Cited

 Bloom, Harold. Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. New York: Chelsea House, 1988.

Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. New York: Crown, 2003.

 “The Metamorphosis” by Kafka presents readers with an intensely claustrophobic and absurd premise featuring a protagonist that is so used to living like an insect and so consumed with guilt that these elements of his life finally take over and lead to his demise. In this world Kafka creates, Gregor lives like an insect even before his metamorphosis and this theme is developed at the beginning of the story when he wakes up to find that he has become what he most resembled in his life.

The idea of guilt and scurrying about to please others figures prominently in this text and it is useful to look at the ways in which a compounding sense of guilt leads to Gregor’s final resignation to death in Kafka’s short story, The Metamorphosis. For a man that had lived his life scurrying about, trying not to be noticed, and providing for the rest of the hive, to be shut off from this world that gave his futile actions meaning leads to his end. The claustrophobia of always being monitored, regulated, and working (in constant insect-like fashion) only adds to Gregor’s feelings of guilt in “The Metamorphosis” and responsibility and in the end, it seems that Kafka is making a rather overt statement on the nature of middle-class life.

            Gregor incites a great deal of pity from the reader throughout “The Metamorphosis”, especially since it seems that he is doomed to being the insect that he has literally become. He describes his job, almost in an off-hand way, in between surveying his freakish new body. “What a fate, to be condemned to work for a firm where the smallest omission at once gave rise to the greatest suspicion” (74) he thinks to himself and the reader is aware for the first time out of many to follow that Gregor is truly consigned to a particular fate. His father’s business has failed and his mother and sister are relying on him for financial support. If he fails to get up for work he feels guilty because he needs to make money and worse, if he misses the train, his boss comes. In an incident that further emphasizes the absurd nature of this claustrophobic household, the boss actually shows up and makes a speech and Gregor knows, even before he comes, as stated in one of the important quotes from “The Metamorphosis” by Kafka that, “The chief himself would be sure to come with the sick-insurance doctor, would reproach his parents with their son’s laziness and would cut all excuses short” (70). There is a constant pressure on Gregor to provide, both for his family and his job and after so much tyranny, so many people regulating his life, he has become a little insect, busying himself aimlessly, but for the sake of his brood.

In some senses, it is not surprising that Gregor should wake one morning to find that he is an insect and in fact, in “The Metamorphosis” the reader is provided with enough clues to decipher the meaning of this immediately after being informed of his grisly metamorphosis. Before the transformation, Gregor lived like an insect, always scuttling about and kowtowing to greater pressures such as familial guilt and responsibility as well as a servile sense of duty to his soul-sucking job. His description of his profession can be equated with an insect’s daily habits and he states, “Traveling about day in and day out. It’s much more irritating work than doing the actual business in the office in the office and 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” (68). Just as insects travel about all day, busying themselves yet at the same time achieving nothing, Gregor scuttles through his day, occasionally running across another insect and eating morsels as he finds them.

This is a rather pathetic existence and the reader soon learns that much of Gregor’s ability to live in this manner is based on an overriding sense of guilt and duty—a sense that is so strong it literally transforms him into a personification of inane activity and hopeless subservience to fate. His fate, it seems, is to provide for his family and there are several instances in which he laments his inability to provide for his mother, father, and dear sister. The narrator states, revealing one of these themes in “The Metamorphosis”, “Gregor’s sole desire was to do his utmost to help the family to forget as soon as possible the catastrophe which had overwhelmed the business and thrown them all into a state of complete despair” (95) and this sense of blind duty compels him to work a meaningless, menial job that has both figuratively and literally turned him into a filthy, scuttling, and helpless insect. While this is true on a more basic level, the root of Gregor’s problem stems from a deep-seated feeling of guilt, an emotion that eventually leads to his demise. By the end of the story, Gregor has completely lost his purpose and for a man that once existed simply as a utilitarian creature (again, like an insect since he lives only to fulfill his duty to the group). At one point, his feelings of uselessness are described as, ““Gregor was now cut off from his mother, who was perhaps nearly dying because of him; he dared not open the door for fear of frightening his sister, who had to stay with her mother, there was nothing he could do but wait; and harassed by self-reproach and worry he began to crawl to and fro” (109) and it is clear that the guilt of being useless is mounting and leading to his resignation in the face of death.

In many ways, The Metamorphosis by Kafka  seems to be criticizing the values of a middle or working class society that is so invested in their finances that they forget to be human. The jobs they work are thankless and rather useless, the bosses they work under are tyrants, there are always dependents and new things to work for, thus never allowing rest. Gregor, while trying to conform to this model of middle class society, at least for the sake of his idealized family, lost his humanity in a very literal way and thus all the scenes of hopelessness, futility, inability to community, and loss of a sense of reality are all symptoms of a greater societal problem. In the end it was the guilt of not being able to fulfill these many roles that was the end of Gregor, but the transformation itself was the result of a life that was lived in only a utilitarian sense.

Other essays in the Literature Archives related to this topic include :   Character Analysis of Gregor in “The Metamorphosis”   • Transformation & Narration in Metamorphosis, Gulliver’s Travels and The Death of Ivan Ilych

Source: Kafka, Franz, Trans. Willa Muir. The Metamorphosis, The Penal Colony, and Other Stories. New York: Schocken Books, 1948.

While the Houyhnhnms in “Gulliver’s Travels” have an ideal way of life, the fact that Swift makes them non-human creatures is important because it suggests that only non-humanoid creatures are capable of living in a balanced and just utopia—that there is something inherent to the human race that breeds conflict. With this in mind it is important to realize that the Lilliputians are similar to Englishmen, the only difference being their diminutive size. Although Swift makes changes such as this in terms of plot, it clear that this is still a satire of English society in “Gulliver’s Travels” While it is true that the Lilliputians in “Gulliver’s Travels” are a way Swift remarks on the triviality of events that are made to seem important in politics and society, this depiction of their society nonetheless serves to remark upon the ways in which an English utopia could be achieved—especially in terms of law.

During Swift’s time the monarchy had a direct influence, even in the realm of law although there was a growing bureaucracy developing. This is satirized in “Gulliver’s Travels” by the Lilliputians who take extensive inventory of all of Gulliver’s possessions and are prone to making “official” edicts governing the lives of Gulliver and the rest of the citizens. At one point, amazed with the gall of the little people, Gulliver remarks in one of the important quotes from Gulliver’s Travels, “I could not sufficiently wonder at the intrepidity of these diminutive mortals, who durst venture to mount and walk on my body, while one of my hands was at liberty, without trembling at the sight of prodigious creature as I must appear to them” (2338). This overwhelming self-importance is key to Swift’s satire in “Gulliver’s Travels” as even the most minute issue is made to be of vast political and bureaucratic importance.

For example, to highlight this theme in “Gulliver’s Travels” by Swift, recall that a war broke out between Lilliput and Blefuscu because of the proper way to break eggs after an Emperor many years before cut his finger on an eggshell. “Whereupon the Emperor published an edict, commanding all his subjects, under great penalties, to break the smaller end of their eggs. The people so highly resented this law, that our histories tell us there have been six rebellions raised on this account” (3253). This makes the squabbles that resulted in great strife in England seem equally as silly, especially since so much of the debate was based on the “proper” way to interpret which end of the egg was the smallest. Although for the reader, the introduction to Lilliput sounds much like a miniature and more absurd England, as the description of the land and government continues it becomes clear that although the Lilliputians suffer from the same flaws inherent in English society (pompous government, rebellions over relatively minor issues, and a tendency to over-regulate the more mundane aspects of life, to name a few) they posses many beliefs that allow them to be more utopian—especially when compared to England.

While this satire is present in “Gulliver’s Travels” , it is worth noting that although the Lilliputians are objects of a great deal of ridicule, they are, despite their small size, in some ways more progressive than the England Swift seeks to discuss in the novel. For example, even though the Lilliputians have a well-established class system that is similar to that of England (with monarchs, aristocracy, and peasants) Gulliver remarks on the fact, “Whoever there can bring sufficient proof that he hath strictly observed the laws of his country for seventy-three moons, hath a claim to certain privileges, according to his quality and station in life” (2359). This conveys not only a deep respect for the aged in society but reflects a government that does not merely punish crimes, but rewards good behavior. This reward after many years of being an honest and upright citizen pays dividends and makes it worthwhile for a citizen to maintain good law-abiding behavior. What is most remarkable about this clause is that the gains from this good behavior are not passed down to sons or daughters but are the rewards strictly for the one who earned it. This eliminates class privileges since in Swift’s England, many of the privileges were inherited rather than earned thus creating a wealthy class that prone to idleness and a lack of concern for the future since they were sure to be taken care of because of old money. While there is an aristocracy in Lilliputian society, there is a sense that much of a person’s position is just as dependent on their personal characteristics and talents as is placed on inherited wealth or power. This is one of the clearest examples in the text of a realistic or attainable utopia since it is based on traditional English models of class and society yet is infused with greater incentive for the individual to attain their position.

Making a comparison between “The Death of Ivan Ilych” by Tolstoy and “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad would normally not be an easy task in terms of common themes or plots but where the two novels converge is in their embodiment of modernism. Literary modernism is distinguished by the styles of other significant periods in a number of important ways. First, the modernist novel represents the world as a fragmented place, its inhabitants and characters divided by their external differences as well as internal and philosophical ones. The narrator of the modernist novel is often indifferent or neutral about these differences; rather than offering a didactic or editorializing social commentary about the need to bridge these differences, the narrator in a novel with characteristics of modernism simply reports the nature of the situation and leaves the reader to his or her own devices to render a judgment about whether the differences should be resolved.

Another of the important characteristics of a modernist novel is the sense of interpersonal fragmentation is emphasized by the lack of a unifying moral imperative and shared values system. The world in a novel depicting modernism is chaotic, possibly dangerous, and difficult to understand. This is not to say, however, that there is any yearning for a specific idealized past. The characters and their actions are located fully in the present moment, even when they are unclear about where they are going. This lack of clarity is often left unresolved in the modernist novel; the modernist author feels no compelling need to provide the reader with a clear or neat resolution. An analysis of the novel “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad as well as some of the important themes in “Heart of Darkness” by Conrad for that matter as well as the novel “The Death of Ivan Ilych” by Tolstoy leads the reader to conclude that it is and “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad  that is the more modernist of the two.

In “The Death of Ivan Ilych” by Tolstoy the relationships among the main characters, especially among Ivan and his family members, appear to be fragmented and disjointed, which is a trait of modernism. The main character of this example of modernism in a novel, Ivan, who is mainly interested in maintaining appearances, distances himself from his wife emotionally and physically because she does not conform to the expectations that he has for her. This appearance of distance is superficial, though, for by the novel’s conclusion the reader observes that there is a high level of emotional connection that exists among all of the characters, even though such distance might have appeared to exist simply as a plot device. In addition to the fact that the characters are more connected and less fragmented than they appear, the narrator conveys a particular lesson to the reader about character in general. As Ivan lies on his deathbed and experiences a transformation of understanding about the nature of his life, the novel’s message is unequivocal: the reader is encouraged to avoid living a life that imitates death.

Near the conclusion of “Death of Ivan Ilych” by Tolstoy, as Ivan is finally beginning to start dying, he declares, “Death is finished” (Tolstoy 81). It is clear that he is not referring to the act of death itself, but the dead life he has been living. This ending provides a clear resolution to the narrative and the philosophical dilemma which has been developing throughout the novel. The kind of ambiguity that typically marks the modernist novel is absent from both the novel and this analysis of “The Death of Ivan Ilych” by Tolstoy . The reader knows Ivan is going to die, and Ivan knows this, too. While these are the most obvious anti-modern characteristics of “The Death of Ivan Ilych” by Tolstoy, there are more subtle ones as well. Ivan is never fully in the present moment until he has his deathbed epiphany. He is always striving either to capture some sense of a past that he views as ideal or to hurry the future along so that he can enjoy a better salary and more prestige.