Реферат: The Metamorphosis Essay Research Paper The MetamorphosisKafka
Here Grete’s betrayal of her brother is final and absolute. Grete, in
this scene, reaches the plateau of her metamorphosis into an enemy of Gregor,
and is left only to change physically and advance in her womanhood. While she
tries to salvage the situation by hastily making the boarders’ beds, the violin
clangs to the floor, symbolizing her rejection of Gregor and her rapport with
him (Lawson 33). At this point she dissociates the name of her brother from the
insect when addressing her parents: “We must try to get rid of it. It will be
the death of both of you, I can see that coming” (p. 51). And later, “It has to
go” (p. 52). Gregor is no longer “he,” but “it.” She sees the complete
disappearance of Gregor the human and the complete rise of the beetle. “How
can this 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” (p. 52). Grete condemns Gregor to death when she urgently locks him
into his own room, crying “At last” (p. 53) to her parents as she turns the key
in the lock. Even in death, Gregor retains tender feelings for his family: “He
thought of his family with tenderness and love. The decision that he must
disappear was one that he held to even more strongly than his sister” (p. 55).
Grete’s betrayal was just one more emotional trauma Gregor had to face.
Gregor’s death stands in contrast to the final image of “The
Metamorphosis”. Grete has now undergone her transformation into womanhood. She
wakes up to find her body has bloomed in the wake of Gregor’s disappearance
(Thiher 44). Kafka’s endings begs no questions: “It struck both Mr. and Mrs.
Samsa, almost at the same moment, as they became aware of their daughters
increasing vivacity, that in spite of all the sorrow of recent times, which had
made her cheeks pale, she had bloomed into a pretty girl with a good figure” (p.
58). Grete has emerged from her adolescence into her young adult role in the
real world (Lawson 34). Thus, her parents tacitly agree that “it would soon be
time to find a good husband for her” (p. 58).
Grete’s metamorphosis into womanhood can be contrasted with the mother’s