This essay will explore the story, The Metamorphosis, written by Franz Kafka,  and will mostly be reffering to Gregor’s death. We will be studying  the language features used throughout them. We will also be studying the movie by Chris Swanton and explaining the  difference between the such as how it changes from the film to the novella or how it is presented in various way. We may be looking at the ways the compare to each other by using camera angles or detail.

In both the film and the novella, Gregor’s death is presented as a relief to Gregor. In Kafka’s version (the book), we can see this when Kafka states, “The rotten apple in his back and the inflames surrounding area, entirely covered with white dust, he hardly noticed”. This quotation shows that while alive he has felt excruciating pain. The word ‘inflamed’ suggests that the pain Gregor feels is a burning sensation. He uses imagery to show the extent of Gregor’s injuries. However the phrase ‘he hardly noticed’ shows that he has become used to the pain and that death has come as a relief. Kafka places this clause at the end of the sentence because he is trying to with hold the information because despite the fact that the apple is rotting on his back, he really does not want to notice it with all that is happening around it. In the Swantons’ version (the movie), we can see this when near the end (the dying scene), the little dust ball representing Gregor’s breathing, is blown gently. We can tell that this is a relief to Gregor because if it was painful, then Gregor (in th demolished state he is stuck in), would be blowing very harshly giving the film watcher an idea of the pain th Gregor is forced to go through. In this scene, you need to focus on the little dust ball to understand how weak Gregor is and the fact that the dust ball is just barely moving and then it stops completely. Because of this we can tell that dying is a relief to Gregor.

In both the film and the novella, Gregor’s death is presents as a relief to his family. In Kafka’s version, we can see this when the maid wakes up the whole family to present a dead Gregor to them in the early morning. As the family crowd around the corpse (this word provides the reader that Gregor is still there because a dead person’s body is known as a corpse – Humanization) Mr Samsa says, “Well, now we can give thanks to God”. “Then he crossed himself and the three women followed his example”. We can tell this a relief to the family because the statement, “Well now we can give thanks to God”, shows that they are thankful for Gregors’ death, perhaps the fact that the amount of stress it made for the family to take care of a dung beetle that only eats rotten food and the family eats human food. Maybe the fact that it drive away the lodgers and stopped the familys’ income of money. The phrase ‘thanks to God’ shows that they are grateful for the death of Gregor and all the trouble he has caused thy can be removed. With this we know that the death of Gregor is a relief to the family. In the Swantons’ version, we can see this is the scene after Gregor has scared the lodgers and he is walking back into his room and as soon as he enters his room, Grete rushes behind him and locks the door and shouts “Finally!”. We can see this is a relief to the family because it is almost as if they are throwing the weight off their shoulders and it is no longer a burden to the Samsa family. The personality of Grete continues to change because she cannot decide whether staying with Gregor is the right thing for her or if it could continue to break apart her family, as the beetle that has been staying with them has given her mother a series of shocks and/or attacks and has just been aggravating her father countless times. So locking Gregor in his room and having him die has thrown the weight off the family’s shoulders and with this we know the death of Gregor has been a relief to the family.

In the film version of Metamorphosis, Gregor’s death is presented as painful whereas in the novella it is presented as peaceful. We can tell this because the film version puts more emphasis on the hatred of Gregor in comparison that his appearance shows that he is no longer human. In his last hours of death it appeared that he caused a bit of a havoc and had negative attention pressured on him. He had what seemed like a dream for him to finally be accepted as what he is and for him to announce the present he had got for his sister (also to mention, he looked more healthier that what he really looked like), instead it turned out to be the complete opposite as he sat in his room isolated from his family. Having only family to be there for you and something slips up and all of a sudden they are against you, it shows how people, even family, could be at the change of a valued member. With this we can tell the Gregor’s death was painful. In Kafka’s version, the novella, it is presented as peaceful. In Kafka’s version we can see this when Kafka states, “He remained in this state of empty and peaceful reflection until the tower clock struck three o’clock in the morning. From the window he witnesses the beginning of the general dawning outside.” The language feature ‘Imagery’ is used in this context and allows the reader to easily have an understanding of what is happening and the detail shows the enables them to have a picture in mind about it. Therefore in this paragraph, we know that Gregor’s death, in the book, is presented as peaceful.

In the film version of Metamorphosis, Gregor appears to die of his family’s rejection whereas in the novella he appears to die from his physical wounds. In the Swanton’s version, to them(the family) it appeared as if they were doing the best they could, almost trying to adapt to his way of living. In fact to Gregor, it seemed like they shared complete disgust in everything that Gregor done. They no longer looked at him as the human he once was, but as the monstrous verminous bug he is now. They completely isolated him from what ever is happening and attempted to stop the public from seeing his appearance. But towards the end, his sister violin managed to bring out part of his humanity showing that he still had a bit of his human side remaining. But it was of no use, being locked in the room completely isolated him from his family and almost alienated him with the looks he received from them. His father did not really want to know him (before and after his transformation), and in the end his sister showed that she has had completely enough of looking after this monster. In the end they just stopped feeding him and left him to fend as the monster he is. With this we know that Gregor has died from his family’s rejection. In the novella, it shows that he dies from his physical wounds. We can understand this when Kafka states, “He soon made the discovery that he could no longer move at all. He was not surprised by that. On the contrary, it struck him as unnatural that he had really been able to this point to move around with the thin little legs.” The phrase ‘He was not surprised by that’ shows that he has seen the limit that his legs can reach and this shows a sign of his physical wounds affecting simple everyday things, but the fact that he is not surprised shows that he knew this was coming. Not to forget that he was forcing himself not to eat, making him weaker and skinnier. He refers to his ‘little legs’ in comparison to the rest of his body showing the difference in size between them. One major factor of his physical wounds could be his malnutrition. Therefore he appears  to die from his physical wounds.

To conclude, Gregor’s being presented as peaceful was supported by Gregor’s soothing breathing without having it be painful. This point could be compared to the movie with the gently tilting fluff ball and the appearance of Gregor as if he is just allowing these things to happen to him. My second point (relief) is presented by Gregor allowing himself to feel painless as he knows the pain woud go away. The movie supports this as Gregor struggles  to get into his death position and slowly stops. When something hurts  we try to avoid putting anything that would hurt the injured area. Overall, throughout the novella and film of The Metamorphosis, Gregor’s death is presented as peaceful.