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The Metamorphosis

2006-04-26T14:27:36Z

RArmstead: /* Works Cited */

==Summary==
Gregory Samsa is a traveling salesman who financially supports his family. He wakes up in the morning to find out he has been transformed into a Dung Beetle. He is in shock after his reality sets in and tries to figure out how he is going to get to work. Although they try to assimilate the change, his family is horrified and keeps Gregory locked in his room. Gregory eventually dies, leaving his family free.

==Study Guide==

===Chapter 1 Summary===
The first chapter of The Metamorphosis is the chapter that Gregory Samsa wakes up to find that he has morphed into a bug. The bug is never truly revealed and Kafka wanted it to be that way. Kafka said that a "concrete image would be too distracting and shut off sympathy" (Fleissner 225), so the true identity of the bug is left up to the reader.

Gregory's parents worry about him when he has not gotten up to go to work, so his family goes to his room and then Gregory's chief clerk comes to his house to see why Gregory has not come to work. Gregory hears that that the clerk has come to check on him so he tries to make it out of his room by turning the key with his mouth and when he opens door, he frightens his family and the clerk, sending the clerk running and sends his father into a frenzied state to put Gregory back in his room. Gregory’s mother faints when she sees him. His family stays away from him, careful not to disturb him or disturb themselves. Gregory eventually loses his human voice and takes on all appearances and actions of a bug. The chapter ends when “The door was banged to with the stick, and at last there was silence” (1976). This is when Gregory’s father successfully shoves him back to his room away from the rest of the family for the time being.

===Chapter 2 Summary===

After Gregor awakens he finds a bowl of sweet milk with slices of wheat bread. He soon finds that this food does not please him and leaves it alone. Later Grete brings in an assortment of food to find what he likes and discovers he can only eat the rotten stuff. For the next few days the routine was that Gregor would hide up under a couch whenever Grete brought in his food. Soon Gregor found enjoyment in crawling around on the ceiling and walls. Grete learned of this and decided to take the furniture out of the room so he could crawl easier. Grete and her mother began to take all the furniture out of the room and this made him upset. While trying to protect one of his pictures from being taken Gregor's mother saw him and fainted. This caused panic and Gregor left his room to follow Grete to get something to help their mother. When Gregor's father came home he got into a fight with Gregor in which he threw some apples at him striking him in the back.

===Chapter 3 Summary===

It has been a month since Gregory’s injury form the apple. He now resembles an “elderly invalid” and has trouble with mobility. Gregory’s parents and sister all have jobs now; his mother works as a seamstress, his father works at the bank and his sister works as a shop assistance. A new maid has also been hired. Gregory spends most of his days and nights sleeping and thinking about his family and his former job. His sister Meg begins spending less time with him and his appetite has begun to deplete. Three lodgers come to stay at his house. While they are there, the door where Gregory can see out of stays shut so he can not see out. One night, Meg plays the violin for the men. The door that is usually shut was left open by the maid and Gregory peeps out. The middle lodger spots him and is grossed out. He gives notice to Gregory’s parents that they will be leaving and that they do not intend to pay for their stay because of the filthy conditions. The next morning, the maid goes in to clean Gregory’s room and finds him dead. She informs his family and they decide to move to a smaller, less expensive apartment. The chapter ends with talk of finding Meg a husband.

==Major Themes==

===Alienation===
The theme of alienation plays a major role in the story because Gregory is alienated from his family and society before the metamorphosis occurs and even more so afterwards. Kafka uses the theme of alienation in this story to "comment on the human need to experience love and acceptance" (Hughes). Gregory's mother tells his boss when they first discover that something is wrong, "He's not well, sir, you can take it from me. What else would make him miss his train? Why, the boy thinks of nothing but his work! It makes me quite cross that he never goes out in the evening..." (1970). Before the metamorphosis, Gregory's work is what alienates him from his family and society.

After the metamorphosis, however, it is his distinct features that alienate him. One example of the alienation is that his family locks him in his bedroom. Gregory is not allowed to be a part of the family. Gregory then has to make the adjustment from being a man in the working world and traveling everyday, to being a prisoner in his own bedroom (Hughes). Another way that Gregory's family alienates him is that when they talk about him, they openly talk about his features in front of him because they think that he cannot understand what they are saying. "If he understood what we said...we might be able to come to an arrangement with him. But as things are..." (1995). They refer to Gregory as "it" rather than by his name. "It has to go...it's the only way, father. You must just try to get out of the habit of thinking that it's Gregory" (1995). In this way, the reader finds out that the family has stopped acknowledging Gregory as their son. The family also treats Gregory like an animal by the way that they feed him. Gregory's sister would bring in scraps from the table that the family wouldn't eat to feed him. "She brought him a whole selection of things, all laid out on an old newspaper, to see what he liked. There were some old half rotten vegetables; the bones from supper, covered with congealed white sauce; some raisins and almonds; a piece of cheese...two days old; a slice of dry bread..." (1978). The family treated him like an animal, rather than their son who got sick and needed his family to look after him.

===Guilt===
The theme of guilt is relevent to the story because it is a very powerful emotion. Gregory is upset that he can't go out and work because of what has happened to him. Even though the metamorphosis wasn't his fault, he still blams himself (Altshuler). Gregory also feels guilty because his family can't move on, literally and mentally. The thing that kept his family from moving on was "their feeling of utter dispair and the idea that they had been struck by a misfortune exceeding anything ever experienced within their entire circle of friends and relations" (1989). Gregory blams himself for this because if this tragedy hadn't happened, his family wouldn't feel the need that they had to move. Gregory also has a guilty feeling because he wants to see his mother, but he knows that he cannot because her reaction to seeing him would not be a good one. When Meg and her mother were moving furniture out of Gregory's room, the mother saw him on the wall. Her reaction was "in a shrill, strident voice, 'Oh God, oh God!' and with arms outstretched as if giving up altogether fell back on the couch and lay still" (1985). Gregory knew that his mother would not take well to seeing him like that, but he stayed on the wall just the same, to protect a painting.

===Novella===
Technically a theme, but more of a genre so to speak, that is unknown to most of us present day readers of Kafka is novella. "A novella is a short novel; a narrative work of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prose prose] fiction somewhat longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. A common length is about 50 to 100 pages. The extra length is generally used for more character development than is possible in a short story, but without the much greater character and plot development of a novel. Novellas often are characterized by satire or moral teaching" (Wikipedia).

Satire: This is clearly evident as "[http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/litwiki/index.php/The_Metamorphosis#Summary The Metamorphosis] is obviously a story about alienation. Gregor's life is dictated by his dead-end job and family responsibilities to the extent that even when he travels to different towns, he prefers to stay in his hotel room studying train timetables rather than experience what the new location has to offer. That isolation is mirrored in his relationship with his family, for whom he is the bread-winner but from whom he locks himself away at night. This alienation becomes so pronounced that, one day, he discovers himself to be literally no longer human. Gregor's earlier sentiment is reciprocated when his family begins locking and bolting the door shut behind him in his room. Late in the story, he briefly considers what it means to be 'human'; if he can be so moved by his sister's music then surely he cannot be an animal. And ultimately, his acceptance that he must go shows an act of genuine humanity" (Archer).

Moral Teaching: Try interpreting the story without Gregor's transformation. "In this interpretation, the other characters in the story would not see a man-sized beetle. Instead, they see a man so alienated from reality that he chooses to reject it totally. He is still a man, the same man they saw the previous day, but now he is crawling awkwardly on the floor and squeaking rather than speaking. He would prefer the shame of living as an insect to the hopelessness of living as a man. He would rather live in squalor and eat scraps from the rubbish than deal with the mind-numbing sameness of his life and accept responsibility for changing it. The abhorrence the family displays upon seeing him would still be the same - perhaps it would be even greater if they still just saw a man. They would be forced to accept the situation in the same way; still hoping [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/litwiki/index.php/The_Metamorphosis#Gregory_Samsa Gregor] will put himself right before finally admitting the man they knew will never return. As nightmarish as the scenario presented in the book is, maybe the only thing worse than inexplicably transforming into a giant bug overnight is wishing you had" (Archer).

===Reversal of Roles===

At the begining Gregory is the one who supports his family. He is bringing home the money while his father sits in his chair and sleeps. This may have "crippled the father's self-esteem because he took over the father's position in the family" (Coulehan). After Gregory's transformation, the roles reversed and the father re-assumes his positon as the provider forthe family. Gregory now becomes weak and his father kills him.

===Loss of Humanity===

The theme of humanity is shown in the story by how it is taken away from Gregor. His humanity is slowly taken away from him throughout the story not just by his transformation into a bug. Gregor’s first link to humanity that is taken away was that of him being the bread winner for the family. “Gregors humanity, to the extent that his parents and sister acknowledge it, is inextricably tied to his function as economic provider.” (Rowe). Later in the story more is pulled away when Grete begins taking objects out of his room. This made Gregory reminisce about his human life. “They were clearing his room out, taking everything that was dear to him…”(p.1985). Here the last things that ever tied him to having a human existence were removed. When a person is inflicted with a severe illness it is easy for those around that person to be horrified by that person’s appearance (Rowe). The ill patient can not defend his or herself so the people around do not think about how the patient feels (Rowe). This causes the patient to lose their humanity (Rowe). Gregor is inflicted with a unique illness but the outcome is the same. The most famous occurrence of a patient losing their humanity is that of Terry Schiavo. Everybody had their own opinion of Shiavo’s fate. Schiavo could not defend herself or give her opinion of her fate. That situation was turned into a political circus and ultimately stripped Schiavo of her humanity. Rowe states that The Metamorphosis warns against this treatment of people with illnesses.

===Materialistic===

Modern Society is leading us down a path to care more about the material things rather than the things that truly matter. Gregory Samsa, the one person who cared more about his family than money, worked long hours at a job that he disliked not because of his love for the job, but so that his family could have a good life. His family on the other hand was enjoying a work free life. Mankind gets so caught up in the bureaucracy of society that we sometimes forget what what matters most. We get jobs so that we can buy the materialistic things we desire. This need for money and material things can change our mindset and forget what is truly important in our lives. In, The Metamorphosis, Gregory turns into some sort of insect, while this is something that is very dramatic and would be very hard to deal with, Kafka is trying to show how Gregory’s family rejects him, not only because of his appearance but because he can no longer go to work, no longer will his family be able live off the income he generates, no more material things without a little hard work. After the metamorphosis Gregory will no longer be able to fit into society, therefore his family begins to shun him. Not one of his family members ever tries to find out what happened and what could be done to fix it. One by one Gregory’s family members grow further away from him, forgetting all of the selfless deeds he did for all of them.

===Modern Spirituality===

Franz Kafka’s ''The Metamorphosis'' goes against what most writers would consider normal writing layout. His style is peculiar in that he places the climax at the beginning of the narrative-instead of at the end. By choosing to write in this fashion, Kafka steers his readers away from the traditional Aristotelian form of narrative (complication and denouncement) and instead creates his own form. ''The Metamorphosis'' is a brilliant novella that replaces the denouncement and conclusions one would normally expect with a form created from itself.
The first line of the novella proclaims Gregory’s death and the rest of the story a description of his slow dying: “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect” (Bloom 19). Gregory’s metamorphosis is the truth of his life, and his consciousness has lied to him about himself.

===The Reality of Dreams===

Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” was written as perhaps a reflection of his own inner turmoil. His insecurities began with his appearance. As an adult, he never quite grew into his strikingly tall, slender frame: huge eyes framed with thick, dark brows: prominent nose above a melancholy mouth: or his narrow forehead fringed with straight black hair. In fact, his unique looks were a subject of interest to psychologists who felt that his features seemed to fit Kretschmer’s model of the asthenic-schizoid type, which is characterized by a furry crown of hair extending down the forehead: His portrait became sort of a caricature for the model (Baumer 2). Such a categorization made him feel even odder than he already felt. This resulted in his pulling away from the outside world and subsequently plunged him into a loneliness that plagued his entire life.

Kafka developed a mental illness that grew out of his forced isolation. He spent so much time by himself as a child that he could not fathom everyday life. He lacked the ability to interpret everyday demands and compromises such as those required of a job. Even simple exchanges between two people were a mystery to him. Looking for a way to escape his reality, he began living as though he were in a dream because in his dreams, he could be the person he wished he was. Franz Baumer describes Kafka as:
This charming person who, almost like a saint, like St. Francis, talked to fish, who pronounced himself a dream so as not to have his gross, material appearance disturb the state of sleep he considered far more real, who was always sympathetic in his relations to the world and people, who never lost his smile and could often be very witty, who possessed a strong sense of responsibility and dedication to his job (3).

It was soon after this realization that he wrote “The Metamorphosis,” which is how he views the life he must escape. He was noted as saying: “The taste for describing my dreamlike inner existence has pushed everything into the background where it has atrophied in a terrifying way and does not cease to atrophy. Nothing else can satisfy me” (Baumer 3). By morphing Gregory into a bug, instead of a happy child, he is giving the reader an image of how he sees himself.

Both Kafka and Gregory are trapped by their daily reality and dreams of freedom, just as both are destined to die a lonely and tortured death through their metamorphosis. Kafka, who always thought in images that have a powerful impact, was first and foremost a poet. “Kafka’s dreamworlds will reveal themselves as realities only to those who dare gaze into the terrifying depths of our age. The dream is only denser reality” (Baumer 11).

===Marxism===

Karl Marx distinguishes human labor from that of animal productivity by the fact that “doing one’s work for its own sake affords the worker joy” (Sokel 106). Gregor is working in order to support his family and pay his parents’ debt. His employment is “totally determined by needs external to itself and Gregor” which is against the philosophy of Marxism that requires there to be some joy and creativeness in the labor that one does.

Marxism sees the worker’s labor being exploited by the capitalist employer. “Gregor’s relationship with his father thus represents this exact paradigm” as a majority of Gregor’s earnings go to his parents’ debt and the needs of the household (Sokel 108). Only a small amount is retained by Gregor himself. It is this servitude in which the fruit of Gregor’s labor belongs to someone else and the is a “loss of self” (Sokel 108).

The three lodgers represent another level of capitalism. They “assume the dominant place in the household merely by virtue of their paying power” which allows them free reign within the household with all the members eager to cater to them (Sokel 112). This only “brings to ahead what had been the family’s enslavement to the capitalist world through the father’s original guilt” (Sokel 113).

Gregor’s metamorphosis renders his physical body no longer human rendering him no longer able to aid his family in sustaining their physical needs. He becomes alone and isolated even taking on the likes and hobbies of the insect in which he is transformed into. This is what Marx referred to as the “total dehumanization of man which he saw as the ultimate fate of man under capitalism” (Sokel 110). Gregor’s transformation

==Characters==

===Gregory Samsa===
A traveling salesman responsible for providing for his family. His metamorphosis into a insect leaves a stuggle between his human mind and insect needs. The metamorphosis also strengthens his family at the end.

===Mother===
Gregory's mother seems to be the weakest and hit the hardest by her son’s metamorphosis. The effect of this metamorphosis on her health is terrible. Every time she sees him, she has some sort of panic attack. Gregory’s father and sister try to protect his mother from him.

===Father===
Gregor's father more less plays the role of dictator in the story and this is due to his hostilities and interpersonal power dynamics in the family, This is evident with passages such as, "His father looked hostile and clenched a fist as if to force Gregory back into his room;" (1973). With Gregor single handedly maintaining the well being of the family his father is obviously a defeated man who is in a very unhealthy state. A man in which critic Jesse Lichtenstein suggests that recent business failure has seemingly sapped his vitality, and that he finds new confidence and better posture once the economic necessity engendered by Gregor's misfortune forces him to work again (Lichtenstein). In fact, with the story being arranged in three sections, two of the three end in chaos with violence inflicted upon Gregor from his father. As suggested by writer Johannes Pfeiffer, “the first brought about by the arrival of the chief clerk, ends with the father using his stick and newspaper to drive the monster his son has become back into his room (1975); the second, set in motion by the clearing out of the furniture, ends with the brutal bombardment of the son with apples” (1987) (Pfeiffer 53). This just goes to show that Gregor’s father wasn’t the most desirable father to have.

===Grete===
The sister of Gregory Samsa who feeds him and takes care of him. This however will change. She stops believing that Gregory is the bug and tells her family that it is time to move on with their lives.

===The lodgers===
Rent out a room in the Samsa's flat.

==Literary Interpertation==
Gregory ultimately becomes what his job is, a bug. He pesters and bugs his clients, just like a bug does to anyone else. It can also be psychoanalytically interpreted as the prevention of “the imminent rebellion of the son against the father. Gregory had become strong as a result of his father's failure. He crippled his father's self-esteem and took over the father's position in the family. After the catastrophe, the same sequence takes place in reverse: son becomes weak, and father kills him” (Coulehan).

==Study Questions==
#What sort of bug does Gregory Samsa change into overnight?
#What is the significance of Gregory's job? How does his job effect his family?
#How does the chief clerk from Gregory's job act towards the Samsa's and in general about the entire situation?
#What two people does Gregory think would be the "strongest" and most able to help get him out of bed in the morning? What do you think that this signifies?
#What family member feeds Gregory after he is changed into a bug?
#What is the outside weather like during the "Metamorphosis"? Does this climate help set the mood at all?
#What type of relationship does Gregory have with his sister Meg? How would you describe it?
#How does Gregory die at the end of "The Metamorphosis"?

==External Links==
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/metamorph/

==Works Cited==
Altshuler, Roman. "GradeSaver: ClassicNote: The Metamorphosis - Major Themes." www.gradesaver.com. 17 April 2006. GradeSaver. 17 April 2006 <http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/metamorphosis/themes.html>.

Baumer, Franz. ''Franz Kafka''. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1971.

Bloom, Harold. “The Metamorphosis”. ''Modern Critical Interpretations''. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988.

Coulehan, Jack. "The Metamorphosis". Bantam (New York)1997. <http://mchip00.nyu.edu/lit-med/lit-med-db/webdocs/webdescrips/kafka98-des-.html>

Hughes, Katherine. "Seperate and Alone: Alienation as a Central Theme in Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Kafka's Metamorphosis." 9 November 2002. 17 April 2006. <http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/metamorphosis/essay1.html>

Fleissner, Robert F. "Is Gregor Samsa a Bed Bug? Kafka and Dickens Revisited." ''Studies in Short Fiction''. Vol. 22, Issue 2 (1985): p 225.

"Novella". Wikipedia. 11 April 2006. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 17 April 2006.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella>.

"Kafka's 'The Metamorphosis' ". Ed. Archer, Lincoln. 25 October 2004. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/home/d/ BBC]. 17 April 2006.
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3023065>.

Lichtenstein, Jesse. "SparkNote on The Metamorphosis". 16 April 2006. 17 Apr. 2006. <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/metamorph/characters.html>

Pfeiffer, Johannes. "'The Metamorphosis.'" In Gray, 53-60.

Rowe, Michael. "Metamorphosis: Defending the Human." Literature In Medicine. Baltimore: Fall 2002. vol 21, 264-281

Sokel, Walter. “From Marx to Myth: The structure and function of Self Alienation in Kafka’s Metamorphosis.” Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis: Modern Critical Interpretations. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988.

[[Category:World Literature]]

The Metamorphosis

2006-04-26T14:26:34Z

RArmstead: /* Works Cited */

==Summary==
Gregory Samsa is a traveling salesman who financially supports his family. He wakes up in the morning to find out he has been transformed into a Dung Beetle. He is in shock after his reality sets in and tries to figure out how he is going to get to work. Although they try to assimilate the change, his family is horrified and keeps Gregory locked in his room. Gregory eventually dies, leaving his family free.

==Study Guide==

===Chapter 1 Summary===
The first chapter of The Metamorphosis is the chapter that Gregory Samsa wakes up to find that he has morphed into a bug. The bug is never truly revealed and Kafka wanted it to be that way. Kafka said that a "concrete image would be too distracting and shut off sympathy" (Fleissner 225), so the true identity of the bug is left up to the reader.

Gregory's parents worry about him when he has not gotten up to go to work, so his family goes to his room and then Gregory's chief clerk comes to his house to see why Gregory has not come to work. Gregory hears that that the clerk has come to check on him so he tries to make it out of his room by turning the key with his mouth and when he opens door, he frightens his family and the clerk, sending the clerk running and sends his father into a frenzied state to put Gregory back in his room. Gregory’s mother faints when she sees him. His family stays away from him, careful not to disturb him or disturb themselves. Gregory eventually loses his human voice and takes on all appearances and actions of a bug. The chapter ends when “The door was banged to with the stick, and at last there was silence” (1976). This is when Gregory’s father successfully shoves him back to his room away from the rest of the family for the time being.

===Chapter 2 Summary===

After Gregor awakens he finds a bowl of sweet milk with slices of wheat bread. He soon finds that this food does not please him and leaves it alone. Later Grete brings in an assortment of food to find what he likes and discovers he can only eat the rotten stuff. For the next few days the routine was that Gregor would hide up under a couch whenever Grete brought in his food. Soon Gregor found enjoyment in crawling around on the ceiling and walls. Grete learned of this and decided to take the furniture out of the room so he could crawl easier. Grete and her mother began to take all the furniture out of the room and this made him upset. While trying to protect one of his pictures from being taken Gregor's mother saw him and fainted. This caused panic and Gregor left his room to follow Grete to get something to help their mother. When Gregor's father came home he got into a fight with Gregor in which he threw some apples at him striking him in the back.

===Chapter 3 Summary===

It has been a month since Gregory’s injury form the apple. He now resembles an “elderly invalid” and has trouble with mobility. Gregory’s parents and sister all have jobs now; his mother works as a seamstress, his father works at the bank and his sister works as a shop assistance. A new maid has also been hired. Gregory spends most of his days and nights sleeping and thinking about his family and his former job. His sister Meg begins spending less time with him and his appetite has begun to deplete. Three lodgers come to stay at his house. While they are there, the door where Gregory can see out of stays shut so he can not see out. One night, Meg plays the violin for the men. The door that is usually shut was left open by the maid and Gregory peeps out. The middle lodger spots him and is grossed out. He gives notice to Gregory’s parents that they will be leaving and that they do not intend to pay for their stay because of the filthy conditions. The next morning, the maid goes in to clean Gregory’s room and finds him dead. She informs his family and they decide to move to a smaller, less expensive apartment. The chapter ends with talk of finding Meg a husband.

==Major Themes==

===Alienation===
The theme of alienation plays a major role in the story because Gregory is alienated from his family and society before the metamorphosis occurs and even more so afterwards. Kafka uses the theme of alienation in this story to "comment on the human need to experience love and acceptance" (Hughes). Gregory's mother tells his boss when they first discover that something is wrong, "He's not well, sir, you can take it from me. What else would make him miss his train? Why, the boy thinks of nothing but his work! It makes me quite cross that he never goes out in the evening..." (1970). Before the metamorphosis, Gregory's work is what alienates him from his family and society.

After the metamorphosis, however, it is his distinct features that alienate him. One example of the alienation is that his family locks him in his bedroom. Gregory is not allowed to be a part of the family. Gregory then has to make the adjustment from being a man in the working world and traveling everyday, to being a prisoner in his own bedroom (Hughes). Another way that Gregory's family alienates him is that when they talk about him, they openly talk about his features in front of him because they think that he cannot understand what they are saying. "If he understood what we said...we might be able to come to an arrangement with him. But as things are..." (1995). They refer to Gregory as "it" rather than by his name. "It has to go...it's the only way, father. You must just try to get out of the habit of thinking that it's Gregory" (1995). In this way, the reader finds out that the family has stopped acknowledging Gregory as their son. The family also treats Gregory like an animal by the way that they feed him. Gregory's sister would bring in scraps from the table that the family wouldn't eat to feed him. "She brought him a whole selection of things, all laid out on an old newspaper, to see what he liked. There were some old half rotten vegetables; the bones from supper, covered with congealed white sauce; some raisins and almonds; a piece of cheese...two days old; a slice of dry bread..." (1978). The family treated him like an animal, rather than their son who got sick and needed his family to look after him.

===Guilt===
The theme of guilt is relevent to the story because it is a very powerful emotion. Gregory is upset that he can't go out and work because of what has happened to him. Even though the metamorphosis wasn't his fault, he still blams himself (Altshuler). Gregory also feels guilty because his family can't move on, literally and mentally. The thing that kept his family from moving on was "their feeling of utter dispair and the idea that they had been struck by a misfortune exceeding anything ever experienced within their entire circle of friends and relations" (1989). Gregory blams himself for this because if this tragedy hadn't happened, his family wouldn't feel the need that they had to move. Gregory also has a guilty feeling because he wants to see his mother, but he knows that he cannot because her reaction to seeing him would not be a good one. When Meg and her mother were moving furniture out of Gregory's room, the mother saw him on the wall. Her reaction was "in a shrill, strident voice, 'Oh God, oh God!' and with arms outstretched as if giving up altogether fell back on the couch and lay still" (1985). Gregory knew that his mother would not take well to seeing him like that, but he stayed on the wall just the same, to protect a painting.

===Novella===
Technically a theme, but more of a genre so to speak, that is unknown to most of us present day readers of Kafka is novella. "A novella is a short novel; a narrative work of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prose prose] fiction somewhat longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. A common length is about 50 to 100 pages. The extra length is generally used for more character development than is possible in a short story, but without the much greater character and plot development of a novel. Novellas often are characterized by satire or moral teaching" (Wikipedia).

Satire: This is clearly evident as "[http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/litwiki/index.php/The_Metamorphosis#Summary The Metamorphosis] is obviously a story about alienation. Gregor's life is dictated by his dead-end job and family responsibilities to the extent that even when he travels to different towns, he prefers to stay in his hotel room studying train timetables rather than experience what the new location has to offer. That isolation is mirrored in his relationship with his family, for whom he is the bread-winner but from whom he locks himself away at night. This alienation becomes so pronounced that, one day, he discovers himself to be literally no longer human. Gregor's earlier sentiment is reciprocated when his family begins locking and bolting the door shut behind him in his room. Late in the story, he briefly considers what it means to be 'human'; if he can be so moved by his sister's music then surely he cannot be an animal. And ultimately, his acceptance that he must go shows an act of genuine humanity" (Archer).

Moral Teaching: Try interpreting the story without Gregor's transformation. "In this interpretation, the other characters in the story would not see a man-sized beetle. Instead, they see a man so alienated from reality that he chooses to reject it totally. He is still a man, the same man they saw the previous day, but now he is crawling awkwardly on the floor and squeaking rather than speaking. He would prefer the shame of living as an insect to the hopelessness of living as a man. He would rather live in squalor and eat scraps from the rubbish than deal with the mind-numbing sameness of his life and accept responsibility for changing it. The abhorrence the family displays upon seeing him would still be the same - perhaps it would be even greater if they still just saw a man. They would be forced to accept the situation in the same way; still hoping [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/litwiki/index.php/The_Metamorphosis#Gregory_Samsa Gregor] will put himself right before finally admitting the man they knew will never return. As nightmarish as the scenario presented in the book is, maybe the only thing worse than inexplicably transforming into a giant bug overnight is wishing you had" (Archer).

===Reversal of Roles===

At the begining Gregory is the one who supports his family. He is bringing home the money while his father sits in his chair and sleeps. This may have "crippled the father's self-esteem because he took over the father's position in the family" (Coulehan). After Gregory's transformation, the roles reversed and the father re-assumes his positon as the provider forthe family. Gregory now becomes weak and his father kills him.

===Loss of Humanity===

The theme of humanity is shown in the story by how it is taken away from Gregor. His humanity is slowly taken away from him throughout the story not just by his transformation into a bug. Gregor’s first link to humanity that is taken away was that of him being the bread winner for the family. “Gregors humanity, to the extent that his parents and sister acknowledge it, is inextricably tied to his function as economic provider.” (Rowe). Later in the story more is pulled away when Grete begins taking objects out of his room. This made Gregory reminisce about his human life. “They were clearing his room out, taking everything that was dear to him…”(p.1985). Here the last things that ever tied him to having a human existence were removed. When a person is inflicted with a severe illness it is easy for those around that person to be horrified by that person’s appearance (Rowe). The ill patient can not defend his or herself so the people around do not think about how the patient feels (Rowe). This causes the patient to lose their humanity (Rowe). Gregor is inflicted with a unique illness but the outcome is the same. The most famous occurrence of a patient losing their humanity is that of Terry Schiavo. Everybody had their own opinion of Shiavo’s fate. Schiavo could not defend herself or give her opinion of her fate. That situation was turned into a political circus and ultimately stripped Schiavo of her humanity. Rowe states that The Metamorphosis warns against this treatment of people with illnesses.

===Materialistic===

Modern Society is leading us down a path to care more about the material things rather than the things that truly matter. Gregory Samsa, the one person who cared more about his family than money, worked long hours at a job that he disliked not because of his love for the job, but so that his family could have a good life. His family on the other hand was enjoying a work free life. Mankind gets so caught up in the bureaucracy of society that we sometimes forget what what matters most. We get jobs so that we can buy the materialistic things we desire. This need for money and material things can change our mindset and forget what is truly important in our lives. In, The Metamorphosis, Gregory turns into some sort of insect, while this is something that is very dramatic and would be very hard to deal with, Kafka is trying to show how Gregory’s family rejects him, not only because of his appearance but because he can no longer go to work, no longer will his family be able live off the income he generates, no more material things without a little hard work. After the metamorphosis Gregory will no longer be able to fit into society, therefore his family begins to shun him. Not one of his family members ever tries to find out what happened and what could be done to fix it. One by one Gregory’s family members grow further away from him, forgetting all of the selfless deeds he did for all of them.

===Modern Spirituality===

Franz Kafka’s ''The Metamorphosis'' goes against what most writers would consider normal writing layout. His style is peculiar in that he places the climax at the beginning of the narrative-instead of at the end. By choosing to write in this fashion, Kafka steers his readers away from the traditional Aristotelian form of narrative (complication and denouncement) and instead creates his own form. ''The Metamorphosis'' is a brilliant novella that replaces the denouncement and conclusions one would normally expect with a form created from itself.
The first line of the novella proclaims Gregory’s death and the rest of the story a description of his slow dying: “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect” (Bloom 19). Gregory’s metamorphosis is the truth of his life, and his consciousness has lied to him about himself.

===The Reality of Dreams===

Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” was written as perhaps a reflection of his own inner turmoil. His insecurities began with his appearance. As an adult, he never quite grew into his strikingly tall, slender frame: huge eyes framed with thick, dark brows: prominent nose above a melancholy mouth: or his narrow forehead fringed with straight black hair. In fact, his unique looks were a subject of interest to psychologists who felt that his features seemed to fit Kretschmer’s model of the asthenic-schizoid type, which is characterized by a furry crown of hair extending down the forehead: His portrait became sort of a caricature for the model (Baumer 2). Such a categorization made him feel even odder than he already felt. This resulted in his pulling away from the outside world and subsequently plunged him into a loneliness that plagued his entire life.

Kafka developed a mental illness that grew out of his forced isolation. He spent so much time by himself as a child that he could not fathom everyday life. He lacked the ability to interpret everyday demands and compromises such as those required of a job. Even simple exchanges between two people were a mystery to him. Looking for a way to escape his reality, he began living as though he were in a dream because in his dreams, he could be the person he wished he was. Franz Baumer describes Kafka as:
This charming person who, almost like a saint, like St. Francis, talked to fish, who pronounced himself a dream so as not to have his gross, material appearance disturb the state of sleep he considered far more real, who was always sympathetic in his relations to the world and people, who never lost his smile and could often be very witty, who possessed a strong sense of responsibility and dedication to his job (3).

It was soon after this realization that he wrote “The Metamorphosis,” which is how he views the life he must escape. He was noted as saying: “The taste for describing my dreamlike inner existence has pushed everything into the background where it has atrophied in a terrifying way and does not cease to atrophy. Nothing else can satisfy me” (Baumer 3). By morphing Gregory into a bug, instead of a happy child, he is giving the reader an image of how he sees himself.

Both Kafka and Gregory are trapped by their daily reality and dreams of freedom, just as both are destined to die a lonely and tortured death through their metamorphosis. Kafka, who always thought in images that have a powerful impact, was first and foremost a poet. “Kafka’s dreamworlds will reveal themselves as realities only to those who dare gaze into the terrifying depths of our age. The dream is only denser reality” (Baumer 11).

===Marxism===

Karl Marx distinguishes human labor from that of animal productivity by the fact that “doing one’s work for its own sake affords the worker joy” (Sokel 106). Gregor is working in order to support his family and pay his parents’ debt. His employment is “totally determined by needs external to itself and Gregor” which is against the philosophy of Marxism that requires there to be some joy and creativeness in the labor that one does.

Marxism sees the worker’s labor being exploited by the capitalist employer. “Gregor’s relationship with his father thus represents this exact paradigm” as a majority of Gregor’s earnings go to his parents’ debt and the needs of the household (Sokel 108). Only a small amount is retained by Gregor himself. It is this servitude in which the fruit of Gregor’s labor belongs to someone else and the is a “loss of self” (Sokel 108).

The three lodgers represent another level of capitalism. They “assume the dominant place in the household merely by virtue of their paying power” which allows them free reign within the household with all the members eager to cater to them (Sokel 112). This only “brings to ahead what had been the family’s enslavement to the capitalist world through the father’s original guilt” (Sokel 113).

Gregor’s metamorphosis renders his physical body no longer human rendering him no longer able to aid his family in sustaining their physical needs. He becomes alone and isolated even taking on the likes and hobbies of the insect in which he is transformed into. This is what Marx referred to as the “total dehumanization of man which he saw as the ultimate fate of man under capitalism” (Sokel 110). Gregor’s transformation

==Characters==

===Gregory Samsa===
A traveling salesman responsible for providing for his family. His metamorphosis into a insect leaves a stuggle between his human mind and insect needs. The metamorphosis also strengthens his family at the end.

===Mother===
Gregory's mother seems to be the weakest and hit the hardest by her son’s metamorphosis. The effect of this metamorphosis on her health is terrible. Every time she sees him, she has some sort of panic attack. Gregory’s father and sister try to protect his mother from him.

===Father===
Gregor's father more less plays the role of dictator in the story and this is due to his hostilities and interpersonal power dynamics in the family, This is evident with passages such as, "His father looked hostile and clenched a fist as if to force Gregory back into his room;" (1973). With Gregor single handedly maintaining the well being of the family his father is obviously a defeated man who is in a very unhealthy state. A man in which critic Jesse Lichtenstein suggests that recent business failure has seemingly sapped his vitality, and that he finds new confidence and better posture once the economic necessity engendered by Gregor's misfortune forces him to work again (Lichtenstein). In fact, with the story being arranged in three sections, two of the three end in chaos with violence inflicted upon Gregor from his father. As suggested by writer Johannes Pfeiffer, “the first brought about by the arrival of the chief clerk, ends with the father using his stick and newspaper to drive the monster his son has become back into his room (1975); the second, set in motion by the clearing out of the furniture, ends with the brutal bombardment of the son with apples” (1987) (Pfeiffer 53). This just goes to show that Gregor’s father wasn’t the most desirable father to have.

===Grete===
The sister of Gregory Samsa who feeds him and takes care of him. This however will change. She stops believing that Gregory is the bug and tells her family that it is time to move on with their lives.

===The lodgers===
Rent out a room in the Samsa's flat.

==Literary Interpertation==
Gregory ultimately becomes what his job is, a bug. He pesters and bugs his clients, just like a bug does to anyone else. It can also be psychoanalytically interpreted as the prevention of “the imminent rebellion of the son against the father. Gregory had become strong as a result of his father's failure. He crippled his father's self-esteem and took over the father's position in the family. After the catastrophe, the same sequence takes place in reverse: son becomes weak, and father kills him” (Coulehan).

==Study Questions==
#What sort of bug does Gregory Samsa change into overnight?
#What is the significance of Gregory's job? How does his job effect his family?
#How does the chief clerk from Gregory's job act towards the Samsa's and in general about the entire situation?
#What two people does Gregory think would be the "strongest" and most able to help get him out of bed in the morning? What do you think that this signifies?
#What family member feeds Gregory after he is changed into a bug?
#What is the outside weather like during the "Metamorphosis"? Does this climate help set the mood at all?
#What type of relationship does Gregory have with his sister Meg? How would you describe it?
#How does Gregory die at the end of "The Metamorphosis"?

==External Links==
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/metamorph/

==Works Cited==
Altshuler, Roman. "GradeSaver: ClassicNote: The Metamorphosis - Major Themes." www.gradesaver.com. 17 April 2006. GradeSaver. 17 April 2006 <http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/metamorphosis/themes.html>.

Baumer, Franz. ''Franz Kafka''. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1971.

Bloom, Harold. “The Metamorphosis”. ''Modern Critical Interpretations''. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988.

Coulehan, Jack. "The Metamorphosis". Bantam (New York)1997. <http://mchip00.nyu.edu/lit-med/lit-med-db/webdocs/webdescrips/kafka98-des-.html>

Hughes, Katherine. "Seperate and Alone: Alienation as a Central Theme in Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Kafka's Metamorphosis." 9 November 2002. 17 April 2006. <http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/metamorphosis/essay1.html>

Fleissner, Robert F. "Is Gregor Samsa a Bed Bug? Kafka and Dickens Revisited." ''Studies in Short Fiction''. Vol. 22, Issue 2 (1985): p 225.

"Novella". Wikipedia. 11 April 2006. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 17 April 2006.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella>.

"Kafka's 'The Metamorphosis' ". Ed. Archer, Lincoln. 25 October 2004. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/home/d/ BBC]. 17 April 2006.
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3023065>.

Rowe, Michael. "Metamorphosis: Defending the Human." Literature In Medicine. Baltimore: Fall 2002. vol 21, 264-281

Lichtenstein, Jesse. "SparkNote on The Metamorphosis". 16 April 2006. 17 Apr. 2006. <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/metamorph/characters.html>

Pfeiffer, Johannes. "'The Metamorphosis.'" In Gray, 53-60.

Sokel, Walter. “From Marx to Myth: The structure and function of Self Alienation in Kafka’s Metamorphosis.” Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis: Modern Critical Interpretations. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988.

[[Category:World Literature]]

The Metamorphosis

2006-04-26T14:25:29Z

RArmstead: /* Major Themes */

==Summary==
Gregory Samsa is a traveling salesman who financially supports his family. He wakes up in the morning to find out he has been transformed into a Dung Beetle. He is in shock after his reality sets in and tries to figure out how he is going to get to work. Although they try to assimilate the change, his family is horrified and keeps Gregory locked in his room. Gregory eventually dies, leaving his family free.

==Study Guide==

===Chapter 1 Summary===
The first chapter of The Metamorphosis is the chapter that Gregory Samsa wakes up to find that he has morphed into a bug. The bug is never truly revealed and Kafka wanted it to be that way. Kafka said that a "concrete image would be too distracting and shut off sympathy" (Fleissner 225), so the true identity of the bug is left up to the reader.

Gregory's parents worry about him when he has not gotten up to go to work, so his family goes to his room and then Gregory's chief clerk comes to his house to see why Gregory has not come to work. Gregory hears that that the clerk has come to check on him so he tries to make it out of his room by turning the key with his mouth and when he opens door, he frightens his family and the clerk, sending the clerk running and sends his father into a frenzied state to put Gregory back in his room. Gregory’s mother faints when she sees him. His family stays away from him, careful not to disturb him or disturb themselves. Gregory eventually loses his human voice and takes on all appearances and actions of a bug. The chapter ends when “The door was banged to with the stick, and at last there was silence” (1976). This is when Gregory’s father successfully shoves him back to his room away from the rest of the family for the time being.

===Chapter 2 Summary===

After Gregor awakens he finds a bowl of sweet milk with slices of wheat bread. He soon finds that this food does not please him and leaves it alone. Later Grete brings in an assortment of food to find what he likes and discovers he can only eat the rotten stuff. For the next few days the routine was that Gregor would hide up under a couch whenever Grete brought in his food. Soon Gregor found enjoyment in crawling around on the ceiling and walls. Grete learned of this and decided to take the furniture out of the room so he could crawl easier. Grete and her mother began to take all the furniture out of the room and this made him upset. While trying to protect one of his pictures from being taken Gregor's mother saw him and fainted. This caused panic and Gregor left his room to follow Grete to get something to help their mother. When Gregor's father came home he got into a fight with Gregor in which he threw some apples at him striking him in the back.

===Chapter 3 Summary===

It has been a month since Gregory’s injury form the apple. He now resembles an “elderly invalid” and has trouble with mobility. Gregory’s parents and sister all have jobs now; his mother works as a seamstress, his father works at the bank and his sister works as a shop assistance. A new maid has also been hired. Gregory spends most of his days and nights sleeping and thinking about his family and his former job. His sister Meg begins spending less time with him and his appetite has begun to deplete. Three lodgers come to stay at his house. While they are there, the door where Gregory can see out of stays shut so he can not see out. One night, Meg plays the violin for the men. The door that is usually shut was left open by the maid and Gregory peeps out. The middle lodger spots him and is grossed out. He gives notice to Gregory’s parents that they will be leaving and that they do not intend to pay for their stay because of the filthy conditions. The next morning, the maid goes in to clean Gregory’s room and finds him dead. She informs his family and they decide to move to a smaller, less expensive apartment. The chapter ends with talk of finding Meg a husband.

==Major Themes==

===Alienation===
The theme of alienation plays a major role in the story because Gregory is alienated from his family and society before the metamorphosis occurs and even more so afterwards. Kafka uses the theme of alienation in this story to "comment on the human need to experience love and acceptance" (Hughes). Gregory's mother tells his boss when they first discover that something is wrong, "He's not well, sir, you can take it from me. What else would make him miss his train? Why, the boy thinks of nothing but his work! It makes me quite cross that he never goes out in the evening..." (1970). Before the metamorphosis, Gregory's work is what alienates him from his family and society.

After the metamorphosis, however, it is his distinct features that alienate him. One example of the alienation is that his family locks him in his bedroom. Gregory is not allowed to be a part of the family. Gregory then has to make the adjustment from being a man in the working world and traveling everyday, to being a prisoner in his own bedroom (Hughes). Another way that Gregory's family alienates him is that when they talk about him, they openly talk about his features in front of him because they think that he cannot understand what they are saying. "If he understood what we said...we might be able to come to an arrangement with him. But as things are..." (1995). They refer to Gregory as "it" rather than by his name. "It has to go...it's the only way, father. You must just try to get out of the habit of thinking that it's Gregory" (1995). In this way, the reader finds out that the family has stopped acknowledging Gregory as their son. The family also treats Gregory like an animal by the way that they feed him. Gregory's sister would bring in scraps from the table that the family wouldn't eat to feed him. "She brought him a whole selection of things, all laid out on an old newspaper, to see what he liked. There were some old half rotten vegetables; the bones from supper, covered with congealed white sauce; some raisins and almonds; a piece of cheese...two days old; a slice of dry bread..." (1978). The family treated him like an animal, rather than their son who got sick and needed his family to look after him.

===Guilt===
The theme of guilt is relevent to the story because it is a very powerful emotion. Gregory is upset that he can't go out and work because of what has happened to him. Even though the metamorphosis wasn't his fault, he still blams himself (Altshuler). Gregory also feels guilty because his family can't move on, literally and mentally. The thing that kept his family from moving on was "their feeling of utter dispair and the idea that they had been struck by a misfortune exceeding anything ever experienced within their entire circle of friends and relations" (1989). Gregory blams himself for this because if this tragedy hadn't happened, his family wouldn't feel the need that they had to move. Gregory also has a guilty feeling because he wants to see his mother, but he knows that he cannot because her reaction to seeing him would not be a good one. When Meg and her mother were moving furniture out of Gregory's room, the mother saw him on the wall. Her reaction was "in a shrill, strident voice, 'Oh God, oh God!' and with arms outstretched as if giving up altogether fell back on the couch and lay still" (1985). Gregory knew that his mother would not take well to seeing him like that, but he stayed on the wall just the same, to protect a painting.

===Novella===
Technically a theme, but more of a genre so to speak, that is unknown to most of us present day readers of Kafka is novella. "A novella is a short novel; a narrative work of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prose prose] fiction somewhat longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. A common length is about 50 to 100 pages. The extra length is generally used for more character development than is possible in a short story, but without the much greater character and plot development of a novel. Novellas often are characterized by satire or moral teaching" (Wikipedia).

Satire: This is clearly evident as "[http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/litwiki/index.php/The_Metamorphosis#Summary The Metamorphosis] is obviously a story about alienation. Gregor's life is dictated by his dead-end job and family responsibilities to the extent that even when he travels to different towns, he prefers to stay in his hotel room studying train timetables rather than experience what the new location has to offer. That isolation is mirrored in his relationship with his family, for whom he is the bread-winner but from whom he locks himself away at night. This alienation becomes so pronounced that, one day, he discovers himself to be literally no longer human. Gregor's earlier sentiment is reciprocated when his family begins locking and bolting the door shut behind him in his room. Late in the story, he briefly considers what it means to be 'human'; if he can be so moved by his sister's music then surely he cannot be an animal. And ultimately, his acceptance that he must go shows an act of genuine humanity" (Archer).

Moral Teaching: Try interpreting the story without Gregor's transformation. "In this interpretation, the other characters in the story would not see a man-sized beetle. Instead, they see a man so alienated from reality that he chooses to reject it totally. He is still a man, the same man they saw the previous day, but now he is crawling awkwardly on the floor and squeaking rather than speaking. He would prefer the shame of living as an insect to the hopelessness of living as a man. He would rather live in squalor and eat scraps from the rubbish than deal with the mind-numbing sameness of his life and accept responsibility for changing it. The abhorrence the family displays upon seeing him would still be the same - perhaps it would be even greater if they still just saw a man. They would be forced to accept the situation in the same way; still hoping [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/litwiki/index.php/The_Metamorphosis#Gregory_Samsa Gregor] will put himself right before finally admitting the man they knew will never return. As nightmarish as the scenario presented in the book is, maybe the only thing worse than inexplicably transforming into a giant bug overnight is wishing you had" (Archer).

===Reversal of Roles===

At the begining Gregory is the one who supports his family. He is bringing home the money while his father sits in his chair and sleeps. This may have "crippled the father's self-esteem because he took over the father's position in the family" (Coulehan). After Gregory's transformation, the roles reversed and the father re-assumes his positon as the provider forthe family. Gregory now becomes weak and his father kills him.

===Loss of Humanity===

The theme of humanity is shown in the story by how it is taken away from Gregor. His humanity is slowly taken away from him throughout the story not just by his transformation into a bug. Gregor’s first link to humanity that is taken away was that of him being the bread winner for the family. “Gregors humanity, to the extent that his parents and sister acknowledge it, is inextricably tied to his function as economic provider.” (Rowe). Later in the story more is pulled away when Grete begins taking objects out of his room. This made Gregory reminisce about his human life. “They were clearing his room out, taking everything that was dear to him…”(p.1985). Here the last things that ever tied him to having a human existence were removed. When a person is inflicted with a severe illness it is easy for those around that person to be horrified by that person’s appearance (Rowe). The ill patient can not defend his or herself so the people around do not think about how the patient feels (Rowe). This causes the patient to lose their humanity (Rowe). Gregor is inflicted with a unique illness but the outcome is the same. The most famous occurrence of a patient losing their humanity is that of Terry Schiavo. Everybody had their own opinion of Shiavo’s fate. Schiavo could not defend herself or give her opinion of her fate. That situation was turned into a political circus and ultimately stripped Schiavo of her humanity. Rowe states that The Metamorphosis warns against this treatment of people with illnesses.

===Materialistic===

Modern Society is leading us down a path to care more about the material things rather than the things that truly matter. Gregory Samsa, the one person who cared more about his family than money, worked long hours at a job that he disliked not because of his love for the job, but so that his family could have a good life. His family on the other hand was enjoying a work free life. Mankind gets so caught up in the bureaucracy of society that we sometimes forget what what matters most. We get jobs so that we can buy the materialistic things we desire. This need for money and material things can change our mindset and forget what is truly important in our lives. In, The Metamorphosis, Gregory turns into some sort of insect, while this is something that is very dramatic and would be very hard to deal with, Kafka is trying to show how Gregory’s family rejects him, not only because of his appearance but because he can no longer go to work, no longer will his family be able live off the income he generates, no more material things without a little hard work. After the metamorphosis Gregory will no longer be able to fit into society, therefore his family begins to shun him. Not one of his family members ever tries to find out what happened and what could be done to fix it. One by one Gregory’s family members grow further away from him, forgetting all of the selfless deeds he did for all of them.

===Modern Spirituality===

Franz Kafka’s ''The Metamorphosis'' goes against what most writers would consider normal writing layout. His style is peculiar in that he places the climax at the beginning of the narrative-instead of at the end. By choosing to write in this fashion, Kafka steers his readers away from the traditional Aristotelian form of narrative (complication and denouncement) and instead creates his own form. ''The Metamorphosis'' is a brilliant novella that replaces the denouncement and conclusions one would normally expect with a form created from itself.
The first line of the novella proclaims Gregory’s death and the rest of the story a description of his slow dying: “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect” (Bloom 19). Gregory’s metamorphosis is the truth of his life, and his consciousness has lied to him about himself.

===The Reality of Dreams===

Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” was written as perhaps a reflection of his own inner turmoil. His insecurities began with his appearance. As an adult, he never quite grew into his strikingly tall, slender frame: huge eyes framed with thick, dark brows: prominent nose above a melancholy mouth: or his narrow forehead fringed with straight black hair. In fact, his unique looks were a subject of interest to psychologists who felt that his features seemed to fit Kretschmer’s model of the asthenic-schizoid type, which is characterized by a furry crown of hair extending down the forehead: His portrait became sort of a caricature for the model (Baumer 2). Such a categorization made him feel even odder than he already felt. This resulted in his pulling away from the outside world and subsequently plunged him into a loneliness that plagued his entire life.

Kafka developed a mental illness that grew out of his forced isolation. He spent so much time by himself as a child that he could not fathom everyday life. He lacked the ability to interpret everyday demands and compromises such as those required of a job. Even simple exchanges between two people were a mystery to him. Looking for a way to escape his reality, he began living as though he were in a dream because in his dreams, he could be the person he wished he was. Franz Baumer describes Kafka as:
This charming person who, almost like a saint, like St. Francis, talked to fish, who pronounced himself a dream so as not to have his gross, material appearance disturb the state of sleep he considered far more real, who was always sympathetic in his relations to the world and people, who never lost his smile and could often be very witty, who possessed a strong sense of responsibility and dedication to his job (3).

It was soon after this realization that he wrote “The Metamorphosis,” which is how he views the life he must escape. He was noted as saying: “The taste for describing my dreamlike inner existence has pushed everything into the background where it has atrophied in a terrifying way and does not cease to atrophy. Nothing else can satisfy me” (Baumer 3). By morphing Gregory into a bug, instead of a happy child, he is giving the reader an image of how he sees himself.

Both Kafka and Gregory are trapped by their daily reality and dreams of freedom, just as both are destined to die a lonely and tortured death through their metamorphosis. Kafka, who always thought in images that have a powerful impact, was first and foremost a poet. “Kafka’s dreamworlds will reveal themselves as realities only to those who dare gaze into the terrifying depths of our age. The dream is only denser reality” (Baumer 11).

===Marxism===

Karl Marx distinguishes human labor from that of animal productivity by the fact that “doing one’s work for its own sake affords the worker joy” (Sokel 106). Gregor is working in order to support his family and pay his parents’ debt. His employment is “totally determined by needs external to itself and Gregor” which is against the philosophy of Marxism that requires there to be some joy and creativeness in the labor that one does.

Marxism sees the worker’s labor being exploited by the capitalist employer. “Gregor’s relationship with his father thus represents this exact paradigm” as a majority of Gregor’s earnings go to his parents’ debt and the needs of the household (Sokel 108). Only a small amount is retained by Gregor himself. It is this servitude in which the fruit of Gregor’s labor belongs to someone else and the is a “loss of self” (Sokel 108).

The three lodgers represent another level of capitalism. They “assume the dominant place in the household merely by virtue of their paying power” which allows them free reign within the household with all the members eager to cater to them (Sokel 112). This only “brings to ahead what had been the family’s enslavement to the capitalist world through the father’s original guilt” (Sokel 113).

Gregor’s metamorphosis renders his physical body no longer human rendering him no longer able to aid his family in sustaining their physical needs. He becomes alone and isolated even taking on the likes and hobbies of the insect in which he is transformed into. This is what Marx referred to as the “total dehumanization of man which he saw as the ultimate fate of man under capitalism” (Sokel 110). Gregor’s transformation

==Characters==

===Gregory Samsa===
A traveling salesman responsible for providing for his family. His metamorphosis into a insect leaves a stuggle between his human mind and insect needs. The metamorphosis also strengthens his family at the end.

===Mother===
Gregory's mother seems to be the weakest and hit the hardest by her son’s metamorphosis. The effect of this metamorphosis on her health is terrible. Every time she sees him, she has some sort of panic attack. Gregory’s father and sister try to protect his mother from him.

===Father===
Gregor's father more less plays the role of dictator in the story and this is due to his hostilities and interpersonal power dynamics in the family, This is evident with passages such as, "His father looked hostile and clenched a fist as if to force Gregory back into his room;" (1973). With Gregor single handedly maintaining the well being of the family his father is obviously a defeated man who is in a very unhealthy state. A man in which critic Jesse Lichtenstein suggests that recent business failure has seemingly sapped his vitality, and that he finds new confidence and better posture once the economic necessity engendered by Gregor's misfortune forces him to work again (Lichtenstein). In fact, with the story being arranged in three sections, two of the three end in chaos with violence inflicted upon Gregor from his father. As suggested by writer Johannes Pfeiffer, “the first brought about by the arrival of the chief clerk, ends with the father using his stick and newspaper to drive the monster his son has become back into his room (1975); the second, set in motion by the clearing out of the furniture, ends with the brutal bombardment of the son with apples” (1987) (Pfeiffer 53). This just goes to show that Gregor’s father wasn’t the most desirable father to have.

===Grete===
The sister of Gregory Samsa who feeds him and takes care of him. This however will change. She stops believing that Gregory is the bug and tells her family that it is time to move on with their lives.

===The lodgers===
Rent out a room in the Samsa's flat.

==Literary Interpertation==
Gregory ultimately becomes what his job is, a bug. He pesters and bugs his clients, just like a bug does to anyone else. It can also be psychoanalytically interpreted as the prevention of “the imminent rebellion of the son against the father. Gregory had become strong as a result of his father's failure. He crippled his father's self-esteem and took over the father's position in the family. After the catastrophe, the same sequence takes place in reverse: son becomes weak, and father kills him” (Coulehan).

==Study Questions==
#What sort of bug does Gregory Samsa change into overnight?
#What is the significance of Gregory's job? How does his job effect his family?
#How does the chief clerk from Gregory's job act towards the Samsa's and in general about the entire situation?
#What two people does Gregory think would be the "strongest" and most able to help get him out of bed in the morning? What do you think that this signifies?
#What family member feeds Gregory after he is changed into a bug?
#What is the outside weather like during the "Metamorphosis"? Does this climate help set the mood at all?
#What type of relationship does Gregory have with his sister Meg? How would you describe it?
#How does Gregory die at the end of "The Metamorphosis"?

==External Links==
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/metamorph/

==Works Cited==
Altshuler, Roman. "GradeSaver: ClassicNote: The Metamorphosis - Major Themes." www.gradesaver.com. 17 April 2006. GradeSaver. 17 April 2006 <http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/metamorphosis/themes.html>.

Baumer, Franz. ''Franz Kafka''. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1971.

Bloom, Harold. “The Metamorphosis”. ''Modern Critical Interpretations''. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988.

Coulehan, Jack. "The Metamorphosis". Bantam (New York)1997. <http://mchip00.nyu.edu/lit-med/lit-med-db/webdocs/webdescrips/kafka98-des-.html>

Hughes, Katherine. "Seperate and Alone: Alienation as a Central Theme in Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Kafka's Metamorphosis." 9 November 2002. 17 April 2006. <http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/metamorphosis/essay1.html>

Fleissner, Robert F. "Is Gregor Samsa a Bed Bug? Kafka and Dickens Revisited." ''Studies in Short Fiction''. Vol. 22, Issue 2 (1985): p 225.

"Novella". Wikipedia. 11 April 2006. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 17 April 2006.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella>.

"Kafka's 'The Metamorphosis' ". Ed. Archer, Lincoln. 25 October 2004. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/home/d/ BBC]. 17 April 2006.
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3023065>.

Rowe, Michael. "Metamorphosis: Defending the Human." Literature In Medicine. Baltimore: Fall 2002. vol 21, 264-281

Lichtenstein, Jesse. "SparkNote on The Metamorphosis". 16 April 2006. 17 Apr. 2006. <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/metamorph/characters.html>

Pfeiffer, Johannes. "'The Metamorphosis.'" In Gray, 53-60.

[[Category:World Literature]]

Franz Kafka

2006-04-17T17:39:49Z

RArmstead: /* Works Cited */

==Biography==
Franz Kafka was born in Prague, now in the Czech Republic but then part of Austria. His father was Hermann Kafka, an owner of a large dry goods establishment, and mother Julie (Löwy) Kafka, who belonged to one of the leading families in the German-speaking, German-cultured Jewish circles of Prague. Hermann Kafka was a domestic tyrant, who directed his anger against his son. Kafka also had three sisters, all of whom perished in Nazi camps. Many of Kafka's stories deal with the struggle between father and son, or a scorned individual's pleading innocence in front of remote figures of authority (1). Due to his line of descent, Kafka became an immediate outcast in the Czechoslovakian society. To add insult to injury, his religious affiliation, Jewish, did not mesh with the anti-Semantic Catholic country in which he lived, and even Kafka's parents did not have much contact with their son, due largely to the amount of responsibility that comes with owning one's own business (Contemporary).

Kafka's family situation was very stressed, even at times bordering on dysfunctional. Given the hatred he had forhis father's domestic tyranny (1), it is reasonable to assume that much tension arose as a result of this. Add to this his societal rejection as a member of Prauge's Jewish minority and his family life really begins to shape up. Kafka was educated at the German National and Civic Elementary School and the German National Humanistic Gymnasium. In 1901 he entered Ferdinand-Karls University, where he studied law and received a doctorate in 1906. During these years Kafka became a member of a circle of intellectuals, which included Franz Werfel, Oskar Baum and Max Brod, whom Kafka met in 1902. About 1904 Kafka began writing, making reports on industrial accidents and health hazard in the office by day, and writing stories by night. His profession marked the formal, legalistic language of his stories which avoided all sentimentality and moral interpretations - all conclusions are left to the reader. (1)

Due to the the large amount of debts that began to pile up on his family's shoulders, Kafka worked kept a position in an insurance company, still writing on the side (Contemporary). Until his retirement, Kafka worked at the insurance business (1907-23), first at an administrative position in a Prague branch of an Italian insurance company and then at the Workmen's Accident Insurance Institute of Prague. His work was highly valued at the company and during World War I his supervisors arranged for his draft deferment.(1 This is proof that he was not a socially inept person as some of his works suggest.
According to this source (1), Kafka had many girlfriends, affairs, and broken engagements. He also had one son (Contemporary).

Kafka pulled from his own life feelings of alienation whenever he wrote. He often mixed "prosaic realism and nightmarish, infinitely interpretable symbolism" in his works, and his protagonists were "driven to find answers in an unresponsive world, and they are required to act accordingly to incomprehensible rules administered by an inaccessible authority" (1964). In 1912, Kafka published ''The Metamorphosis,'' the longest of his works actually completed in his lifetime (1965). This work can be compared to Kafka's own childhood, alienated from his family (Contemporary). Living with an angry father, Kafka's protagonist Gregory Samsa also deals with issues regarding familial violence after his transformation into a giant beetle. Samsa, like Kafka, also feels a certain amount of loathing for himself--Kafka for his perceived failures, and Samsa for his inability to provide for his family, being a giant bug.

Other of Kafka's famous works include ''The Trial,'' ''The Judgment,'' ''Amerika,'' and "In the Penal Colony". In his wake, he left behind two novellas, numerous short stories, and three unfinished manuscripts. The manuscripts, considered to be failures by Kafka, were published by the executor of his estate Max Brod, who disregarded the author's final wish to have them destroyed (1964). However, in 1922, he left the company, no longer able to work due to the advancement of his illness. Kafka died of tuberculosis in 1924. The following is Kafka's legacy:

:"Critically, Kafka's works have prompted a vast and varied array of interpretations. He has been hailed as a realist, an absurdist, a sociologist, and even, by Thomas Mann, as a comedic theologian. Some writers have emphasized the psychological in analyzing his works, others have concentrated on the Judaic aspects; some have traced his fiction as thinly disguised autobiography, and others have noted the same works as full-fledged fantasies. Consistent in these divergent interpretations is the respect accorded Kafka's works as unique and compelling, and the regard for Kafka as a literary master" (Contemporary).

==Significant Works==
*[[The Metamorphosis]]
*[[The Trial]]
*''Amerika''
*''The Judgment''
*''The Castle''
*''Letter to My Father''

==Historical Period==

'''Czech Independence'''

Czechoslovakia had been under the rule of the Austria-Hungarian Empire the citizens were weary of the “restriction of democratic rights in the Czech lands” (www.livingprague.com). A resistance to the oppression by the German influenced monarch built up during World War I. A lead “university professor, philosopher, and politician Tomas Masaryk” (www.livingprague.com) led the fight for Czechoslovakian independence abroad. On the home front resistance grew gradually until it was clear that “things were not in Austria-Hungary’s favor” (www.livingprauge.com). Czechoslovakia became an independent republic on October 28, 1918.

==Links==
==Works Cited==
#Franz Kafka. April 17 2006. <http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/kafka.htm>
#"Franz Kafka". ''Contemporary Authors Online'' (2003). ''Contemporary Authors.'' 17 Apr. 2006. [http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=1&ste=6&tab=1&tbst=arp&ai=U13007810&n=10&docNum=H1000051755&ST=Franz+Kafka&bConts=16047 Franz Kafka]
#Kafka, Franz. "The Metamorphosis." The Northern Anthology of Western Literature. Ed. Sarah Lawall. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2006. 1964-1999.
#www.livingprague.com

Franz Kafka

2006-04-17T17:38:56Z

RArmstead: /* Czech Independence */

Franz Kafka

2006-04-17T17:38:15Z

RArmstead: /* Historical Period */

==Biography==
Franz Kafka was born in Prague, now in the Czech Republic but then part of Austria. His father was Hermann Kafka, an owner of a large dry goods establishment, and mother Julie (Löwy) Kafka, who belonged to one of the leading families in the German-speaking, German-cultured Jewish circles of Prague. Hermann Kafka was a domestic tyrant, who directed his anger against his son. Kafka also had three sisters, all of whom perished in Nazi camps. Many of Kafka's stories deal with the struggle between father and son, or a scorned individual's pleading innocence in front of remote figures of authority (1). Due to his line of descent, Kafka became an immediate outcast in the Czechoslovakian society. To add insult to injury, his religious affiliation, Jewish, did not mesh with the anti-Semantic Catholic country in which he lived, and even Kafka's parents did not have much contact with their son, due largely to the amount of responsibility that comes with owning one's own business (Contemporary).

Kafka's family situation was very stressed, even at times bordering on dysfunctional. Given the hatred he had forhis father's domestic tyranny (1), it is reasonable to assume that much tension arose as a result of this. Add to this his societal rejection as a member of Prauge's Jewish minority and his family life really begins to shape up. Kafka was educated at the German National and Civic Elementary School and the German National Humanistic Gymnasium. In 1901 he entered Ferdinand-Karls University, where he studied law and received a doctorate in 1906. During these years Kafka became a member of a circle of intellectuals, which included Franz Werfel, Oskar Baum and Max Brod, whom Kafka met in 1902. About 1904 Kafka began writing, making reports on industrial accidents and health hazard in the office by day, and writing stories by night. His profession marked the formal, legalistic language of his stories which avoided all sentimentality and moral interpretations - all conclusions are left to the reader. (1)

Due to the the large amount of debts that began to pile up on his family's shoulders, Kafka worked kept a position in an insurance company, still writing on the side (Contemporary). Until his retirement, Kafka worked at the insurance business (1907-23), first at an administrative position in a Prague branch of an Italian insurance company and then at the Workmen's Accident Insurance Institute of Prague. His work was highly valued at the company and during World War I his supervisors arranged for his draft deferment.(1 This is proof that he was not a socially inept person as some of his works suggest.
According to this source (1), Kafka had many girlfriends, affairs, and broken engagements. He also had one son (Contemporary).

Kafka pulled from his own life feelings of alienation whenever he wrote. He often mixed "prosaic realism and nightmarish, infinitely interpretable symbolism" in his works, and his protagonists were "driven to find answers in an unresponsive world, and they are required to act accordingly to incomprehensible rules administered by an inaccessible authority" (1964). In 1912, Kafka published ''The Metamorphosis,'' the longest of his works actually completed in his lifetime (1965). This work can be compared to Kafka's own childhood, alienated from his family (Contemporary). Living with an angry father, Kafka's protagonist Gregory Samsa also deals with issues regarding familial violence after his transformation into a giant beetle. Samsa, like Kafka, also feels a certain amount of loathing for himself--Kafka for his perceived failures, and Samsa for his inability to provide for his family, being a giant bug.

Other of Kafka's famous works include ''The Trial,'' ''The Judgment,'' ''Amerika,'' and "In the Penal Colony". In his wake, he left behind two novellas, numerous short stories, and three unfinished manuscripts. The manuscripts, considered to be failures by Kafka, were published by the executor of his estate Max Brod, who disregarded the author's final wish to have them destroyed (1964). However, in 1922, he left the company, no longer able to work due to the advancement of his illness. Kafka died of tuberculosis in 1924. The following is Kafka's legacy:

:"Critically, Kafka's works have prompted a vast and varied array of interpretations. He has been hailed as a realist, an absurdist, a sociologist, and even, by Thomas Mann, as a comedic theologian. Some writers have emphasized the psychological in analyzing his works, others have concentrated on the Judaic aspects; some have traced his fiction as thinly disguised autobiography, and others have noted the same works as full-fledged fantasies. Consistent in these divergent interpretations is the respect accorded Kafka's works as unique and compelling, and the regard for Kafka as a literary master" (Contemporary).

==Significant Works==
*[[The Metamorphosis]]
*[[The Trial]]
*''Amerika''
*''The Judgment''
*''The Castle''
*''Letter to My Father''

==Historical Period==

== Czech Independence ==

Czechoslovakia had been under the rule of the Austria-Hungarian Empire the citizens were weary of the “restriction of democratic rights in the Czech lands” (www.livingprague.com). A resistance to the oppression by the German influenced monarch built up during World War I. A lead “university professor, philosopher, and politician Tomas Masaryk” (www.livingprague.com) led the fight for Czechoslovakian independence abroad. On the home front resistance grew gradually until it was clear that “things were not in Austria-Hungary’s favor” (www.livingprauge.com). Czechoslovakia became an independent republic on October 28, 1918.

==Links==
==Works Cited==
#Franz Kafka. April 17 2006. <http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/kafka.htm>
#"Franz Kafka". ''Contemporary Authors Online'' (2003). ''Contemporary Authors.'' 17 Apr. 2006. [http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=1&ste=6&tab=1&tbst=arp&ai=U13007810&n=10&docNum=H1000051755&ST=Franz+Kafka&bConts=16047 Franz Kafka]
#Kafka, Franz. "The Metamorphosis." The Northern Anthology of Western Literature. Ed. Sarah Lawall. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2006. 1964-1999.

Notes from Underground

2006-03-13T14:51:08Z

RArmstead: /* Works Cited */

:"What sort of Crystal Palace would it be if any sort of doubt were allowed?" —the Underground Man

''Notes from Underground'' written by [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]].

== Study Guide ==
Brief summaries, commentaries, and notes on ''Notes''.

=== Notes from Underground, Part 1===
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 8|Chapter 8]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 9|Chapter 9]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 10|Chapter 10]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 11|Chapter 11]]

=== Notes from Underground, Part 2: Apropos of Wet Snow ===
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 8|Chapter 8]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 9|Chapter 9]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 10|Chapter 10]]

==History==

==Timeline==

==Characters==

===The Underground Man===
The Underground Man is the narrator and protagonist of Notes of Underground. The Underground Man can be viewed as: "a sheer irrationalist whose rejection of Rational Egoism is a tortured emotional outburst with no logical credentials" (Scanlan). He beleives that consciousness is a disease: " I swear to you, gentlemen, that being overly conscious is a disease, a genuine, full-fledged disease" (1257). Such consciousness shows: "within Underground Man's self-descriptions, while relational in the ways not reducible to behavior" (Hagberg).

==Themes==
===The Fallacies of Rationalism===

===The Fallacies of Utopianism===

===The Artificiality of Russian Culture===
For decades, the Russian social and intellectual elite had been imitating western Eropean culture, in the middle of the nineteenth century. In Russia, a man was considered "developed" and "educated" only if he was familiar with the literary and philosophical traditions of Germany, France, and England. Dostoevsky may have shared this view when he was a young man, but by the time he wrote ''Notes from Underground'' he had decided that that certain mindset was destructive. In being captavated by the west, Russian intellectuals had lost touch with the true way of the Russian life. The life that many of the peasants and lower-class workers still practiced (Madden).

===Paralysis of the Conscious Man in Modern Society===

== Major Symbols ==
===Underground===
It is the home of the underground man. It is also refered to as his corner. " Yet the underground is more than a physical placeof isolation; it's a psychological hang-up as well. Possessing the overly sensitive and sheltered consciousness of the underground, the underground man finds himself unable and unwilling to meaningfully interact with others, despite his desire to do just that" (Novelguide). The underground man claims to prefer the underground to the real world. There he is able to express his indviduality.

===The Ant Hill===
This shows that there is no individuality. All of the ants are working for one main goal.

===St. Petersburg===

===The Crystal Palace===

===Money===

==Critical Perspectives==
Notes from the underground is an important work in Western European history. " It has attracted attention for many reasons. For one , it contains an all-out assault on Enlightenment rationalism and the idea of progress which foreshadows many such assaults in the mid-to-late twentieth century" (WSU). Another example of this novels' importance is the fact that it has one of the first anti-heroes in fiction. " It portrays a protagonist utterly lacking every trait of the Romantic hero and living out a futile life on the margins of society. Such figures were to dominate much serious fiction in the mid-twentieth century" (WSU).

=== Literary Criticism ===
=== The underground man: A question of meaning by Linda Williams ===

Linda L. Williams explores Dostoyevsky’s Underground Man in her article entitled The underground man: a question of meaning. Williams looks at how the main character searches for meaning and value in his self and his life from the very first words of his notes exclaiming that he is a “sick [and] spiteful man” (1). She also examines how Dostoyevsky uses the underground man to “question whether human beings can be their own source of meaning” (Williams 1). This novel is a reaction to the ideas prevalent in Western Europe at the time that “reason provides the foundation for all knowledge” (Williams 1).

Williams looks at why the Underground man refers to himself as a “zloi” which has been translated as spiteful but in actuality carries the connotation of immorality and malicious behavior in which a person isn’t by nature, but is because they are made that way due to circumstances that person has control over. The author of the article contends that this is because the underground man’s “refusal to attach the common man’s meaning to himself and due to his exaggerated consciousness and vanity.”

In part two we see the underground man’s attempt to “make his life as meaningful to others as it is to him” (Williams 2). This is done through several attempts by the underground man to be noticed by a young officer, some old friends, and Liza. With the young officer the underground man’s desire for the “officer to step aside becomes a measure of the meaning and value of the underground man as a person” (Williams 3). In the case of his meeting with the old friends, we witness the night through his very subjective eyes in which he has “one humiliation piled on top of another” (Williams 4) in his attempt to present himself as having meaning and value in the eyes of others. Since the underground man has the ability to blame his behavior on alcohol as opposed to deliberate action, Williams contends that Dostoyevsky proves that “when an individual is the sole foundation for meanings and values, he may twist them any way he likes”
( Williams 4).

Through his experience with Liza, we see that “his existence has finally been affirmed just as if [the officer] had thrown him through the tavern window” (Williams 5). He then must change the “significance of the encounter with Liza to recapture the sarcasm of his vain ego” (Williams 6) because he has failed to prove himself of any value to anyone other than someone he sees as lower than himself. He attempts to regain control over what he feels like he has lost by asserting himself in a position of power over Liza by insulting her and then exerting “domination and possession over her body” (Williams 6). The underground man tries to “rationalize his sick, zloi act away [by giving her] money” (Williams 6), but Liza’s refusal to accept it along with “all its implications” (Williams 6) reveals what Williams calls the ugly truth about him.

The underground man is incapable of loving anyone due to his unlimited vain ego. Further more, it is this ego that has led him to commit an act that “in the nineteenth century was considered more terrible than murder” (Williams 7) hence the reason why the term originally used in he beginning of the text as zloi which is translated as spiteful. Williams then goes on to say that “The underground cannot be his own foundation for meaning” and to Dostoevsky “the foundation of meaning does not lie in science or in Chernyshevsky’s rational egoism but in placing others interests before your own—in genuinely loving others” (Williams 7).

The author looks at the underground man’s motives in a manner that is easy to understand although the character himself is not. I agree with Williams’s depiction of the underground man’s search and failure to gain the respect of his colleagues which only served to push him into farther underground. In the last moments when he has to reconcile with the fact that he can neither give nor receive love seals his fate in the underground where he is writing from years later. It is least likely that he will encounter another chance to escape. In the underground we will find him languishing untll his death.

==External Links and Resources==

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/underground/themes.html

==Works Cited==
*Hagberg, Garry L. "Wittgenstein Underground." ''Philosophy and literature'' 28.2 (2004): 379-392.
*Madden, Caolan. SparkNote on Notes from Underground. 12 Mar. 2006 <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/underground/>.
*Scanlan, James P. "The Case against Rational Egoism in Dostoevsky's ''Notes from Underground''." ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' 60.3 (1999): 549-567.
*''Novelguide.com''. "Notes from the Underground". March 2006 [<http://www.novelgude.com/notesfromtheunderground/metaphoranaylysis.html>.][[Category:World Literature]]

*Williams, Linda. "The underground man: A qusetion of meaning." ''Studies in the novel.'' Summer 1995, Vol. 27, Issue 2. 129,12

Notes from Underground

2006-03-13T14:46:50Z

RArmstead: /* Works Cited */

:"What sort of Crystal Palace would it be if any sort of doubt were allowed?" —the Underground Man

''Notes from Underground'' written by [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]].

== Study Guide ==
Brief summaries, commentaries, and notes on ''Notes''.

=== Notes from Underground, Part 1===
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 8|Chapter 8]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 9|Chapter 9]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 10|Chapter 10]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 11|Chapter 11]]

=== Notes from Underground, Part 2: Apropos of Wet Snow ===
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 8|Chapter 8]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 9|Chapter 9]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 10|Chapter 10]]

==History==

==Timeline==

==Characters==

===The Underground Man===
The Underground Man is the narrator and protagonist of Notes of Underground. The Underground Man can be viewed as: "a sheer irrationalist whose rejection of Rational Egoism is a tortured emotional outburst with no logical credentials" (Scanlan). He beleives that consciousness is a disease: " I swear to you, gentlemen, that being overly conscious is a disease, a genuine, full-fledged disease" (1257). Such consciousness shows: "within Underground Man's self-descriptions, while relational in the ways not reducible to behavior" (Hagberg).

==Themes==
===The Fallacies of Rationalism===

===The Fallacies of Utopianism===

===The Artificiality of Russian Culture===
For decades, the Russian social and intellectual elite had been imitating western Eropean culture, in the middle of the nineteenth century. In Russia, a man was considered "developed" and "educated" only if he was familiar with the literary and philosophical traditions of Germany, France, and England. Dostoevsky may have shared this view when he was a young man, but by the time he wrote ''Notes from Underground'' he had decided that that certain mindset was destructive. In being captavated by the west, Russian intellectuals had lost touch with the true way of the Russian life. The life that many of the peasants and lower-class workers still practiced (Madden).

===Paralysis of the Conscious Man in Modern Society===

== Major Symbols ==
===Underground===
It is the home of the underground man. It is also refered to as his corner. " Yet the underground is more than a physical placeof isolation; it's a psychological hang-up as well. Possessing the overly sensitive and sheltered consciousness of the underground, the underground man finds himself unable and unwilling to meaningfully interact with others, despite his desire to do just that" (Novelguide). The underground man claims to prefer the underground to the real world. There he is able to express his indviduality.

===The Ant Hill===
This shows that there is no individuality. All of the ants are working for one main goal.

===St. Petersburg===

===The Crystal Palace===

===Money===

==Critical Perspectives==
Notes from the underground is an important work in Western European history. " It has attracted attention for many reasons. For one , it contains an all-out assault on Enlightenment rationalism and the idea of progress which foreshadows many such assaults in the mid-to-late twentieth century" (WSU). Another example of this novels' importance is the fact that it has one of the first anti-heroes in fiction. " It portrays a protagonist utterly lacking every trait of the Romantic hero and living out a futile life on the margins of society. Such figures were to dominate much serious fiction in the mid-twentieth century" (WSU).

=== Literary Criticism ===
=== The underground man: A question of meaning by Linda Williams ===

Linda L. Williams explores Dostoyevsky’s Underground Man in her article entitled The underground man: a question of meaning. Williams looks at how the main character searches for meaning and value in his self and his life from the very first words of his notes exclaiming that he is a “sick [and] spiteful man” (1). She also examines how Dostoyevsky uses the underground man to “question whether human beings can be their own source of meaning” (Williams 1). This novel is a reaction to the ideas prevalent in Western Europe at the time that “reason provides the foundation for all knowledge” (Williams 1).

Williams looks at why the Underground man refers to himself as a “zloi” which has been translated as spiteful but in actuality carries the connotation of immorality and malicious behavior in which a person isn’t by nature, but is because they are made that way due to circumstances that person has control over. The author of the article contends that this is because the underground man’s “refusal to attach the common man’s meaning to himself and due to his exaggerated consciousness and vanity.”

In part two we see the underground man’s attempt to “make his life as meaningful to others as it is to him” (Williams 2). This is done through several attempts by the underground man to be noticed by a young officer, some old friends, and Liza. With the young officer the underground man’s desire for the “officer to step aside becomes a measure of the meaning and value of the underground man as a person” (Williams 3). In the case of his meeting with the old friends, we witness the night through his very subjective eyes in which he has “one humiliation piled on top of another” (Williams 4) in his attempt to present himself as having meaning and value in the eyes of others. Since the underground man has the ability to blame his behavior on alcohol as opposed to deliberate action, Williams contends that Dostoyevsky proves that “when an individual is the sole foundation for meanings and values, he may twist them any way he likes”
( Williams 4).

Through his experience with Liza, we see that “his existence has finally been affirmed just as if [the officer] had thrown him through the tavern window” (Williams 5). He then must change the “significance of the encounter with Liza to recapture the sarcasm of his vain ego” (Williams 6) because he has failed to prove himself of any value to anyone other than someone he sees as lower than himself. He attempts to regain control over what he feels like he has lost by asserting himself in a position of power over Liza by insulting her and then exerting “domination and possession over her body” (Williams 6). The underground man tries to “rationalize his sick, zloi act away [by giving her] money” (Williams 6), but Liza’s refusal to accept it along with “all its implications” (Williams 6) reveals what Williams calls the ugly truth about him.

The underground man is incapable of loving anyone due to his unlimited vain ego. Further more, it is this ego that has led him to commit an act that “in the nineteenth century was considered more terrible than murder” (Williams 7) hence the reason why the term originally used in he beginning of the text as zloi which is translated as spiteful. Williams then goes on to say that “The underground cannot be his own foundation for meaning” and to Dostoevsky “the foundation of meaning does not lie in science or in Chernyshevsky’s rational egoism but in placing others interests before your own—in genuinely loving others” (Williams 7).

The author looks at the underground man’s motives in a manner that is easy to understand although the character himself is not. I agree with Williams’s depiction of the underground man’s search and failure to gain the respect of his colleagues which only served to push him into farther underground. In the last moments when he has to reconcile with the fact that he can neither give nor receive love seals his fate in the underground where he is writing from years later. It is least likely that he will encounter another chance to escape. In the underground we will find him languishing untll his death.

==External Links and Resources==

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/underground/themes.html

==Works Cited==
*Hagberg, Garry L. "Wittgenstein Underground." ''Philosophy and literature'' 28.2 (2004): 379-392.
*Madden, Caolan. SparkNote on Notes from Underground. 12 Mar. 2006 <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/underground/>.
*Scanlan, James P. "The Case against Rational Egoism in Dostoevsky's ''Notes from Underground''." ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' 60.3 (1999): 549-567.
*''Novelguide.com''. "Notes from the Underground". March 2006 [<http://www.novelgude.com/notesfromtheunderground/metaphoranaylysis.html>.][[Category:World Literature]]

Williams, Linda. "The underground man: A qusetion of meaning."

2006-03-03T17:39:26Z

2006-02-03T17:51:01Z

RArmstead: /* Biography */

Molière

2006-02-03T17:46:17Z

RArmstead: /* Influences to his writing */

==List of Works==
*[[A Jealous Husband.]]
* [[The Fleet-Footed Doctor.]]
* [[The Scatterbrain]] (1653).
* [[A Lovers' Quarrel]] (1656).
* [[Affected Young Ladies]] (1659).
* [[The Imaginary Cuckold]] (1660).
* [[The Jealous Prince]] (1661).
* [[The School for Husbands]] (1661).
* [[The Nuisances]] (1661).
* [[The School for Wives]] (1662).
* [[The School for Wives Criticized]] (1663).
* [[A Versailles Improvisation]] (1663).
* [[The Forced Wedding]] (1664).
* [[The Princess of Elida]] (1664).
* [[Tartuffe]] (1664, 1667, 1669).
* [[Don Juan]] (1665).
* [[Love's Cure-All]] (1665).
* [[The Misanthrope]] (1666).
* [[A Doctor Despite Himself]] (1666).
* [[Mélicerte]] (1666).
* [[A Comic Pastoral.]]
* [[The Sicilian]] (1667).
* [[Amphitryon]] (1668).
* [[The Confounded Husband]] (1668).
* [[The Miser]] (1668).
* [[Monsieur de Pourceaugnac]] (1669).
* [[The Magnificent Suitors]] (1670).
* [[The Would-Be Gentleman]] (1670).
* [[Psyche]] (1671).
* [[Scapin's Schemings]] (1671).
* [[A Pretentious Countess]] (1671).
* [[Learned Ladies]] (1672).
* [[The Hypochondriac]], or [[The Imaginary Invalid]] (1673).

==Biography==
Jean Baptiste Poquelin was born in Paris, France, on January 15, 1622, to a prominent family. His father, Jean Poquelin, held a distinguished title as valet de chambre and tapissier, or upholsterer, to King Louis XIII. Jean Baptiste Poquelin was the eldest of six children, and held an apprenticeship to his father's business, but showed little interest in the trade. His love for acting and theatre was inspired by his grandfather who would often take him to see productions at the Hotel de Bourgogne.

Jean Baptiste Poquelin's education began with his mother, who was a fervid Catholic with a passion for reading. He later attended one of the finest secondary schools in Paris known as the College de Clermont. After finishing his studies at the College Clermont, he began studying law for a brief period before he inherited his father's title. It was due to a romantic involvement with Madeline Bejart, a young actress who had a tremendous amount of influence on Poquelin, that Jean Baptiste formally renounced his title and gave up a highly respectable career in the King's court to pursue a theatrical career. He later adopted the stage name Moliere out of respect for his father, who wanted to avoid being associated with the theatre, which was considerered to be opprobrious at the time.

With the help of Madelin Bejart and her family, Moliere established the Societe de l'Illustre Theatre, where Moliere acted and later became director and stage manager. However, due to expenses, inexperience, and Moliere's particularly poor acting skills led to the collapse of the Societe de l'Illustre Theatre in July of 1645. The collapse of the theatre led to Moliere being sued for bankruptcy and being temporarily imprisoned for the theatre's debts. However, this was not a deterent to Moliere's theatrical ambitions. He continued acting with Bejart and her family, touring provinces as strolling players. It was during this thirteen-year period that Moliere wrote his first plays - ''La jalousie de Barbouille'' (''The Jealosy of Le Barbouille''), ''Le medecin volant'' (''The Flying Doctor''), and ''L'etourdi'' (''The Blunderer''). After returning to Paris in 1658, Moliere put on the production of Le depit amoureux (The Amorous Quarrel). The play was greeted with unbridled enthusiasm and earned the favor of Louis XIV as well as allowing Moliere the opportunity of sharing a theatre with the renouned Italian performers of Scaramouche. In 1659, ''Les precieuses ridicules'' (''The Affected Ladies'') earned Moliere lasting recognition as a playwrite. ''The Affected Ladies'' is a one-act comedy about two bucolic women who foolishly imitate the spurious social mannerisms and overrefined elegancies of Parisian aristocracy. Moliere's accurate portrayal of ostenation in high society enraged many aristocrats who believed that they were the targets of the parody. Afterwards, Moliere and his plays were regularly the center of controversy. Moliere's irreverance for Parisan aristocracy peaked with the in 1664 with the production of one his best know works, ''Tartuffe''. ''Tartuffe'', while widely popular with audiences as well as King Louis XIV, became the center of condemnation from religious groups. In fact, the Archbishop of Paris issued a decree threatening excommunication to anyone who performed, attended, or even read the play.

After ''Tartuffe'', Moliere continued a prolific career in theatre. Other plays he wrote include ''Dom Juan'' (''Don Juan''), ''Le misanthrope'' (''The Misanthrope''), ''L'avare'' (''The Miser''), and his last work, ''Le malade imaginaire'' (''The Imaginary Invalid''). During a production of ''Le malade imaginaire'', Moliere had already become extremely ill. It was during his fourth performance that he suddenly coughed up blood onstage and later died of pulmonary embolism.

Influences on Moliere

'''Background'''

Moliere, was born Jean Baptiste Poqulinin the year 1622 in Paris, France. He was raised by his father who was a furniture upholsterer for King Louis XIII. Jean Polqulinin’s interest in drama and acting was first sparked by his grandfather who “took him to see productions at the famous Hotel de Bourgogne” (Seidel p5). He received an extremely good education at the Jesuit College de Clermont and went on to graduate from law school. “In 1642 he met and became romantically involved with Madeline Bejart a young actress” (Seidel p5). Jean Polqulin renounced his royal appointment to the court offered because of his father’s position and instead pursed an acting career, then changing his name to Moliere. Although in 1645 he spent time in debtors’ prison after the collapse of his acting troupe called the l’Illustre Theatre (Seidel 5), he continued traveling and performing for the next 13 years. He landed in front of King Louis XIV who became one of his patrons (Seidel p5).

'''Style'''

Moliere writing was influenced by a style called commedia dell’arte also called “comedy of art or comedy of the profession”. Commedia dell’arte is an Italian theater style which is improvised and unwritten. It is up to the actors to make the play and its concepts come together in a comedic way as this style focuses on subject rather than a structured set of lines (Bellinger 1). Moliere used this style in an enhanced version. His first plays are “all short adaptions of Italian farces in the tradition of commedia dell’arte” (Seidel 5). He also used a writing technique called a fabliau which is a short comedic two line verse that rhymes (Columbia). An example of this technique can be seen in his play Tartuff.

'''Time Period'''

Moliere lived from 1622-1673 in Europe during a time refered to as the Age of Reason or Neoclassical period. A theory known as Deism became very popular during this period. Deism suggests that God is likened unto a clockmaker and the universe is likened unto a clock. Once the creation was finished the Clockmaker went on to another project and left the clock to run on its own. This time period emphasized reason, truth and logic, over emotions stating that “reason is a faculty that properly developed can control unruly passions” (Gordon p3). “The main focus of Neoclassical writers was not the inner workings of the mind as with later Romantic writers, but on the behavior of humankind in general” (Gordon p3). The neoclassic period is also characterized by challenges to established religion, government, and social hierarchy.

Work Cited

“Fabliau.” Columbia Encyclopedia. 2005 edition.

<http://www.encyclopedia.com/htmlfl/fabliau.asp.>

Bellinger, Martha. A short history of Drama. New York : Henry Holt and Company,
1927 pp153-157.

<http://www.theatrehistory.com/italian/commedia_dell_arte_001.html>

I.R.F. Gordon, Emiertus Angelia Polytechnic University, “Neo-classicism,
Neoclassicism.” The Literary Encyclopedia. 11 Apr. 2005. The Literary Dictionary Company.

<http://litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=767>

Seidel, Micheal. “European Authors.” Moliere Vol 3 pages 101-124. Literature Resource Center. GALILEO. Georgia Perimeter College Library, Clarkston,GA.
30 Jan 2006.

<http://www.galileo.usg.edu.>

==Links to other sites concerning Molière==

http://www.theatredatabase.com/17th_century/moliere_001.html

http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Theatre/Moliere/moliere.shtml

http://www.site-moliere.com/

http://www.bartleby.com/65/mo/Moliere.html

http://www.theatrehistory.com/french/moliere006.html

http://www.malaspina.org/home.asp?topic=./search/details&lastpage=./search/results&ID=163

==Works Cited==
[http://www.jeancocteaurep.org/education/moliereworks.asp?n=1 List of Works]

[http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=2&ste=6&tab=1&tbst=arp&ai=62807&n=10&docNum=H1410000044&ST=Moliere&bConts=16047 Moliere], in Literature Resource Center. (An introduction to the author's life and works)

[http://lionreference.chadwyck.com/searchFulltext.do?id=BIO008635&divLevel=0&trailId=1087DCE7105&area=ref&forward=critref_ft Moliere], in Literature Online Refereence Edition

[http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=1&ste=6&tab=1&tbst=arp&ai=62807&n=10&docNum=H1200011031&ST=Moliere&bConts=16047 Molière], in Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 268: Seventeenth-Century French Writers. A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Edited by Françoise Jaouën, Yale University. The Gale Group, 2002, pp. 239-263.

Molière

2006-02-03T16:21:21Z

RArmstead: /* Influences to his writing */

==List of Works==
*[[A Jealous Husband.]]
* [[The Fleet-Footed Doctor.]]
* [[The Scatterbrain]] (1653).
* [[A Lovers' Quarrel]] (1656).
* [[Affected Young Ladies]] (1659).
* [[The Imaginary Cuckold]] (1660).
* [[The Jealous Prince]] (1661).
* [[The School for Husbands]] (1661).
* [[The Nuisances]] (1661).
* [[The School for Wives]] (1662).
* [[The School for Wives Criticized]] (1663).
* [[A Versailles Improvisation]] (1663).
* [[The Forced Wedding]] (1664).
* [[The Princess of Elida]] (1664).
* [[Tartuffe]] (1664, 1667, 1669).
* [[Don Juan]] (1665).
* [[Love's Cure-All]] (1665).
* [[The Misanthrope]] (1666).
* [[A Doctor Despite Himself]] (1666).
* [[Mélicerte]] (1666).
* [[A Comic Pastoral.]]
* [[The Sicilian]] (1667).
* [[Amphitryon]] (1668).
* [[The Confounded Husband]] (1668).
* [[The Miser]] (1668).
* [[Monsieur de Pourceaugnac]] (1669).
* [[The Magnificent Suitors]] (1670).
* [[The Would-Be Gentleman]] (1670).
* [[Psyche]] (1671).
* [[Scapin's Schemings]] (1671).
* [[A Pretentious Countess]] (1671).
* [[Learned Ladies]] (1672).
* [[The Hypochondriac]], or [[The Imaginary Invalid]] (1673).

==Biography==
Jean Baptiste Poquelin was born in Paris, France, on January 15, 1622, to a prominent family. His father, Jean Poquelin, held a distinguished title as valet de chambre and tapissier, or upholsterer, to King Louis XIII. Jean Baptiste Poquelin was the eldest of six children, and held an apprenticeship to his father's business, but showed little interest in the trade. His love for acting and theatre was inspired by his grandfather who would often take him to see productions at the Hotel de Bourgogne.

Jean Baptiste Poquelin's education began with his mother, who was a fervid Catholic with a passion for reading. He later attended one of the finest secondary schools in Paris known as the College de Clermont. After finishing his studies at the College Clermont, he began studying law for a brief period before he inherited his father's title. It was due to a romantic involvement with Madeline Bejart, a young actress who had a tremendous amount of influence on Poquelin, that Jean Baptiste formally renounced his title and gave up a highly respectable career in the King's court to pursue a theatrical career. He later adopted the stage name Moliere out of respect for his father, who wanted to avoid being associated with the theatre, which was considerered to be opprobrious at the time.

With the help of Madelin Bejart and her family, Moliere established the Societe de l'Illustre Theatre, where Moliere acted and later became director and stage manager. However, due to expenses, inexperience, and Moliere's particularly poor acting skills led to the collapse of the Societe de l'Illustre Theatre in July of 1645. The collapse of the theatre led to Moliere being sued for bankruptcy and being temporarily imprisoned for the theatre's debts. However, this was not a deterent to Moliere's theatrical ambitions. He continued acting with Bejart and her family, touring provinces as strolling players. It was during this thirteen-year period that Moliere wrote his first plays - ''La jalousie de Barbouille'' (''The Jealosy of Le Barbouille''), ''Le medecin volant'' (''The Flying Doctor''), and ''L'etourdi'' (''The Blunderer''). After returning to Paris in 1658, Moliere put on the production of Le depit amoureux (The Amorous Quarrel). The play was greeted with unbridled enthusiasm and earned the favor of Louis XIV as well as allowing Moliere the opportunity of sharing a theatre with the renouned Italian performers of Scaramouche. In 1659, ''Les precieuses ridicules'' (''The Affected Ladies'') earned Moliere lasting recognition as a playwrite. ''The Affected Ladies'' is a one-act comedy about two bucolic women who foolishly imitate the spurious social mannerisms and overrefined elegancies of Parisian aristocracy. Moliere's accurate portrayal of ostenation in high society enraged many aristocrats who believed that they were the targets of the parody. Afterwards, Moliere and his plays were regularly the center of controversy. Moliere's irreverance for Parisan aristocracy peaked with the in 1664 with the production of one his best know works, ''Tartuffe''. ''Tartuffe'', while widely popular with audiences as well as King Louis XIV, became the center of condemnation from religious groups. In fact, the Archbishop of Paris issued a decree threatening excommunication to anyone who performed, attended, or even read the play.

After ''Tartuffe'', Moliere continued a prolific career in theatre. Other plays he wrote include ''Dom Juan'' (''Don Juan''), ''Le misanthrope'' (''The Misanthrope''), ''L'avare'' (''The Miser''), and his last work, ''Le malade imaginaire'' (''The Imaginary Invalid''). During a production of ''Le malade imaginaire'', Moliere had already become extremely ill. It was during his fourth performance that he suddenly coughed up blood onstage and later died of pulmonary embolism.

==Influences to his writing==
'''Background'''

Moliere, born Jean Baptiste Poqulin, was raised by his father who was a furniture upholsterer for the king of France. He received an extremely good education at the College de Clermont and went on to graduate from law school. He decided to join an acting troupe. It is during the 12 years of touring with the company that he performed in front of Louis XIV who later became one of his patrons.

'''Style'''

Moliere writing was influenced by a style called ''commedia dell’arte'' also called “comedy of art or comedy of the profession.” This is an Italian theater in which the style is mostly improvised but unwritten. This style focuses on the performance of the actors and the subject rather that a structured set of lines. It is up to the actors to make the play and its concepts come together in a comedic way. Moliere used this style in an enhanced version. He also used a writing technique called a fabliau which is a short comedic two line verse that rhymes.

'''Time Period'''

Moliere lived from 1622-1673. This was during the time period in Europe called the age of reason. As it is so named, this time period emphasized reason, truth and logic, over emotions. It suggests that the entity known as God is likened unto a clockmaker and the universe is likened unto a clock. Once the creation was finished the Clockmaker went on to another project and left the clock to run on its own. This theory is known as deism. The neoclassic period is also characterized by challenges to established religion, government, and social hierarchy.

'''References'''

http://www.ctlastae.edu

http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Theatre/Moliere.shtml

http://www.encyclopedia.com/htmlfl/fabliau.asp

http://www.theartrehistory.com/italian/commedia_dell_arte_001.html

Note* This section will be revised in one hour.*

==Links to other sites concerning Molière==

http://www.theatredatabase.com/17th_century/moliere_001.html

http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Theatre/Moliere/moliere.shtml

http://www.site-moliere.com/

http://www.bartleby.com/65/mo/Moliere.html

http://www.theatrehistory.com/french/moliere006.html

http://www.malaspina.org/home.asp?topic=./search/details&lastpage=./search/results&ID=163

==Works Cited==
[http://www.jeancocteaurep.org/education/moliereworks.asp?n=1 List of Works]

[http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=2&ste=6&tab=1&tbst=arp&ai=62807&n=10&docNum=H1410000044&ST=Moliere&bConts=16047 Moliere], in Literature Resource Center. (An introduction to the author's life and works)

[http://lionreference.chadwyck.com/searchFulltext.do?id=BIO008635&divLevel=0&trailId=1087DCE7105&area=ref&forward=critref_ft Moliere], in Literature Online Refereence Edition

[http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=1&ste=6&tab=1&tbst=arp&ai=62807&n=10&docNum=H1200011031&ST=Moliere&bConts=16047 Molière], in Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 268: Seventeenth-Century French Writers. A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Edited by Françoise Jaouën, Yale University. The Gale Group, 2002, pp. 239-263.

Molière

2006-01-30T17:39:54Z

RArmstead: /* Influences to his writing */

==List of Works==
*[[A Jealous Husband.]]
* [[The Fleet-Footed Doctor.]]
* [[The Scatterbrain]] (1653).
* [[A Lovers' Quarrel]] (1656).
* [[Affected Young Ladies]] (1659).
* [[The Imaginary Cuckold]] (1660).
* [[The Jealous Prince]] (1661).
* [[The School for Husbands]] (1661).
* [[The Nuisances]] (1661).
* [[The School for Wives]] (1662).
* [[The School for Wives Criticized]] (1663).
* [[A Versailles Improvisation]] (1663).
* [[The Forced Wedding]] (1664).
* [[The Princess of Elida]] (1664).
* [[Tartuffe]] (1664, 1667, 1669).
* [[Don Juan]] (1665).
* [[Love's Cure-All]] (1665).
* [[The Misanthrope]] (1666).
* [[A Doctor Despite Himself]] (1666).
* [[Mélicerte]] (1666).
* [[A Comic Pastoral.]]
* [[The Sicilian]] (1667).
* [[Amphitryon]] (1668).
* [[The Confounded Husband]] (1668).
* [[The Miser]] (1668).
* [[Monsieur de Pourceaugnac]] (1669).
* [[The Magnificent Suitors]] (1670).
* [[The Would-Be Gentleman]] (1670).
* [[Psyche]] (1671).
* [[Scapin's Schemings]] (1671).
* [[A Pretentious Countess]] (1671).
* [[Learned Ladies]] (1672).
* [[The Hypochondriac]], or [[The Imaginary Invalid]] (1673).

==Biography==
Jean Baptiste Poquelin was born in Paris, France, on January 15, 1622, to a prominent family. His father, Jean Poquelin, held a distinguished title as valet de chambre and tapissier, or upholsterer, to King Louis XIII. Jean Baptiste Poquelin was the eldest of six children, and held an apprenticeship to his father's business, but showed little interest in the trade. His love for acting and theatre was inspired by his grandfather who would often take him to see productions at the Hotel de Bourgogne.

Jean Baptiste Poquelin's education began with his mother, who was a fervid Catholic with a passion for reading. He later attended one of the finest secondary schools in Paris known as the College de Clermont. After finishing his studies at the College Clermont, he began studying law for a brief period before he inherited his father's title. It was due to a romantic involvement with Madeline Bejart, a young actress who had a tremendous amount of influence on Poquelin, that Jean Baptiste formally renounced his title and gave up a highly respectable career in the King's court to pursue a theatrical career. He later adopted the stage name Moliere out of respect for his father, who wanted to avoid being associated with the theatre, which was considerered to be opprobrious at the time.

With the help of Madelin Bejart and her family, Moliere established the Societe de l'Illustre Theatre, where Moliere acted and later became director and stage manager. However, due to expenses, inexperience, and Moliere's particularly poor acting skills led to the collapse of the Societe de l'Illustre Theatre in July of 1645. The collapse of the theatre led to Moliere being sued for bankruptcy and being temporarily imprisoned for the theatre's debts. However, this was not a deterent to Moliere's theatrical ambitions. He continued acting with Bejart and her family, touring provinces as strolling players. It was during this thirteen-year period that Moliere wrote his first plays - ''La jalousie de Barbouille'' (''The Jealosy of Le Barbouille''), ''Le medecin volant'' (''The Flying Doctor''), and ''L'etourdi'' (''The Blunderer''). After returning to Paris in 1658, Moliere put on the production of Le depit amoureux (The Amorous Quarrel). The play was greeted with unbridled enthusiasm and earned the favor of Louis XIV as well as allowing Moliere the opportunity of sharing a theatre with the renouned Italian performers of Scaramouche. In 1659, ''Les precieuses ridicules'' (''The Affected Ladies'') earned Moliere lasting recognition as a playwrite. ''The Affected Ladies'' is a one-act comedy about two bucolic women who foolishly imitate the spurious social mannerisms and overrefined elegancies of Parisian aristocracy. Moliere's accurate portrayal of ostenation in high society enraged many aristocrats who believed that they were the targets of the parody. Afterwards, Moliere and his plays were regularly the center of controversy. Moliere's irreverance for Parisan aristocracy peaked with the in 1664 with the production of one his best know works, ''Tartuffe''. ''Tartuffe'', while widely popular with audiences as well as King Louis XIV, became the center of condemnation from religious groups. In fact, the Archbishop of Paris issued a decree threatening excommunication to anyone who performed, attended, or even read the play.

After ''Tartuffe'', Moliere continued a prolific career in theatre. Other plays he wrote include ''Dom Juan'' (''Don Juan''), ''Le misanthrope'' (''The Misanthrope''), ''L'avare'' (''The Miser''), and his last work, ''Le malade imaginaire'' (''The Imaginary Invalid''). During a production of ''Le malade imaginaire'', Moliere had already become extremely ill. It was during his fourth performance that he suddenly coughed up blood onstage and later died of pulmonary embolism.

==Influences to his writing==
'''Background'''

Moliere, born Jean Baptiste Poqulin, was raised by his father who was a furniture upholsterer for the king of France. He received an extremely good education at the College de Clermont and went on to graduate from law school. He decided to join an acting troupe. It is during the 12 years of touring with the company that he performed in front of Louis XIV who later became one of his patrons.

'''Style'''

Moliere writing was influenced by a style called ''commedia dell’arte'' also called “comedy of art or comedy of the profession.” This is an Italian theater in which the style is mostly improvised but unwritten. This style focuses on the performance of the actors and the subject rather that a structured set of lines. It is up to the actors to make the play and its concepts come together in a comedic way. Moliere used this style in an enhanced version. He also used a writing technique called a fabliau which is a short comedic two line verse that rhymes.

'''Time Period'''

Moliere lived from 1622-1673. This was during the time period in Europe called the age of reason. As it is so named, this time period emphasized reason, truth and logic, over emotions. It suggests that the entity known as God is likened unto a clockmaker and the universe is likened unto a clock. Once the creation was finished the Clockmaker went on to another project and left the clock to run on its own. This theory is known as deism. The neoclassic period is also characterized by challenges to established religion, government, and social hierarchy.

'''References'''

http://www.ctlastae.edu

http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Theatre/Moliere.shtml

http://www.encyclopedia.com/htmlfl/fabliau.asp

http://www.theartrehistory.com/italian/commedia_dell_arte_001.html

==Links to other sites concerning Molière==

http://www.theatredatabase.com/17th_century/moliere_001.html

http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Theatre/Moliere/moliere.shtml

http://www.site-moliere.com/

http://www.bartleby.com/65/mo/Moliere.html

http://www.theatrehistory.com/french/moliere006.html

http://www.malaspina.org/home.asp?topic=./search/details&lastpage=./search/results&ID=163

==Works Cited==
[http://www.jeancocteaurep.org/education/moliereworks.asp?n=1 List of Works]

[http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=2&ste=6&tab=1&tbst=arp&ai=62807&n=10&docNum=H1410000044&ST=Moliere&bConts=16047 Moliere], in Literature Resource Center. (An introduction to the author's life and works)

[http://lionreference.chadwyck.com/searchFulltext.do?id=BIO008635&divLevel=0&trailId=1087DCE7105&area=ref&forward=critref_ft Moliere], in Literature Online Refereence Edition

[http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=1&ste=6&tab=1&tbst=arp&ai=62807&n=10&docNum=H1200011031&ST=Moliere&bConts=16047 Molière], in Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 268: Seventeenth-Century French Writers. A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Edited by Françoise Jaouën, Yale University. The Gale Group, 2002, pp. 239-263.