The Metamorphosis Characters

Gregor Samsa

A traveling salesman who supported his sister and parents until he wakes as a monstrous vermin. Confined to his room, misunderstood and mistaken about others' intentions, he clings to his human past until his family stops wanting him — and he dies of starvation.

Appears in:

Part 1: One Morning, an Insect

Part 2: Learning the New Body

Part 3: The Family Moves On

Part 4: After the Body

Themes:

Alienation

Family as economy

Identity and the body

Freedom at a terrible price

Care and its exhaustion

Grete Samsa

Gregor's younger sister, his first caretaker and last hope, who plays the violin and dreams of the conservatory. She feeds him, then resents him, and finally declares the creature is not Gregor — the words that make him give up.

Appears in:

Part 2: Learning the New Body

Part 3: The Family Moves On

Part 4: After the Body

Themes:

Family as economy

Identity and the body

Freedom at a terrible price

Care and its exhaustion

Mr. Samsa

Gregor's bankrupt father, forced back to work as a bank messenger after the transformation. He regards his son with disgust and fear, drives him with a stick and newspaper, and hurls the apples that wound him.

Mrs. Samsa

Gregor's asthmatic mother, torn between maternal love and revulsion. She wants to enter his room, faints when she sees him clinging to his picture, and sews for a lingerie store to keep the family afloat.

Appears in:

Part 4: After the Body

The Charwoman

An old widowed charwoman hired after the previous maid flees in fright. Unafraid of Gregor, she never questions his state, finds his body, and matter-of-factly disposes of it.

Appears in:

Part 3: The Family Moves On

Part 4: After the Body