The Metamorphosis — Episode 3

The apple stays in Gregor's back. Nobody takes it out. For a month he is very ill. He is too weak to climb the walls now. He walks across his room very slowly, like an old man.

But every evening the family opens the door to the living room. Gregor lies in the dark and watches them at the table. He can hear them talk. He likes this very much.

Everybody is tired now. The father works in a bank. He wears his blue uniform all day and all evening, and he falls asleep in his chair after dinner. The mother sews clothes for a shop. Grete works in a shop too, and in the evenings she learns French. Nobody talks much.

The family has less money now. They sell the mother's and Grete's jewellery. They want to move to a smaller flat, but they can't — because of Gregor.

Grete is too busy and too tired to look after Gregor well. In the morning she pushes some food into his room with her foot. In the evening she takes it out again. Gregor doesn't eat it. His room is dirty. There is dust everywhere.

There is a new cleaning woman now — a big, strong old woman. She is not afraid of Gregor. She opens his door and says, “Come here, you old beetle!” Gregor doesn't move.

The family needs more money, so three men come to live in one of the rooms. They are lodgers. They all have big beards. They want everything clean and tidy. All the old things from the flat go into Gregor's room — boxes, old chairs, even the rubbish bin.

One evening Grete plays her violin in the kitchen. The lodgers hear it. “Please, come and play for us in the living room,” they say. So Grete comes in and plays for them. The father and mother watch her. They are very proud.

Gregor hears the music. It is beautiful. He comes slowly out of his room and into the living room. He is covered in dust and dirt, but he doesn't care. He only wants to be near his sister.

The lodgers are bored. They don't listen to the music. They stand at the window and smoke. But Gregor loves it. He thinks: Is this music the food I need? He wants to take Grete into his room and tell her his secret: I wanted to send you to music school. I wanted to tell everybody at Christmas.

Suddenly one of the lodgers points at Gregor. “Mr Samsa!” The music stops. The lodgers are angry. “This flat is disgusting,” says one. “We are leaving, and we will not pay you anything!” They go into their room and shut the door — bang!

The father falls into his chair. The mother's hands shake, and the violin falls on the floor. Gregor is too weak to move. He waits.

Grete hits the table with her hand. “Mother, Father, we can't go on like this,” she says. “I won't say my brother's name in front of this animal. We must get rid of it. We did everything we could.”

“She's right,” says the father.

“It isn't Gregor,” says Grete, and she cries. “If it was Gregor, he would understand. He would go away. Then we could remember him and live our lives.”

Gregor doesn't want to frighten anybody. Slowly, slowly, he turns round and goes back to his room. It is very far. He is very weak. At the door he looks back one last time at his mother. She is asleep.

Grete runs and closes the door behind him. She locks it. “At last!” she says.

In the dark, Gregor can't move any more. But he doesn't feel much pain. He thinks about his family with love. He agrees with Grete: he must go. At three o'clock in the morning, the sky outside the window begins to get light. Then his head goes down, and he dies quietly.

In the morning the cleaning woman finds him. “Come and look!” she calls. “It's dead!”

The family comes. “Well,” says the father, “now we can thank God.” Grete looks at Gregor. “He was so thin,” she says. “He didn't eat for a long time.” The cleaning woman opens the window. It is the end of March, and the air is warm.

That day, the father, the mother and Grete don't go to work. They take a tram out of the city, into the country. The tram is full of sunshine. They talk about the future. Their jobs are good. They can move to a smaller, cheaper flat. The parents look at Grete. She is a beautiful young woman now. Soon, they think, she can find a good husband. At the end of the ride, Grete stands up and stretches in the sun.