IB English HL 11 The Metamorphosis Kafka meets Sophocles As we have discussed, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka has some of the same elements and themes as a Greek tragedy. Your job as a group is to imagine what a playwright like Sophocles would have done had he taken on the task of dramatizing the life of Gregor Samsa of Prague. This project will be an original, creative exercise for you to incorporate intertextuality. Although you will write your scene as a Greek drama, you also want to include “Kafkaesque” material to show your familiarity with the content and style of “The Metamorphosis.” Your script should be about three or four pages long by the time you double space and write it in script form. Each script should have: •
a chorus who acts as the commentary. When the chorus enters your scene, it should sing or chant the parodos, the entry song that pertains to the action or theme of the scene. The chorus can also provide background to your scene. Remember, the chorus is often fond of invoking the gods.
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a rhesis, or relatively long formal speech (you can have two or three of these if you need to)
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stichomythia (pronounced stick-a-MYTH-ee-a), or rapid, back-and-forth dialogue between two speakers
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passion from your named characters. FYI: in Greek these characters are called the protagonist (main character, e.g. Oedipus or Antigone), deuteragonist (secondary character, e.g. Jocasta or Ismene), and tritagonist (minor character, e.g. the messenger or sentry).
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anything else in Sophocles’s and/or Kafka’s style you’d like to include, such as foreshadowing, dramatic irony, hubris, surrealism, Freudian elements, naturalism, alienation, etc.
Bring in props for the performance, which will be on __________________________________.
Scenes 1. Gregor Samsa awakes to find himself transformed into a gigantic vermin. With some effort, he manages to open the door to his room, upon which he encounters his mother, father, and the chief clerk of his office. Roles: Gregor, Grete, his father, his mother, the chief clerk, Chorus (6) 2. Back in his room, Gregor is allowed to listen in on his family’s evening conversations, where he discovers news of their financial status. His sister takes on the care and feeding of Gregor, but disaster ensues when she and Gregor’s mother attempt to clean out Gregor’s room. His father returns home and assaults Gregor with apples. Roles: Gregor, Grete, mother, father, Chorus (5) 3. Following the apple assault, Gregor’s physical condition becomes weaker, and his room ceases to resemble a human bedroom. A new woman is brought on to do the cleaning. One night when Grete is playing the violin, Gregor emerges from his room to listen to her. The lodgers react with indignation, and Grete turns on Gregor, who slinks back into his room and expires. Roles: Gregor, charwoman, Grete, father, mother, head lodger, chorus (6--you may need guest actors to play minor roles) 4. The morning after Gregor’s death, his body is discovered by the charwoman, who informs the family of his demise. The lodgers are kicked out, Gregor’s body is “taken care of,” and the family heads out for a picnic in the countryside. Roles: charwoman, father, mother, head lodger, Grete, Chorus (6)
