Corruption Of Blood Ties In Shakespeare's Macbeth

The Father goes through one of the most drastic changes in the novella. Before Gregor’s transformation into a bug, the father did not work, and he did not really do anything, he relied on his son’s influx of money but when Gregor changed into a bug that was all about to change. Before the change happened, the father was not in working condition. In Gregor’s words, “now the father was certainly healthy, but an old man, who had not worked in five years and could not be expected to do much” (29). The father before his change was in general lazy. But because of the changes in his family, he had to change. In only 9 short pages of the novella, Gregor’s thoughts on his father changed drastically, “Now however he held himself erect dressed in a tight blue uniform. With gold buttons, like that of a bank manager…” (38). If you compared that to Gregor’s old information on the father, it is a major change, from lazy and unhelpful, to in charge and bringing in money. One of the other major changes in the father was his attitude towards Gregor. At the start of the novella, he wanted nothing to do with Gregor, “when his father gave him a terrific shove from behind and he flew, bleeding profusely, far into the room” (21). He could have killed Gregor then, but at the end of the story, when the sister wanted to kill Gregor, the father said, “if only he could understand us….then we might be able to come to some sort of agreement with him” (53). He almost wanted to make

In the Shakespearean play written by William Shakespeare, Macbeth, seems to be corrupted by guilt and this appears to destroy his inner peace. Macbeth’s character change seems to develop during the middle and after he murders King Duncan. Macbeth develops from a very noble and honest man into a very evil man. This is because he is destroyed by guilt through killing King Duncan. His mind and inner peace are completely destroyed by this traitorous act that he now is a completely different character from what he was at the start of the play. Macbeth is completely damaged by his mind and corruption of his thinking.

Isolation not only changes the personalities of Gregor and his family, but also it changes the role and duties Gregor plays in his family. Before the metamorphosis, Gregor worked alone to provide for the entire family. For example, in the beginning, before the transformation, he says, “But besides that, the money Gregor had brought home every month he had kept only a few dollars for himself” (4). This shows Gregor’s selfishness and his family’s heavy dependency on his income. It establishes the fact that Gregor’s family’s loyalty to Gregor was strong because the family depended on Gregor for their own survival, and shows how they betrayed him by disregarding him after he became an insect. The isolation of Gregor caused by the transformation not only affects Gregor’s role in the family, but also changes the role of Mr. Samsa. Mr. Samsa originally told by Gregor: ”Now his father was still healthy, certainly. But he was an old man who had not worked for the past five years and who in any case could not be expected to undertake that much” (17). This shows how irresponsible Mr. Samsa acted for his family in the beginning. Mr. Samsa, a man in his 50s, blamed his unemployment on anxiety and depression from a past failed business. Mr. Samsa changes his role as the useless drag to the provider of the family, and even obtains a new job as a bank manager.

To fully understand the depths of Gregor’s family’s betrayal, it must be mentioned how much he does for his family. His father had once owned a very unsuccessful small business, and when the business went under the family’s financial woes were unimaginable. Gregor saw this and wanted to bring joy to his family again. Kafka states, “At that time Gregor’s sole desire was to do his utmost to help the family to forget as soon as possible the catastrophe that had overwhelmed the business and thrown them all into a state of complete despair” (Kafka 25) He found a job so that

Any person could say in one point of their life they have wanted power and authority. In Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, the tragedy starts off with a loyal subject named Macbeth who is crowned Thane of Cawdor. Once Macbeth was crowned Thane, he wanted something greater, something superior, and to do that he had come up with the idea to kill, even though he was fearful of being caught. The most superior person that everyone was loyal too and loved the king. Macbeths want for that power is later turned into corruption. The corruption of power inside Macbeth turns his loyal side to a cruel,darker, and malicious side. The desire for power can corrupt loay subjects by relying on fear to maintain one’s position. In Macbeth, our protagonist, at

Diction surrounding Gregor’s father: Gregor’s father is portrayed as a lazy man, however under certain circumstances, he is forced to work. He is transformed into a working man and as time goes on his physical appearance shows that he is now enslaved to the working class and his life revolves around his job. Despite being a more productive member of society, the negative connotation of his descriptions shows that he is still being suppressed by society.

Power gives people the ability to control and influence. It is held and used in many ways, significant and insignificant, for justice, mercy or desire. Because of its ability to give people what they want, power tempts people into doing the unthinkable in order to acquire it. Power itself is uncorrupted, only tainted and weaponised by those who hold it. In Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ and Suzanne Collins’ ‘Hunger Games: Mocking Jay Part Two, manipulation and suggestion are shown to corrupt power and contribute to its use in the name of evil. Through a comparison of literary devices in ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Mockingjay Part Two’, humanity’s corruption of power will be explored and unveiled

            The next level is the need of feeling safe and Gregor certainly does not have anyone to rely on even before his transformation. His father has given him the responsibility to pay off his debts and Gregor had worked hard to do what is asked of him. He works in a job as a salesman and he absolutely hates his job. The indifference of Gregor’s family towards him crushes him  , “ But Gregor understood easily that it was not only consideration for him which

So concerned with ensuring his parents and sister were taken care of, he forgot his own needs. It was apparent to everyone that he was no longer thought of as a son or an extension of the family, but merely as a "support system." The tragic fact is that "everyone had grown accustomed to it, his family as much as himself; they took the money gratefully, he gave it willingly but the act was accompanied by no remarkable effusiveness" (Kafka 48). It appears that in the course of his hectic work schedule, he overlooks that in return for dedication to his family, he remains unloved and unappreciated. Yet Gregor still "believed he had to provide his family with a pleasant, contented, secure life" (Emrich 149), regardless of how they treated him.

Additionally, Kafka’s relationships with his family members further demonstrate the devaluation and isolation present in his life. Concerning the novella, Straus writes, “the narration focuses on how Gregor invalidates his family, how his family invalidates and destroys Gregor.” (Nina Pelikan Straus) The story itself focuses on Gregor’s exile from his family by his family. Such exile reflects the invalidation of Kafka in his own and the destruction Kafka felt from his own family. Furthermore, Gregor’s father states that “if he could understand us, then maybe we could come to an agreement with him.” (Metamorphosis) Kafka’s own father was unable to come to terms with him and his experience is paralleled by Gregor and his

Kafka utilizes a new narrative perspective in the last passage of his work to expose the one-sided love between Gregor and the rest of his family. The majority of the story had been told in a free indirect discourse restricted to the mind of Gregor. In this position, Gregor’s humanity —despite his inhuman exterior— and his genuine love for family is revealed. As the only source of income for the family, he works with every fiber in his being to overcome the debt that plagues them, as “He felt great pride at having been able to give his parents and sister a life like this in such a beautiful apartment” (411). This compassion is clearly not reciprocated when the narration shifts to the remaining family following Gregor’s demise. Instead they critique the shelter that Gregor

Gregor’s role in his family characterizes him as an altruistic individual whose nature made him ignorant to his family’s manipulation. Gregor endures most of his hardships without complaint and puts the needs of his family firmly above his own. Upon realizing his transformation at the beginning of the novella, his first thoughts were not of alarm but of great concern about being late to work because it is his only means of taking care of his family (Kafka 6). After his father’s business failed, Gregor “work[ed] with special ardor” (27) doing laborious work as a traveling salesman, not only to “pay off [his] parents’ debt”(4), but to also spend what little money he has to give Grete the opportunity to perform violin professionally (26). With all these responsibilities, it’s inevitable for Gregor to be under great stress, which can infer that Gregor’s transformation is a result of his willful desire to escape the pressures his overburdened life. Gregor struggled between remaining a steadfast provider or following his desire for independence, however, his metamorphosis freed him from a job he detests. Now that it is impossible for Gregor to work, Mr.Samsa reveals that “he possessed more money than Gregor knew about” (#). This is a significant event where Kafka uses the motif of betrayal to emphasize the corruption in familial infrastructure represented through Gregor’s sacrifice and interaction with his family, as well as to socially comment about how people in society use

Gregor allowed his family to harass, bully and degrade him, in the same manner that Kafka had allowed his family to do. The similarity of Kafka’s relationship with his father was also portrayed with Gregor and his relationship with his father. Kafka intended to reflect and highlight the decisions that were made by Gregor being influenced by his family, by making them important protagonists within the novel. Gregor expresses from the beginning of the novel how his father intended on raising him, “from the first day of his new life that his father considered only the strictest treatment called for in dealing with him”38, much like Kafka’s father had. Gregor’s father was rather tough on him and his duties, and would take no clear- minded steps into understanding what Gregor, as a bug, did or tried to communicate through the actions he took. As he jumped to conclusions the second he saw Gregor out of his room, and would beat him with a cane trying to pressure him back to staying in his room as if he wasn’t even his son, or throwing apples at him. This provokes Gregor, allowing him to think more rationally, becoming more introverted, yet inside he was suffering with such sadness and crying desperately for some kind of recognition, much like Kafka did.

Furthermore, Gregor’s descent into social and physical abjection then forces his family to change radically in order to support themselves. In the beginning, Gregor starts off as the provider for his family. He hates his job, but he still goes above and beyond the call of duty to give his family a more comfortable life, even indulging the expensive endeavour of his sisters’ dream of studying the violin. However, after the metamorphosis, he is thrust into the role of a dependant – forcing his family to take responsibility and support themselves. His sister steps up to the plate in the beginning, giving him a selection of foodstuffs to find what he likes and even cleaning up after him. His parents are still in denial at this point, so much so that they refuse to see him at all. But as time goes by, his family begins to accept the situation and even try to help Grete out. His father produces some money from his previous failed business venture and his mother and sister try to make life more comfortable for Gregor. Grete in particular changes the most noticeably; Gregor himself notes at the beginning that her life up till that point had been “enviable”, consisting of “wearing nice

Throughout literary history, certain authors are so unique and fresh in their approach to the written word that they come to embody a genre. Franz Kafka is one such author; “Die Verwandlung” or “The Metamorphosis” is one of his works that helped coin the term “Kafkaesque.” Through this novella, Kafka addresses the timeless theme of people exploit-ing others as a means to an end. He demonstrates this point through showing that a family’s unhealthy dependence on the main character results in that character’s dependence on the family.