„Głodne zwierzę” w Opowiadaniach Franza Kafki umiera z nadzieją

I assume that it is not right to attempt an interpretation of The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung) as a nightmare, a metaphor of illness or exclusion for social, po- litical, religious, racial, moral and all other possible reasons. Contrary to this, it is possible to talk about at least three types of needs (and neurotic desires connected with them) visible in Gregor’s behaviour: the need to be loved and accepted, the need to diminish one’s own desires in order to serve the loved ones, and the need to confirm one’s own superiority which stems from the self-denial and sacrifice. Seen from the perspective of such neurotic desires, Gregor Samsa becomes a char- acter who, as an aggressor, extorts pathological family relations. All those explanations allow us to perceive The Metamorphosis as a literary visu- alisation of mental complications unexpectedly unveiled in the standard model of a good, bourgeoisie family. Psychoanalytical interpretation of the text from the perspective of unconscious psyche reveals a zoomorphic, archetypical image of an Enemy (a worm) and combines the archetypal symbol with the interpretation of zoomorphosis as a literary description of neurotic desires, and, consequently, the destruction which they may lead to.