Franz Kafka’s novella The Metamorphosis presents the reader with irony from the onset of the story. It begins with Gregor Samsa waking up to discover that he is a giant insect. This is an example of situational irony in which an event that occurs is markedly contrary to the expected event. Samsa waking up as a giant bug is contrary to what is expected to happen when someone normally wakes up in the morning.
The reader is soon presented with cosmic irony, which is often quirky and drenched in dark humor. For Gregor Samsa, he decides the best thing to do is just go back to sleep, but now that he is an insect he can’t roll over onto his side, which is how he usually sleeps.
Another example of irony unravels when Samsa’s father finds out about his son’s transformation. Again Kafka creates situational irony when the father is more concerned about his son’s ability to go to work and less concerned about his metamorphosis.
The Metamorphosis was first published in 1915. It was written in 1912, but Kafka hesitated to have it printed. It is one of the few works Kafka saw published while he was alive.
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