"The Married Couple" (German: "Das Ehepaar") is a 1922 short story by Franz Kafka.
It was published posthumously in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer (Berlin, 1931).
The first English translation by Willa and Edwin Muir was published by Martin Secker in London in 1933.
The alarm expressed by the narrator only amplifies his own weaknesses, and he is patronized by the wife as he leaves alone.
Moreover, the woman is completely absorbed in the marriage, both an advantage and a hindrance to the husband's life.