[1][2] According to Jens Rieckmann,[b] despite its exotic setting, the themes of The Transposed Heads—"sensuality, metaphysics, entangled identities, and the problem of love and individuality"—were central to Mann's work.

[1] Another theme in the story is the femme fatale archetype that can also be seen in several of Mann's works, including Little Herr Friedemann and Castorp's nightmarish visions of female cannibals in The Magic Mountain.

Sita, the central female character of The Transposed Heads, is a seemingly innocent girl who causes the death of both the men who love her.

"[5] Shridaman is a learned merchant with strong spiritual qualities and a noble face but a thin, weedy body.

Six months after the wedding and with Sita pregnant with Shridaman's child, they set off to visit her parents accompanied by Nanda.

However, in her grief and confusion Sita had placed Nanda's head on Shridaman's body and vice versa.

Sita gives birth to Samadhi, a lovable child with very poor eyesight who is nicknamed "Andhaka" ("Little blind boy").

While Shridaman is away on business, Sita takes her son to visit Nanda and show him the child his new body had generated.

The two men are to commit suicide, and Sita is to die a ritual death on her husband's funeral pyre.