The Elephant Man

68 pages • 2 hours read

The Elephant Man

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1979

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Introduction

Before Reading

During Reading

After Reading

During Reading

Reading Questions & Paired Texts

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

SCENES 1-10

Reading Check

1. What must Merrick do “to survive,” according to Ross?

2. What does Treves note about the effect of Merrick’s deformities on his own face?

3. For what does the Man tell the Pinheads that they must prepare an act to celebrate?

4. Which two places did Miss Sandwich work prior to London hospital?

5. What does Gomm inform Treves that they have raised?

6. Why does Merrick want to go to a home for the blind?

7. What is Treves’s “aim” for supporting Merrick?

8. What term does Merrick use to describe the reality of the love story in the play that Merrick and Mrs. Kendal discuss?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What does Treves’s brief monologue at the end of the first scene imply about his circumstances?

2. What offer does Treves make Ross? How does this interaction reveal more about Merrick’s past?

3. Why does Merrick travel to Belgium? What does he see there, and what does he learn about Ross?

4. What does Miss Sandwich assure Treves that she is able to do? How do her actions compare with her words?

5. Compare and contrast the Bishop’s beliefs with Gomm’s. How does Merrick’s state add to the complexity of their conversation?

6. Summarize Merrick and Treves’s conversation regarding “home.” How does Merrick process this word?

7. Who is Mrs. Kendal? What does Treves ask of her, and how does she prepare herself for the task?

8. What do Mrs. Kendal and Merrick discuss during their first meeting, and how does Mrs. Kendal respond to the situation?

Paired Resources

The Elephant Man (1980)

Lynch’s 1980 film, which is based on the real-life story of Merrick, is unrelated to Pomerance’s play.
It connects with the themes Dehumanization Through “Freakishness” and “Normalcy,” Science Versus Religion, and Imperialism and Western Self-Superiority.
Compare and contrast Lynch’s movie and Pomerance’s play. How do both directors seek to tell the tragic story of Merrick?

“Feb 5, 1885 CE: Belgian King Establishes Congo Free State”

National Geographic shares a historical overview of the atrocities committed by King Leopold II in the Congo.
This connects with the themes Dehumanization Through “Freakishness” and “Normalcy,” Science Versus Religion, and Imperialism and Western Self-Superiority.
How was King Leopold II perceived in European metropoles? How did this contrast with how colonized people perceived King Leopold II?

“The Victorian Freak Show and the Spectacle of the Elephant Man”

This article from the Millersville University Graduate Journal explores the relationship between public display of disabilities and the prominence of “freak shows” in the 19th-century British Empire.
It connects with the themes Dehumanization Through “Freakishness” and “Normalcy,” Science Versus Religion, and Imperialism and Western Self-Superiority.
In which ways did the social construct of the Victorian Era shape the society’s understanding of what was normal and abnormal? How does this connect with the treatment of Merrick?

“Joseph Merrick”

Britannica provides information on the background of Merrick’s true story as a part of the “human curiosities” movement in the 19th century.
This connects with the themes Dehumanization Through “Freakishness” and “Normalcy,” Science Versus Religion, and Imperialism and Western Self-Superiority.
How did the “human curiosities” movement shape the lives of those on display, such as Merrick? In which ways were these people exploited for profit?

SCENES 11-21

Reading Check

1. Which phrase is repeated among Merrick’s visitors in the first scene of this section?

2. What does Mrs. Kendal call Merrick in reference to his construction of St. Phillip’s church?

3. What word does Mrs. Kendal use to refer to Merrick’s toiletries?

4. What happens when Merrick “rises higher in the consolations of society” (Scene 12), according to Treves?

5. What word does Merrick accuse Ross of calling him?

6. What “disabling […] duality” did Treves develop as a boy, according to Merrick?

7. What word does Snork temporarily forget in his final conversation with Merrick?

8. What is the official cause of Merrick’s death?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How do Merrick and the reception of him change between the end of Scene 10 and the beginning of Scene 11?

2. How do the Bishop’s and Gomm’s opinions differ regarding Merrick’s beliefs? What conclusion do they come to, if any?

3. What do Treves and Gomm learn about Lord John? What larger issue does this interaction speak to?

4. What intimate conversation do Merrick and Mrs. Kendal engage in? How does Mrs. Kendal respond?

5. How does the study of science shape Treves’s view of women and love? How does this differ from Merrick’s view?

6. What “lecture” does Merrick give in Treves’s dream? Which characters enter and comment on it, and how does it mirror Treves’s actions earlier in the play?

7. What are some of the concerns that Treves has regarding Merrick as his health dwindles? How do these concerns fit into larger society, and how do Merrick’s companions in the scene respond?

8. Who appears right before Merrick’s death? What purpose do they serve in the scene?

Recommended Next Reads

Quantrill in Lawrence by Bernard Pomerance

Pomerance’s 1979 play centers on a mercenary troop during the US Civil War.
Shared themes include Imperialism and Western Self-Superiority.
Shared topics include niche historical dramatic plays and anger in communities.

Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertolt Brecht

Brecht’s 1939 play centers on a woman who, despite the loss of her children, continues to make money from military troops during the Thirty-Years’ War.
Shared themes include Dehumanization Through “Freakishness” and “Normalcy,” Science Versus Religion, and Imperialism and Western Self-Superiority.
Shared topics include niche historical dramatic plays, lack of compassion, and Brechtian theater.
Mother Courage and her Children on SuperSummary

Reading Questions Answer Key

SCENES 1-10

Reading Check

1. “[T]hus he exposes himself to crowds who pay to gape and yawp at this freak of nature” (Scene 2)

2. “The deformities rendered the face utterly incapable of the expression of any emotion whatsoever.” (Scene 3)

3. The 5th year of King Leopold II’s reign (Scene 4)

4. Ceylon and the Niger (Scene 6)

5. Enough money to take care of Merrick without support from the hospital (Scene 7)

6. Because he “would prefer it where no one stared at [him]” (Scene 8)

7. “[T]o lead him to as normal a life as possible” (Scene 9)

8. An “illusion” (Scene 10)

Short Answer

1. Treves is introduced as a well-to-do published scientist, living a conventional life in London with his wife. Pomerance uses this monologue to foreshadow that Treves’s stable background will most likely be challenged throughout the course of the play. (Scene 1)

2. Upon seeing the Elephant Man (i.e., Merrick) advertised as a spectacle in Whitechapel Road, Treves asks to study the man for science. Ross agrees, only under the pretense that he would be paid; he then explains that Ross found him at the Leicester workhouse at the age of three and has worked as his “partner” to help him make a living. (Scene 2)

3. Merrick’s dialogue reveals that he was beaten by the police in London, leading him and Ross to travel to Belgium in order to find work. Trying to join an act with “Pinheads,” he learns that the police will not issue them a permit, thereby causing Ross to tell Merrick that he will no longer be his partner, that he will keep all of Merrick’s savings, and that the police should escort Merrick back to the train. (Scene 4)

4. Treves interviews Miss Sandwich for the job of assisting Merrick in the hospital. Based on her background working in difficult conditions, she assures Treves that she is more than capable of supporting this case; however, upon seeing Merrick, she immediately flees from the room. (Scene 6)

5. The Bishop is pleased that Merrick has some knowledge of the Bible and is eager to work with him more. Gomm, who possesses traits of skepticism, notes that it is God who made Merrick disfigured, while the Bishop focuses on explaining the connection between the spread of Christianity and colonialism. (Scene 7)

6. Treves assures Merrick that he no longer needs to think about leaving because, with the funding they have, this is his home now. Merrick struggles with this concept, as he lived in the deplorable conditions of the workhouse most of his life. (Scene 8)

7. Mrs. Kendal is an actress who Treves employs to make Merrick more trusting of women. As an actress, she practices her lines and prepares for the task of befriending Merrick as an acting role. (Scene 9)

8. Mrs. Kendal and Merrick discuss the nature of love in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Merrick claims that Romeo did not truly love Juliet and that it was an illusion. Mrs. Kendal is overall impressed with Merrick’s analysis and offers to bring her friend the following visit. (Scene 10)

SCENES 11-21

Reading Check

1. “[P]leased to have made your acquaintance” (Scene 11)

2. She calls him an “artist.” (Scene 11)

3. “Props” (Scene 12)

4. “[H]e gets visibly more grotesque,” which is like Treves. (Scene 12)

8. A “whore” (Scene 15)

9. “[S]piritual” (Scene 18)

10. “Arbitrary” (Scene 20)

11. “[D]eath by asphyxiation” (Scene 21)

Short Answer

1. At the end of Scene 10, Merrick has met a woman for the first time in his life, and the audience can see that he is shy. By the beginning of Scene 11, it is clear that time has elapsed, that he is more comfortable with women, and that they frequently bring him gifts and speak to him. (Scene 11)

2. The Bishop claims that Merrick is “religious and devout,” while Gomm asserts that “[h]e seems practical, like [him].” After sharing both of their opinions, the men do not come to a conclusion. (Scene 12)

3. Treves and Gomm learn that Lord John, one of Merrick’s visitors, misappropriated the money that was intended for Merrick. As he is dismissed from further visitors, the scene brings up the issue of trust. (Scene 13)

4. Merrick reveals to Mrs. Kendal that he would like the company of a woman, and that he had never seen a woman naked, though he later clarifies that he meant women who were not so aged with work and life. Mrs. Kendal undresses and puts down her hair for him to see her naked, and the scene ends with Treves walking in on them and scolding Mrs. Kendal. (Scene 14)

5. Merrick inquires about Treves’s faith, to which the latter responds that he has a “reliable general aesthetic,” with the exception of an experience with a patient who claimed to briefly see an afterlife. The conversation moves to the idea of love and sex, where Merrick questions the difference between seeing a woman’s nakedness as a scientist and seeing it as gathering information. After inquiring about why Mrs. Kendal no longer comes to visit, Treves admits that he does not want her there “when [Merrick] die[s].” (Scene 16)

6. In Treves’s dream, Merrick lectures on the “abnormalities” that Treves experiences mentally, physically, and spiritually. The “Pinheads” enter, with the first advocating that Treves should not be “permitted” to return to his former life. Merrick’s lecture in the dream mirrors the way in which Treves spoke about Merrick in the beginning of the play. (Scene 18)

7. With Merrick in his last days, Merrick’s companions are relatively pleased from their own points of view: Gomm is happy with the notoriety from the case, and the Bishop is happy with the state of Merrick’s soul. However, Treves is remarkably distressed, pointing out that he supports patients killing themselves either with work or excess, and that science is no longer a comfort for him. (Scene 19)

8. Right before Merrick dies, the “Pinheads” appear, singing: