In “The Elephant Man” by Frederick Treves, Treves documents his interactions with Joseph Merrick from their first meeting in November 1884, to his subsequent death in April 1890. Although Treves introduces the Elephant Man as John Merrick, his given birth name was Joseph Merrick. Frederick Treves was a wealthy, accomplished surgeon who was made a Baronet, a member of the aristocracy, by King Edward VII after successfully performing a surgery on the King himself (Keith). Treves was also a lecturer on anatomy; and, after his first meeting with Merrick, wrote a detailed paper documenting Merrick’s deformity to provide insight into the conditions he had. In his essay, Treves reveals prevailing social attitudes surrounding physical deformity in Victorian England in the
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Merrick was part of a traveling show that exhibited himself to the public; for two pence, viewers could see the “frightful creature” (Treves 247) known as the Elephant Man. These initial reactions appear to derive from the underlying intolerance toward deformity in Victorian England. The severity of Merrick’s deformity, combined with the societal intolerance toward such deformity, prevented Merrick from being able to go out in public, for there he “would have been mobbed by the crowd and seized by the police” (250). The hostility shown toward Merrick appears to derive from the subconscious primal instinct that views any variance from the perceived image of how a human should look as a threat. Even Treves, who gives Merrick a place to live and a much better life than he had before, has a primal first reaction, stating that he was the “most disgusting specimen of humanity” (248) he had ever seen. This reaction seems to be present in both the uneducated lower class and the educated upper class, though it seems the more educated are able to see beneath this and view Merrick for more than his
Merrick was part of a traveling show that exhibited himself to the public; for two pence, viewers could see the “frightful creature” (Treves 247) known as the Elephant Man. These initial reactions appear to derive from the underlying intolerance toward deformity in Victorian England. The severity of Merrick’s deformity, combined with the societal intolerance toward such deformity, prevented Merrick from being able to go out in public, for there he “would have been mobbed by the crowd and seized by the police” (250). The hostility shown toward Merrick appears to derive from the subconscious primal instinct that views any variance from the perceived image of how a human should look as a threat. Even Treves, who gives Merrick a place to live and a much better life than he had before, has a primal first reaction, stating that he was the “most disgusting specimen of humanity” (248) he had ever seen. This reaction seems to be present in both the uneducated lower class and the educated upper class, though it seems the more educated are able to see beneath this and view Merrick for more than his