Dec 30, 2009
The Elephant Man | The Elephant Man
At a glance:
- Author: Bernard Pomerance
- First Published: 1979
- Type of Plot: History; biographical
- Time of Work: 1884-1890
- Setting: London, with one scene in Belgium
- Principal Characters: Frederick Treves, Carr Gomm, John Merrick, Ross, Nurse Sandwich, Bishop Walsham How, Mrs. Kendal
- Genres: Drama, Biographical drama, History play
- Subjects: Nineteenth century, Alienation, Doctors, Surgery or surgeons, Death or dying, Identity, Disabilities or physically challenged persons, Nursing or nurses, Diseases, Hospitals, Tumors, Victorian era or Victorianism, Human anatomy, Face or faces, Birth defects, Mutations or mutants
- Locales: London, England, Belgium
The Play
The Elephant Man depicts the difficult life of Joseph “John” Carey
Merrick, a real person who lived from 1862 to 1890. Because of his extreme bodily and facial
deformities, he was nicknamed the Elephant Man. Until rescued by the physician Frederick
Treves and given a home at the London Hospital in Whitechapel, Merrick earned his living as a
freak attraction in a traveling sideshow. The play’s twenty-one scenes depict selected
episodes from the last six years of Merrick’s life and emphasize Merrick’s
strength of spirit and the hypocrisy of Victorian...
[The entire page is 1895 words long]
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