"Elephant Man" - A Critique

Paper Summary:

This paper is a critique of Bernard Pomerance's play, "Elephant Man", based on the life of Joseph Merrick, a young man who suffered from a bone disease that caused his bones to grow abnormally and resulted in extreme deformities in his body, more popularly known as the Elephant Man. The paper considers the play from three viewpoints: hip hop, religious leadership, and gender. The author first draws a parallel between Merrick being an outcast because of his looks, and that of a hip hop artist initially being seen as social outcast, then views Merrick as a Christ figure in the play as he is faced with both internal and external conflict in his religious education, and finally discusses the gender relations Merrick encounters.

Outline:
Viewpoint 1: Hip Hop
Viewpoint 2: Religious Leader
Viewpoint 3: Gender Relations

From the Paper:

"In the first respect, Bishop How sees in Merrick the roots of Christianity and is moved to take him under his wing. Like all true religious figures, Merrick is faced with both internal and external conflict in his religious education. He, for example faces the hostility of Gomm when the latter debates the merits of science versus religion with Bishop How. Merrick is also faced with fundamental religious negativity by his mentor, Treves. Treves for example relates to Merrick a story regarding the afterlife: a patient who died and was subsequently revived told Treves that the afterlife was not spectacular at all, but rather the contrary."

More papers on "Elephant Man" - A Critique:

• Term Paper # 96362 : "The Elephant Man"
• Essay # 40062 : "John Merrick- The Elephant Man"
• Film Review # 33988 : "Elephant Man"

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