b'T3 Journal - Student Writing in Drama, University of Exeter 2018-19announced the same was to be seen within for the entranceFord confirm this when they declare that each person price of two pence representing how Merricks deformitywho visited sturdily summoned the courage to greet him was being used as a commodity that could be advertisedwith a smile and handshake, even to spend some minutes (1980 : 10). Frederick Treves, the surgeon who discoveredin conversation, displaying their true motives behind the Merrick and gave him sanctuary in the London Hospital,visitation (1980: 89). Pomerance also emphasises this notion wrote in his book The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscencesby each character repeating the same line of I am very that the advertisement was a very crude productionpleased to have made your acquaintance, when meeting and that the poster was the figure of a man with theMerrick (1979: 36). Each characters repetition of the line characteristics of an elephant linking to Pomerances stageimplies that it has been rehearsed and therefore is insincere, direction, suggesting there should be a large advertisementemphasising the selfish reasoning behind the visit due to of a creature with an elephants head on stage, emphasisingthe commodity culture of society and their attempt to Merricks othering by Victorian culture (Pomerance, 1979:maintain their status within this. David Lynchs 1980 film 3). Merrick states in his autobiography that Ill get myThe Elephant Man further demonstrates this concept when living by being exhibited about the country; however, bothMerrick naively mistakes the visiting womans shaking as Pomerances play and Carr-Gomms letter to The Timesshivering because of the cold, causing him to then go and editor suggest that Merrick had no choice but to becomeclose the window, thus representing how his visitors were a commodity because of the culture of Victorian societysimply enduring the sight of him for their own gain. (1884: np.). The letter declares that Merrick was exhibited in a room off Whitechapel road and as soon as a sufficientThis concept parallels the significant event of The Great number of pennies had been collected, poor Merrick threwExhibition that occurred during the period. The exhibition off his curtain and exhibited himself in all his deformitywas held at the Crystal Palace in 1851 and showcased (Carr-Gomm,1886:np.). Carr-Gomms phrase, exhibitedcommodity and material progress that represented the himself in all his deformity, represents how Merrickcommodity culture of the period, linking to how Merrick had to use his deformity as a commodity to fit into thewas exhibited in a freak show and then at the London culture to make a living and survive (1886:np.). PomeranceHospital as a commodity for Victorian society to view. emphasises this when the character of Ross states: For,Prince Albert stated how the exhibition demonstrated the in order to survive, Merrick forces himself to suffer theseVictorians commitment to conquering nature to his use humiliations (1979: 3). Pomerances choice of the wordand how man was triumphing over nature echoing how forces illustrates how Merrick did not want to displayTreves, by allowing members of the public to visit Merrick, himself: however, he had to make himself endure it if heis trying to conquer nature through his ambition to wanted to survive (1979: 3).understand Merricks illness (Martin 1877: 204). By Treeves exhibiting his findings to society and allowing them to Pomerance emphasises this concept of Merrick as avisit Merrick, both he and society add to the ghosting of commodity further by his visitors at the London Hospital.Merrick by treating him as a mere commodity. Pomerance makes clear that while Merrick is no longer an act in a show he is still treated as a commodity by society.Furthermore, the golden age of the British Empire In one of Carr-Gomms letters to The Times he states thatoccurred in the 19th Century. The Victorians believed Merrick was visited by the highest in the lands (1886:themselves to be morally superior to the rest of the world. np.) and Howell and Ford mention how every lady of noteThey believed it was their duty to bring civilisation to in the social sphere made the pilgrimage to the hospital,the exotic savage other as it was the white mans burden highlighting how Merrick still had an audience coming toof bringing civilisation to foreign lands (Kipling 1899: view his deformity (1980: 89). Upon being visited by highnp.). Victorian Britain gained an imperial mentality that esteemed members of Victorian society in Pomerancesincluded a set of values and attitudes derived from the play, Merrick receives a gift from each person who visitsBritish Empire based on a colonial ideological framework. him. The objects given to Merrick function as payment andScholar Samira Sasani argues in her essay The Elephant therefore maintain his status as a commodity despite himin the Dark Room that Merrick, in Pomerances play, is being led to believe that they have come for the pleasureconsidered as the Other and is an embodiment of the of his company; each visitation is a selfish attempt to raiseOrient, implying that Merrick is viewed as a space in need their own social status within society by being able toof colonisation (2015: 120). Therefore, it can be seen that say that they have met The Elephant Man. Howell andMerricks treatment at the London Hospital was shaped by 20'