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He often said to me that he wished he could lie down to sleep 'like other people'... he must, with some determination, have made the experiment... Thus it came about that his death was due to the desire that had dominated his life—the pathetic but hopeless desire to be 'like other people'. In the hospital basement, two adjacent rooms were specially adapted for him. There was access to the courtyard and no mirrors to remind him of his appearance. Over his last four years spent in the hospital’s care, he enjoyed his life more than he ever had before. On 21 May 1887, the Prince and Princess of Wales came to the hospital to officially open two new buildings. The royal party met with Joseph in his room, and the Princess sent him a Christmas card each year. Princess Alexandra’s kindly interest led other members of the upper class to embrace him. He eventually became a favourite of Queen Victoria. Dame Madge Kendal Vigor-Mungovin, Joanne (2016). Joseph: The Life, Times and Places of the Elephant Man. Ernakulam, Kerala, India: Mango Books. ASIN B01M7YFPSK.
By this point in his life, his facial deformities had left him incredibly disfigured. They also limited his ability to speak when trying to sell his father’s goods. People would open their doors, surprised to see this poor soul in front of them. But they could not understand his speech, and many were frightened by his appearance. While some of the details did get a little long winded (for example, there was more then enough mentioned on the Victorian Educational System and the achievements of the many Doctors, Showmen, and their contemporaries who studied and worked with Joseph, fascinating though it was) from time to time, it happily includes Joseph's own short Autobiography. One of the bigger squabbles that the writer discusses is were the doctors and showman who cared for Joseph horrible self serving human beings or genuinely nice people? I think it's a mix, especially on the showman's part - I believe the doctors had a genuine compassion for Joseph. And though it hurts on some level to say it, I believe the showman did Joseph a service by allowing him the dignity of work (which for someone of Joseph's proud but gentle nature, was important, especially in an era where you were expected to be a working adult contributing to the household by age 12). I don't believe they were cruel to him, but I don't believe they went out of their way for him as they stated, either, and the showman known to associate with Joseph had a way of coloring the truth.
Life and times of Joseph Merrick
Treves wrote in his 1923 Reminiscences that Joseph was “the most disgusting specimen of humanity that I had ever seen … at no time had I met with such a degraded or perverted version of a human being as this lone figure displayed.” Cahal Milmo (21 November 2002). "Scientists hope relative can help explain Elephant Man". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 17 June 2022 . Retrieved 27 May 2009. He arrived at London’s Liverpool station in 1886, exhausted and still homeless, asking strangers for help returning to Leicester. The police saw the crowds gathering around the disheveled man and detained him. He said: “Following his wife’s death he immersed himself in nature and stayed for about six months each year at Sunderland House on the Isle of Islay in the Inner Hebrides.
Barry, Megan E. (13 June 2018), Rohena, Luis O. (ed.), "Proteus Syndrome", eMedicine.medscape.com, Medscape, archived from the original on 16 November 2018 , retrieved 17 April 2023 I was taunted and sneered at so that I would not go home to my meals, and used to stay in the streets with a hungry belly rather than return for anything to eat, what few half-meals I did have, I was taunted with the remark—"That's more than you have earned." Matthews, Robert (14 June 2001), "Two wrongs don't make a right— until someone joins them up", The Sunday Telegraph, archived from the original on 15 April 2010 , retrieved 23 May 2010Wikimedia Commons During the Victorian era, freak shows often offered people with disabilities a way of earning income. Leila attended school in Edinburgh until she was 17 and then went to Paris before her mother died in 1874 and she put her own life on hold to bring up her young brothers and look after her father.
Joseph’s deformities progressed until he could no longer perform manual tasks, and without working he could not stay at the workhouse. This was when he made the decision to write to an agent called Sam Torr to ask if he wanted to put him on display in a ‘freak show’. Joseph was taken on as a curiosity attraction called ‘The Elephant Man’ in August 1884. Torr advertised him as “Half-a-Man and Half-an-Elephant” and toured the East Midlands before the show came to London for the winter season. a b Tibbles, J.A.R.; Cohen, M.M. (1986), "The Proteus syndrome: the Elephant Man diagnosed", British Medical Journal, 293 (6548): 683–685, doi: 10.1136/bmj.293.6548.683, PMC 1341524, PMID 3092979. Bowie in 'Elephant Man' role", The Gazette, Canwest, 11 June 1980, archived from the original on 21 March 2021 , retrieved 2 June 2010Joseph (the Elephant Man) was to find employment because of his disabilities and disfigurement. Finally, he got the opportunity to escape this nightmare by being the entertainment in a freak show, he was able to make a decent living by doing this and begin saving money to buy a house. But England at the time was undergoing changes, and many begin to become uneasy with shows that displayed "freaks" and the police started to put an end to them. But this also eventually meant Joseph's only way of earning money was being taken from him. Having been robbed of the money he was saving, he sent a message to a doctor who expressed interest in him while he was part of a freak show. The doctor broke some laws and took care of him into the hospital, eventually, the public began being filled with compassion, and sending in the pounds to provide for Joseph to have his own room where he could read books, visit people and have some enjoyments during the last years of his life. Joseph (the Elephant Man) being unable to find employment because of his disabilities and disfigurement, had to be a part of a work-house which was for him pure hell. Finally, he got the opportunity to escape this nightmare by being the entertainment in a freak show, he was able to make a decent living doing this and begin saving money to buy a house. But England was undergoing changes, and many (understandably) begin to become uneasy with shows that displayed "freaks" and the police started to put an end to them. But this also eventually meant Joseph's only way to earn money was taken from him and he dreaded having returning to the work house more than anything. Having been robbed of the money he was saving and left destitute, he sent a message to a doctor who expressed interest in him while he was part of a freak show. The doctor broke some laws and took care of him into the hospital, eventually, various appeals to the public resulted in people being filled with compassion, and sending in the pounds to provide for Joseph to have his own room where he could read books, visit people and have some enjoyments during the last years of his life. What I liked most was the little the authors were able to include about the inner-mind of Joseph, of his childlike wonder and excitement, of the rich emotions and religious thought. In addition to his unusual deformities, he also injured his hip as a child and a subsequent infection made him permanently lame, so he used a cane to help himself walk. Montagu, Ashley (1971), The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity, New York: E. P. Dutton, ISBN 0-87690-037-6 Howell, Michael; Ford, Peter (1980), The True History of the Elephant Man (1sted.), London: Allison & Busby, ISBN 0-85031-353-8
Scroll through to the sideshow section and you’ll find MJ dancing with the bones of an ‘elephant man’. Elephant Man' on ABC Theater", The Telegraph, Telegraph Publishing Company, 28 March 1981, archived from the original on 21 March 2021 , retrieved 2 June 2010 Vigor-Mungovin, Joanne (2016), Joseph: The Life, Times and Places of the Elephant Man, London: Mango Books, ISBN 978-1-911273-05-9 Joseph was so unwell with the bronchial infection that he struggled to speak so when he asked for help no one could understand him. But he did still have Dr. Treves calling card so he showed that to the police and the doctor was summoned. He was then taken to London Hospital to be treated on Cotton Ward. London HospitalIt’s unclear whether actress Madge Kendal did ever actually meet Joseph in person but she was able to raise public sympathy and therefore more funds to help support him. Joseph's life was short and filled with misfortune and misery, but at least in his final few years he made friends, was surrounded by people who cared for him, and got to experience the life of a normal human being. People had always been terrified of him because of his extremely deformed appearance. It was common for women to faint or scream and run away when they confronted him, and on one occasion when he had been robbed and abandoned in a foreign country by a freak show manager he was not allowed on a train while trying to return to London because the passengers were terrified of him. The first time a woman came into his room at the hospital and greeted him by shaking his hand he broke down and sobbed because he had never had the experience. And as for my comment about him living a normal life, one of his greatest wishes, and one that was allowed by his friend and doctor, was to be allowed into a house so he could actually see what a real home looked like. Up to that time he had only read about them in books. He often said to me that he wished he could lie down to sleep ‘like other people’… he must, with some determination, have made the experiment … Thus it came about that his death was due to the desire that had dominated his life—the pathetic but hopeless desire to be ‘like other people’.
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