Unlike the Kafkaesque character Gregory Samsa, Joseph Carey Merrick did not find himself on his bed transformed into a creepy crawly insect. No, his transformation was gradual, silent. A tiny lightning growing inside him that he did not perceive until the mirrors told him about it, irreproachable. The rejection of his classmates at school, the murmur of the people in the street as he passed by, all evidence of the reactions that the story of Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man, provoked, and still provokes today.
“I first saw the light on August 5, 1862. I was born in Lee Street, Leicester. The deformity I now display is due to my mother being frightened by an elephant, she was walking down the street while a procession of animals paraded. A huge crowd gathered to watch them and unfortunately my mother was pushed under the feet of an elephant. She was very scared and pregnant with me, which led to this unfortunate event.”
This is how Merrick described himself. He indicated one of the possible causes for the deformities in his body that made him look like a small elephant: disproportionate growth of his arms, deviations in his spine, hips and the development of cells that made his head a heavy and suffocating mass.
Joseph Carey Merrick was born in England and from the age of 18 months, his body began to produce so many cells that small lumps began to form on his skin, giving the appearance of an elephant. Rough skin on more than half of his anatomy, as well as a right arm very similar in build and dimensions to the legs of a pachyderm, were the main reasons for his nickname: the Elephant Man.
But that diagnosis belonged to a long list of diseases that were ruled out during more than 100 years of research and debate about Merrick’s medical condition, which was finally linked to “Proteus Syndrome” in 1979.
“Proteus syndrome” is a congenital pathology named after the Greek deity of the same name, who was characterized by mutating shape according to circumstances and desire. To date, only 200 cases of this disease have been documented since its identification in 1979. Carey Merrick’s case being the most famous for the stories revolving around him.
“My skull has a circumference of 91.44 cm, with a large fleshy protrusion on the back about the size of a breakfast cup. The other part is a collection of hills and valleys, as if it had been kneaded; while my face is a sight that no person could imagine. The right hand is almost the size and shape of an elephant’s foreleg, measuring over 30 cm in circumference at the wrist and 12 cm at one of the fingers…”
Despite experiencing rejection as a child, Joseph is described as a friendly and gentle man. Polite with those who approached him and with an intelligence above average. Evidenced by the study that has been done of some texts and descriptions he made of himself, as seen in the previous paragraph.
The death of his mother, Mary Jane Merrick while he was still a child, and the continuous rejection of his father, were some of the reasons that led him to take that decision. He lived moments of uncertainty and loneliness. The isolation due to his appearance was an exile that he availed himself of when, desperate for his lack of income and aware of his situation, he contacted a circus show promoter, Sam Torr, who knew as soon as he saw him that Merrick would be a profitable business.
After years of exhibiting at traveling fairs, Merrick arrived to London in 1884. There he met Dr. Frederick Treves, who took an immediate interest in the Elephant Man case and with whom he became friends until his last days.
After a series of unfortunate events, Joseph Merrick was finally admitted to the London Hospital, thanks to the recommendation and friendship he had with Dr. Treves. Once there, Merrick dedicated his days to reading romantic novels, writing short stories and conversing with his frequent visitors. The Princess of Wales was one of his most prominent visitors while he was admited there.
At dawn on April 11, 1890, the body of the Elephant Man was found lifeless in his room. The cause of death was possible asphyxiation, suffered from the weight of his head. He was 27 years old when he died. Among the curiosities surrounding Merrick’s story, the one that stands out among his most fervent scholars is that Merrick never smiled, however, the sadness of the Elephant Man was not necessarily the sadness of Joseph Merrick. And if so, who has heard the cry of the elephants?
Franz Kafka would publish “The Metamorphosis” in 1915, without ever having intuited that 25 years earlier, an elephant had become one of the most remembered men of the 19th century. So much so that his life was adapted into a film in 1980 under the direction of David Lynch, and is considered one of the best dramatic films in the history of cinema.
This story was originally published in Spanish by Cultura Colectiva.
