Character Analysis: The Elephant Man

To me, the most ambitious person I can think of is Joseph Merrick, more commonly known as ‘The Elephant Man’. He may not have made great inventions that contributed to the world, or saved anybody 's life. On the contrary, Joseph Merrick made some people 's lives harder, he was in simple terms a living, breathing, talking eyesore, and a burden to most. He suffered greatly from Proteus Syndrome; this caused him to grow more skin than the average person, unusual bone growth, along with the formation of large tumors. How was he ambitious? Before we answer that, what does it even mean to be ambitious? According to Merriam-Webster dictionary it means “having a desire to achieve a particular goal.” Joseph Merrick had the desire to achieve the goal

When he was first born he seemed like a normal boy, his deformations were not visible until he reached the age of five. Merrick did have siblings who did not show symptoms of Proteus Syndrome, but unfortunately they all died at young ages from different diseases. Why was Joseph given the infamous name “The Elephant man”? He explains it so: “The deformity which I am now exhibiting was caused by my mother being frightened by an Elephant; my mother was going along the street when a procession of Animals were passing by, there was a terrible crush of people to see them, and unfortunately she was pushed under the Elephant 's feet, which frightened her very much; this occurring during a time of pregnancy was the cause of my

He spent most of his life in the London Hospital, his funds were paid by the public, who seemed to empathize with him. Because of how terrible his tumors and growths were, he was unable to sleep lying down, what Merrick wanted the most in his life was to be treated like a human being, and to have the same experiences as any other human being, he spent his last night sleeping on his back, however this proved to be extremely dangerous as he ended up dying from asphyxiation in his sleep.

“Were I so tall to reach the pole,

Or grasp the ocean with my span,

I must be measur’d by my soul

The mind’s the stan­dard of the man.”

This was said by Joseph Merrick, and it perfectly depicts his situation and a message that many people claim to follow but seem to forget.

Joseph Merrick was not the only person who was not treated as a human, even in today 's world we can see people denied of their basic human rights. People of color, people who are trafficked, people who are seen as different. Joseph Merrick 's story is not one of its kind, but it is one of the most