Basic elements:
Genre: Biography, Drama
Setting: A storefront
Characters: Ross, Merrick, Treves
Plot: Treves helping a strange elephant man
In the first part of the play, “The elephant man” by Bernard Pomerance, a kind doctor named Treves saved an ugly, strange and desperate elephant man. One time, at the front of a store, a man named Ross is describing the elephant man to persuade people to pay money for looking at that strange man called Merrick. Then, Treves came by and asked to pay for Merrick for one day so he can go to the hospital and be examined. Ross agreed, and Merrick went to be examined. After that, suddenly a voice came out, which led to the appearance of a bunch of policemen, and the lights were off……
Humans should not be greedy, because greediness causes great consequences and harms people. If there is no greediness in the world, then people will all be the same; no one will want money, and people are not greedy for resources. In the story, if Ross wasn’t greedy, he wouldn't take away Merrick’s dignity and let him become a thing to let people look at. Ross did this because he is greedy and wanted money. Greediness can damage people’s lives. It is not just a small desire, but a terrifying trait that makes people always want more. To conclude, greediness is one of the most typical human natures.
Human nature is not only greediness, but also people’s strong curiosity and their hatred of ugliness. Curiosity makes people do unnecessary things, and their hatred to ugliness lets people always look at things with unequal eyes, both leading to consequential actions. According to the story, people’s curiosity led them to go into Ross’s store and look at the elephant man, and their hatred to ugly things also grew the disgust and horrid they felt towards Merrick. Curiosity and hatred are normal, but people shouldn’t let them distract their decisions and let them lead to greediness. People should control themselves and stay clear.
Even though there are numerous types of evil human nature, there are also good ones, like kindness and pity to others. People often feel pity for others, spread out their kindness, and they try their best to help people. Putting this into the story, Treves seems to be the only one that has good human nature. He pays money to Ross so he can take Merrick to examine his body, and he tries his best to cure him. He did not give greediness and evilness a chance to take over him, he followed his heart and did the right things. People who have good thoughts should continue to walk on the right path.
In all, the play the elephant man can straightly reflect the evilness and darkness of human nature, but there is also good human nature. In the story, human nature is reflected in Ross’s greediness of money, people’s curiosity and hatred to ugliness when seeing the elephant man, and Treves’s continuance on kindness and caring. Both are indispensable, and they lead to each other. Human nature is one thing that is always in our body and inevitable.
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