Synopsis
Dr. Frederick Treves is a doctor at the London Hospital. One day, he stops in front of a shop and sees a picture of a horrible creature. He wants to meet the creature. So he pays 12 pence to see Joseph Merrick, a very ugly man with a huge head. Merrick has an ugly body and he cannot walk properly. Dr. Treves wants to have an appointment with Merrick at the hospital to examine his condition. He makes the arrangement with Silcock. So, on the next day, Dr. Treves brings Merrick to the hospital by cab but there is nothing Dr. Treves can do to help him with his condition. He gives Merrick a name card before he sends him back. However, when Dr. Treves goes to find them again on the next day, they are not there anymore.
Two years later, some policemen bring Merrick to the hospital to see Dr. Treves. Silcock has taken his £50 and left him in Belgium alone. He finds his way back to London. He is dirty and tired. Dr. Treves asks for help from the Hospital Chairman, Mr. Gomm. Mr.Gomm writes a letter to the editor of The Times newspaper. In his letter, he explains about how Silcock has taken Merrick to Belgium but has later stolen all his money and has left him in Belgium. When Merrick gets back to London, he is caught by the police. The police finds the name card and brings him to Dr. Treves. He needs a place to stay but he is not ill to stay in the hospital. He also cannot go out because he is very ugly and people are afraid to see him. The hospital can give him a room but they need some money to do that. Mr. Gomm hopes that the readers will help Merrick. The readers are kind and they have donated £50,000 to help Merrick to stay in the hospital. Merrick can now stay in the hospital for the rest of his life.
One day, a new nurse sees Merrick and she is so afraid that she screams and runs out from the room. Merrick tells Dr. Treves that he knows he cannot stay at the hospital for long and that he wants to move to a lighthouse or a home for blind people so people will not be able to see him. Dr. Treves tells Merrick about the donation and Merrick is once again a happy man.
He goes on to meet interesting people like Dr. Treves’ lady friend and her Majesty, Queen Alexandra, the Queen of England. He even becomes friends with the queen and receives Christmas present from her. He also sends her letter. Merrick also goes to watch a play at the theatre and even travels to the country and stays six weeks there during summer. He enjoys the nature at the countryside.
However, in April 1890, Merrick dies because his of head when he tries to sleep on his back. His head is too heavy that he dies on the spot. Mr. Gomm writes to The Times again to explain Merrick’s death and how happy he has been. He thanks the readers for the kindness and tells the readers that the remaining money will be donated to the hospital.
Plot
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Character Traits/Moral Values/Themes
| Examples | Evidences | |
|
· Dr. Treves is a doctor at the hospital. He pays 12 pence to see Merrick. After that, he brings Merrick to the hospital to examine him.
· Dr. Treves finds a way to help Merrick get a home at the hospital by telling Mr.Gomm about it.
· During Merrick’s stay at the hospital, Dr. Treves visits him everyday and talks to him so he will not feel lonely.
|
Character traits
Kind/helpfull/caring/loving
Message/Moral values · We should be kind. · We should be helpful. · We should be loving and caring
Themes Kindnesss/love and care |
| 2. Mr. Gomm helps Merrick | Mr Gomm writes to The Times newspaper and asks for the public to help Merrick to stay in the hospital. He gets £50,000 in a week and Merrick can now have a home at the hospital. | Character traits
Kind/caring/ loving
Message/Moral values · We should be kind · We should be caring · We should be loving
Themes Kindness/love and care |
| 3. Merrick starts making friends and becomes friends with the Queen. | · Dr. Treves introduces a beautiful young lady to Merrick and she gives him some books on their second meeting.
· Merrick also becomes friends with her Majesty, Queen Alexandra. They talk about books. Her Majesty even sends him Christmas card and present. After that Merrick writes a letter to Queen Alexandra to thank her.
|
Character traits
Kind/grateful/caring/loving
Message/Moral values · We should be kind. · We should be grateful. · We should be loving and caring.
Themes Kindness/gratefulness/love and care |
| 4. Merrick goes to watch the play | Mrs. Kendal and three nurses help Merrick to watch his first play at the theatre without anybody seeing him. Merrick enjoys the show very much as he laughs and tries to sing like the children.
|
Character traits
Kind/grateful/loving/caring
Message/Moral values · We should be kind. · We should be grateful. · We should be loving and caring
Themes Kindness/love and care |
| 5. Silcock takes advantage of Merrick | · Silcock treats Merrick poorly and uses him to make money in London.
· Silcock takes Merrick to Belgium where many people want to see him. He takes away the £50 that Merrick has saved and abandons him alone in Belgium. Merrick finds his way back to London and is later found by the police. |
Character traits
Selfish/disrespectful
Message/Moral values · We should not be selfish. · We should respect everyone. · We should be kind to everyone. Theme Selfishness |
| 6. A nurse is scared of Merrick because he is ugly. | Some people laugh at Merrick because he is ugly. One day, a new nurse goes to his room and sees him there. The nurse screams and runs out of the room. This makes Merrick sad and it is not the first time such thing has happened to Merrick. | Character trait
Disrespectful
Message/Moral values · We should respect everyone.
Theme Prejudice
|
| 7. Merrick enjoys the nature in the country. | Merrick takes a train to spend 6 weeks at the countryside. During his stay there, he enjoys the nature. He listens to the bird sing, watches the fish swims, makes friends with a dog and picks some pretty flowers to put in his room. | Character traits
-grateful
Message/Moral values -We should be grateful for the beautiful nature around us.
Theme Love for the nature. |
39 thoughts on “The Elephant Man – Synopsis | Plot | Character Traits | Moral Values | Themes”
thank you very much. really helpful for the students.
Very helpful
I think the pt3 students can score
Excellent
terlalu banyak untuk disalin semula… penatt
Nothing worth having comes easy. You can do it my dear! 😀
I feel the same…
thank you so much..
If the question for a character which shows responsibility, what character can I choose and what explanation can I give? Thanks.
Hi Siew Ming,
I would suggest, Dr. Treves.
1. He examines Merrick.
2. He arranges Merrick to stay at the hospital.
3. He writes to Merrick and introduces him new friends.
“Its better late than never” how far is this true in the novel? ..
May i ask,what’s the answer for this?
Hi Sarah,
You can elaborate on how Merrick’s life is short and he only manages to enjoy his life for a short period of time before he dies. However, that is still better than nothing.
I need the form 1&2 novel notes
its very good and useful
T.Q
best!
what are more EVIDENCES for the moral value HELPFUL of the novel?
Please refer to the synopsis and notes above.
For example:
1.Dr.Treves is helpful to Merrick.
2.Mr. Gommm is helpful to Merrick.
3.The Queen is helpful to Merrick.
one of the themes of The Elephant Man could be determined so does that mean I can say Dr. Treves is determined to help Merrick sees beautiful things in his life ? If so what a good example for it ?
The theme should be determination.
Yes you can use that as an example. Anything that fits in to that and is taken from the novel is good example.
E.g.: He is determined to make arrangement for Merrick to go watch a play at the theatre.
you are so nice ! thanks a lot 🙂
welcome lol
“However, in April 1890, Merrick dies because his head falls on the ground when he tries to sleep on his back”…
WHATTT….? This is factually wrong. Please read the novel again. And you’ve got errors all over the place.
to other people, I came across this site which was pretty useful indeed!
https://guidemyessaymy.com/category/literature-scope-series-for-secondary-schools/literature-scope-the-elephant-man-for-pt3/
Hi Mr. Concerned,
Thank you for your precious comment, we have made necessary changes.
The site that you’ve provided is really great.
We’ll be more careful in out future posts. We apologise for the mistakes.
Grace.
Hi Mr Concerned.
The URL that you’ve provided has no content (page not found) This is the correct link:
https://guidemyessaymy.com/2017/04/16/the-elephant-man-form-3/
I notice that students are required to write in not less than 50 words. My kids have problem sticking to this rule, and they end up writing way beyond that, sometimes up till 300 words (on normal foolscap paper). Is there a cap (max.)? What’s your advise?
HI Kevin,
you must have some really impressive learners. 😀 I don’t normally have students who write this long but if it does go up to 300 I’d tell them there is no need to write that long though there is no cap stated for them. My rule of thumb is simple, provide enough content and wrap it up. 🙂
Thank you, Grace. It really worries me, as the longer they write, the more mistakes they make. It gives me headache marking as well 🙂 I have to remind them again to stick to max 100 words only.
tq. for this but i think you need to separate the moral values from the characteristics.it is just my opinion 🙂
Tq for your helping
wahhhhh…senang lah ni benda tuk ujian yg akan dtg….
Wow this is good and perfect notes that we can read and understand easily.
Thank you very much..what is the important event in this novel? It is when dr treves gives his name card to Merrick? Can you help me to explain this thoroughly..
Perfect Notes Really Helpful For Meyh Thankz A lot……..
hi,
may i know what are the evidences of the theme of determination?
thank you so much Grace because this web site. it can help me to make more revision now tqsm tqsm
thank you so much…..you all can follow my ig / hamizanarf
Thank you for the good content. It really helps me studying for my upcoming PT3 bahasa inggeris
thanks now i dont have to read the whole book XD
Thank you so much……
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