Merrick as the “Abject” Other in “The Elephant Man”

Theorist Julia Kristeva has argued her notion of the “abject” as the sense of revulsion that we experience upon encountering something that is at once repulsive, but is also an inescapable part of ourselves as human beings. This repulsive “object” can be anything from bodily fluids to a dead body to the concept of evil, or “deviant,” human behavior. In David Lynch’s 1980 film, “The Elephant Man,” the character of John Merrick is posited as this abject other. Merrick’s extreme physical deformities make him seem “not human,” yet his one perfectly formed arm and his unaffected genitals clearly establish him as a man. Merrick is “abjected” in that other characters in the movie are repulsed by the fact that Merrick is undeniably human, along with the fact that the undetermined source of his deformity is something that could affect any newborn child.
Upscale society’s “acceptance” of Merrick is proven to be nothing short of a farce in that they present him with gifts such as a vanity kit, when it is his very appearance that excludes him from society altogether. A key difference between Bernard Pomerance’s play, “The Elephant Man,” and Lynch’s film is the scene where Mrs. Kendal disrobes for Merrick, who has no experience with women. Of course, Dr. Treves steps into the room and is appalled by Mrs. Kendal’s gesture. This is a telling moment in the narrative because, while Treves seems to sympathize with Merrick, he clearly does not see Merrick as a man. Instead, Treves is shocked, both by Mrs. Kendal’s “unladylike” behavior and by the fact that Merrick has been viewed by a woman as a potentially sexual being. In Pomerance’s play it is clear that Mrs. Kendal is the only character who sees beyond physical “illusions” and perceives Merrick as a man. For Treves, Ross, and the remainder of society, Merrick cannot transcend his abject state. In both the play and the film, Merrick’s realization of this failure on society’s part to accept him as human, coupled with his rapidly declining health, results in his final act of self-assertion: suicide.