Highlights include but are not limited to: “his physical agony,” “physical hideousness, incapacitating deformities and unremitting pain,” “expressions of horror and disgust by all who behold him,” “crowds who pay to gape and yawp at this freak of nature.” Sample Annotation: The author begins the excerpt with a speech by Ross that describes John Merrick’s physical appearance. The audience hears this description and opinion of Merrick before they see him. As a result, the audience is likely to visualize a person who has an extreme physical appearance that causes him a great deal of pain. For example, they might picture someone with twisted limbs or misshapen features.
Acceptable highlights include: “the cruelly lacerating expressions of horror and disgust by all who behold him” and “crowds who pay to gape and yawp at this freak of nature.” In their annotations, students should explain that these details and imagery demonstrate that Ross was a huckster who took advantage of Merrick, which contributes to the serious tone of the play.
Highlights include: “I do not think it ought to be permitted,” “It may be a danger in ways we do not know,” and “I know what to do. I know.” Acceptable annotations include: The character of Voice should remain largely unseen. His appearance should remain a mystery. His voice should be deep and strong but unemotional, giving away nothing about his possible motives. His demeanor should be calm yet authoritative. The audience should be left wondering if he is a fellow doctor, a detective, or even another person seeking to take advantage of Merrick. All of this would enhance the mysterious tone of this scene.
Acceptable highlights include, but are not limited to: “circumference,” “brow,” “bony mass,” “spongy fungous-looking skin,” “comparable,” “skull,” “osseous growth,” “stage,” and “occluded.” Possible annotation: The author chose words such as “comparable” and “occluded” to help create an academic and scientific tone. If the author did not want to create this tone, he could have chosen words such as “similar” and “obstructed” instead. The word “stage” shows that Treves assumes the osseous growth has changed and may continue to change form. This clue about the knowledge Treves possesses enhances the academic and scientific tone.
Possible annotation: Ross uses words and phrases such as “incapacitating deformities” and “unremitting pain,” designed to elicit shock and curiosity from potential customers (and the audience or readers of the play). Ross also uses the words “creature” and “freak” to describe Merrick. The negative connotations of these words serve to dehumanize Merrick, putting him at the level of a monster or animal. Ross’s callousness and apparent lack of compassion for Merrick elicits pity and compassion from the audience or readers. Treves, meanwhile, employs more subjective and scientific words and phrases to describe Merrick. Yet he also uses crude words with negative connotations, such as describing Merrick’s nose as “merely a lump of flesh” and his mouth as “a slobbering aperture.” With these words coming from the formal and scientific Treves, the audience is forced to take them more seriously than they took Ross’s description. Here, the audience must accept the fact that even in the eyes of science, Merrick really is as hideous as Ross made him out to be. This realization elicits another level of compassion for Merrick, as the audience begins to understand that Merrick may truly be alone in this world.