Since its invention in the late nineteenth century, the name Jack the Ripper has caused hundreds of contemporary historians and writers to obsess over its meaning. The name is a symbol of horror, sexual perversion, crime, filth, and savagery. Jack the Ripper is more than a man or a murderer; he is an enigma that has grown over the years to become a source of fascination that continues today. This thesis will focus on two images of Jack created by the police and the press of Whitechapel. The third section will analyze correspondences claiming to be written by the Ripper and show how they critique the police and the press. The final section will explain how the legacy of Jack the Ripper continues in literature throughout the twentieth and twenty-first …show more content…
29 Hanbury Street. Her injuries were parallel to Nichols’ wounds. Catherine Eddowes and Elizabeth Stride were both murdered near Mitre Square on the night of September 30th. The shocking thing about this double murder is, although the square hosted several lively houses that night, none of the party-goers saw or heard anything even though the murders occurred just minutes apart and the bodies were found shortly thereafter. “Another victim died just as silently and mysteriously as all the others;” to the Victorians, it seemed that the murderer was almost a phantom. One of the rumors circulating about Jack the Ripper was he was a ghost or he possessed magical powers and “people allowed their imagination to run riot. There was talk of black magic and vampires.” Around this point, the public began forming mobs to hunt down suspects, some even threatening to burn the accused themselves if the police did not take someone into custody. The final Ripper victim was Mary Jane Kelly. She was found in the room she was renting on November 9th. She was more skeleton than flesh, most of her clothes had been shredded, and she was so horribly mutilated that she was almost unrecognizable. Following Kelly's death, no more victims showing the same wounds appeared in Whitechapel. The case eventually carried no workable leads and although the investigation continued for a long time, the case was never
Investigating Why the Police Were Unable to Catch Jack the Ripper I believe the most important reason why Jack the Ripper was so hard to catch was because of the lack of evidence. In those days they did not have as advanced technology as we have today for instance, we have forensics where we can tell from a strand of hair who that hair belongs to. In those days they were only just learning the significance of footprints to catching a villain. Another part to this is that Jack the Ripper was so random towards who he killed the police could not find a link between the murders except that they were all prostitutes, which did not really help, although prostitute murders were not terribly uncommon. The press coverage to the case didn’t help much as they had forced the police to investigate ‘Leather Apron’ and this wasted a significant amount of the police time which, if spent properly, may have allowed them to uncover more information needed to catch the Ripper.
... die, innocence and good is corrupted and there is a connection to sexuality. Both novels create an aspect of mystery for the reader of the 19th century. Stoker’s portrayal of a creature little known by the English public of the 1890’s would have been of fear inspiring fascination to read about. Though few would have read John Palidori’s vampire novel, more perhaps would have heard the tale of Vlad the Impaler. He was a man who supposedly drank human blood or the blood of his war victims, and was in fact a ‘Dracule’. This basis in reality would add a sadistic interest to the novel. Wilde’s novel, though equally inexplicable, doesn’t create the same feeling of terror, but does raise a number of reservations in its reader.
Bradburry, Ray. "The Utterly Perfect Murder." The Language of Literature. Ed. Arthur N. Applebee. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 1997. 799-805. Print.
Her body had been bathed and thoroughly washed before being placed, it was also completely drained of blood [2]. Two detectives were assigned to the case: Harry Hanson and Finis Brown. When they and the police arrived at the crime scene, it was already swarming with people, gawkers and reporters. The entire situation was out of hand and crowded, everyone trampling all over in hopes of good evidence. One thing they did report finding was a nearby cement block with watery blood on it, tire tracks and a heel print on the ground.
Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most celebrated literary authors of all time, known for writing very suspenseful, dramatic short stories and a poet; is considered as being a part of the American Romantic Movement, and a lesser known opinion is he is regarded as the inventor of the detective-fiction genre. Most recognized for his mystery and macabre, a journey into the dark, ghastly stories of death, deception and revenge is what makes up his reputation. The short story under analysis is a part of his latter works; “The Cask of Amontillado”, a story of revenge takes readers into the mind of the murderer.
Written in 1818, the latter stages of the Gothic literature movement, at face value this novel embodies all the key characteristics of the Gothic genre. It features the supernatural, ghosts and an atmosphere of horror and mystery. However a closer reading of the novel presents a multifaceted tale that explores
Although the true identity of Jack the Ripper has never been identified, experts have investigated Prince Albert Victor, Thomas Neill Cream, and Montague John Druitt as prime suspects. Based on facts and information given, the researcher found evidence that Jack the Ripper was Montague John Druitt. Druitt’s family, appearance, and suicide support the researcher’s claim. Ultimately, the obsession with the Jack the Ripper case will never perish.
Murder is murder, or taking the life of another person. Repeatedly taking the life of other people is killing in a serial way. Serial killers are those individuals who repeatedly murder other people. There have been thousands of nameless serial killers, but none more famous than Jack the Ripper. The 1888 maliciousness of Jack the Ripper became one of the very first investigated, and most widely studied, serial murder cases, that established the protocols that are still used today to investigate these heinous crimes. The name Jack the Ripper has instilled fear in the public since 1888, and is a name that is synonymous with serial killing. Jack the Ripper set the bar by which all other serial killers are judged, studied, and
The sensational novel is usually a tale of our own times. Proximity is indeed one great element of sensation. A tale which aims to electrify the nerves of the reader is never thoroughly effective unless the scene be laid out in our own days and among the people we are in the habit of meeting. In keeping with mid-Victorian themes, Lady Audley’s Secret is closely connected to the street literature and newspaper accounts of real crimes. The crimes in Braddon’s novel are concealed and secret. Like the crimes committed by respected doctors and trusted ladies, the crimes in Lady Audley’s Secret shock because of their unexpectedness. Crime in the melodrama of the fifties and sixties is chilling, because of the implication that dishonesty and violence surround innocent people. A veneer of virtue coats ambitious conniving at respectability. Lady Audley’s Secret concludes with a triumph of good over evil, but at the same time suggests unsettlingly that this victory occurs so satisfyingly only in melodramas (Kalikoff, 9...
Jack the Ripper is a mythic figure comparable with Frankenstein and Dracula. The Rippers first three murdered whores, in 1888, were believed to be by the same person. These murdered victims all seemed to occur around the Parish Church of Saint Mary, also called “the White Chapel.” (Fido…1)
Since the 19th Century, Bram Stoker’s Dracula has entertained its readers taking them to heights of excitement in the climax
Baldick, Chris. In Frankenstein's Shadow: Myth, Monstrosity, and Nineteenth-Century Writing. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990. Print.
Punter David, ‘The Literature of Terror’, in A History of Gothic Fictions from 1765 to the Present Day, The Modern Gothic. Harlow, eds. (UK: Pearson Education, 1996)
Fielding discusses the work of the library with the work of M.R. James. Fielding highlights the manner in which the runes is passed from Karswell to his potential victims ‘establishes even more clearly the circulation of books as something to be afraid of, and in this tale the principle of the returning of texts acts as a kind of Gothic horror in itself’ (765). The circulation of books and, by association, knowledge invokes an explicit fear. In James’ work the runes used to attract the creature which kills the possessor, is circulated only through the victim accepting willingly (). Thus, the circulation, as Fielding notes, becomes something to fear as it passes not only knowledge but also the hidden danger of a monster that takes back the circulated knowledge.
A reader’s anxiety accelerates from altering the story from Jonathan Harker’s journal to Mina Murray’s letter when Jonathan commits to escape from Dracula’s castle. While Jonathan stays at Dracula’s castle coercively, as he depicts himself as “a veritable prisoner, but without that protection of the law which is even a criminal’s right and consolation” (40), he always seeks for an opportunity to g...