BOME

and Victorian London

Jack the Ripper. The name invented by the press that struck fear into the hearts of the citizens of late Victorian London still sends chills down the spines of young and old alike. The horribly gruesome and still unsolved murders of several prostitutes in the East End of London are a genuine tragedy, but far from the only occurrence of serial murder in the modern era. So why was this particular murder so famous? What allowed Jack the Ripper to gain such notoriety at the time, and remain a figure of such interest even now?

Jack the Ripper began his sordid career at a time when the newly literate public of England had begun reading newspapers avidly; the press had in turn begun to introduce sensationalism into their journalism, and wrote about stories that were as grisly and as frightening as possible. When the horrific stories of Jack the Ripper struck, the people were primed to react with fury and terror. As women, the public were outraged for the victims; as practitioners of prostitution, an occupation that had risen as a possibly viable way for women to make their way in economic society, the victims caused the wealthier, more male-dominated public to feel hesitant about pitying them, as the British at this time were still unwilling to accept Women in the Marketplace.

As the stories developed, Jack the Ripper became a representative figure of misogyny, Violence, the Abuse of Scientific Knowledge, Class and Difference, and the Perils of Urban Living. At the same time however, by projecting their ambivalent desires concerning the Sexuality of Women onto the myth surrounding Jack the Ripper, the people found an opportunity to focus their interest and energy on the taboo subjects in Victorian society of sex, violence, and evil under the pretense of concern over and disgust for an extremely popular homicide case.

Click the above links to find out more about the case of Jack the Ripper and the Victorian society surrounding it.

Sources:
1. Begg, Paul. Jack the Ripper: The Uncensored Facts. London: Robson Books, 1989.
2. Evans, Stewart P. and Keith Skinner. The Ultimate Jack the Ripper Companion. New York: Caroll and Graf, 2000.
3. Gordon, R. Michael. Alias Jack the Ripper: Beyond the Usual Whitechapel Suspects. North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2001.
4. Jakubowski, Maxim and Nathan Braund (ed.). The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper. New York: Carroll & Graf, 1999.
5. Thomas, Donald. The Victorian Underworld. New York, New York University Press, 1998.
6. Tully, James. Prisoner 1167: The Madman Who Was Jack the Ripper. New York: Carroll & Graf, 1997.
7. Casebook: Jack the Ripper. Ed. Stephen P. Ryder and Johnno, 1996-2002. <http://www.casebook.org>
8. "Jack the Ripper." Crime Library. Marilyn Bardsley. Courtroom Television Network, 2001. <http://www.crimelibrary.com/jack/jackmain.htm>
9. "From Hell." Pauer. 16 July 1995. <http://www.execpc.com/~pauer/fromhell.html>
10. Haggard, Robert F. "Jack the Ripper as the Threat of Outcast London." Essays in History, vol. 35 (1993). University of Virginia. <http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/journals/EH/EH35/haggard1.html>
11. Jack the Ripper. AccomoDATA (1994). <http://www.accomodata.co.uk/jack.htm>
12. The Wold-Newton Field Guide to Ripper Murders. Michael D. Winkle. <http://www.geocities.com/laxaria/ripguide1.html>
13. The Cultural Work of the Type-Writer Girl. Christopher Keep. <http://iupress.indiana.edu/journals/victorian/vic40-3.html>

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