Violence

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The primary reason that Jack the Ripper’s murders gained instant fame was the degree of the violence he committed against his victims and the increase in severity with which he carried out his trademark mutilations. Each victim (with the exception of Elizabeth Stride, whom, it is believed, the Ripper did not "finish") had more grave and terrible wounds than the last – evidence to the public that a madman murderer was further descending into insanity. This descent was terrifying to the public because it seemed to defy all human characterization, but it was also incredibly exciting, as the Ripper’s magnified efforts seemed impossible not to link to the enormous interest shown by the public (i.e., if they could read the newspaper, so could the Ripper, so however aware the public was, the Ripper could take cues off of that). The public could see their growing power as a body reflected in the Ripper’s growing violence.

While Jack the Ripper reflected the public’s interest, he also absorbed their day-to-day fears of violence against each other and in themselves. With a famous figure like Jack the Ripper committing crimes of such a degree, violent tendencies in more "upstanding" citizens paled in comparison and both revalidated and relieved Londoners who harbored secret weaknesses or feared those weaknesses in others. Even though Jack the Ripper was a frightful person, he was just one person, and it was much easier for citizens of London to fear one utter madman than huge numbers of somewhat violent people.

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