400-word Synopsis
In the investigation of the infamous ‘Jack the Ripper’, it was found that these murderous events held a large impact on Victorian England. In research, it was evident that the Whitechapel district of London, where the murders occurred, was always known for its poor, unclean history. However, after the horrific slaughters of five prostitutes in the span of 3 months in the year 1888 came horrifying attraction and acknowledgement of this era in the England papers. Specifically, as well as the wider community, the police investigators and also the media shockingly and drastically changed.
The sequence of events of the actions of ‘Jack the Ripper’ occurred in the span of three months. In these three months, at least 5 known victims were brutally murdered and an outrage occurred within the nation. These victims included, Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary
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Investigator Abberline was called in as he knew the area’s best as he had previously worked there. Through this time, he worked alongside Metropolitan police officer, George Godley.
Over the years, many suspects appeared. Some of these included The Duke of Clarence, Prince Albert Victor, Sir William Gull (the Queen’s physician) James Maybrick and Aaron Kosminki. Although, ‘Ripperologists’ who investigate into these series of crimes never agreed upon one person. Specifically, Maybrick turned heads as it was found after his death (a year after the murders) was a diary keep sake, where he spoke of himself as the Ripper. However, there were many speculations that the diary was a hoax.
Interestingly enough, there is also the theory that exists that the investigators did discover the identity of the brutal murderer. Although, for some reason decided to never release it to the public. This is speculated to be because the killer had connections to the royal
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.
How the Police Tried to Catch Jack the Ripper In the 1880s, the police were very different from the police of today. Their main propose was crime prevention and their methods their methods were very primitive Source F is a police leaflet, which was published after the murders of Elizabeth Stride and Kate Eddowes; it was written to aid the police in their investigation it was also written in a factual tone, it suggests that the police were appealing for any information regarding suspicious characters. Because of the timing of this leaflet shows the desperation faced by the police but for because of the many defects reasons the leaflet was not successful: The first being that they did not offer any description of the murderer at all, 'person to whom suspicion was attached'. The second being that they still assumed that the person was living in Whitechapel, when there was a large amount of evidence suggested that the murderer wasn't from Whitechapel (the fact that the murders were all done on the weekends or on Friday nights, which suggests that he had a job and came into Whitechapel to murder).
Laidlaw is set in the urban city of Glasgow in the 90's and delivers a cutting insight to big industries and crime in society. McIlvanney creates a stunning atmosphere and examines the fascinating issues of why people commit murder and the devastating results of violence. One of the reasons I selected this novel wasn't just because of the quality and origin of the author and the setting , it was because of the infuriating character of Cheif Detective Inspector Jack Laidlaw , he is the main character and the most memorable one. He is the spearhead of the investigations into the murder of a teenage girl , he has to do this in a city of hard men, villains and fat cat businessmen. To look more deeper into the mysterious character of Laidlaw and his personality , we need to look at his interests and prejudices , Laidlaw is the main focus , in this novel and he captures everyone’s imagination and thoughts . He is an unorthodox detective who is always wondering about the nature of society , threading his way through pubs and clubs trying to find the murderer of an apparently innocent girl. Laidlaw is such a memorable character who requires to be looked at and examined closely.
The concerns of Victorian England about the status of faith and manhood have left a deep mark in the literature of the period. The Picture of Dorian Gray and Dracula are good examples of this concern. In both books there is an emphasis in the corruption of the body and of the soul as maladies that haunt the greatness of England. The aristocracy is pointed as the social strata from where this decadence will spread. These books show a population of youth that lacks the guidance of parents and are apparently deprived of fertility as a consequence of the disorientation that reigns among them. This corruption is shown in conjunction with a lack of religious faith and an excess of sin that will result in the transference of England to the forces of evil.
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
Life in the Victorian era may be particularly unconventional and exotic to some individuals of today’s society. Bram Stoker, author of the well-known Gothic horror book, Dracula, displays what life was like back then. “For much of this century the term Victorian, which literally describes things and events (roughly) in the reign of Queen Victoria, conveyed connotations of ‘prudish,’ ‘repressed,’ and ‘old fashioned’” (“Victorian England:”). The Victorian era extended from 1837 to 1901.Compared to today especially, people at that time were highly puritanical. They were not able to speak of or even mention topics such as sex. “Without a doubt, it was an extraordinarily complex age, that has sometimes been called the Second English Renaissance.
Jack the Ripper killed five women between the 31st of August 1888 and the 9th of November 1888. They were murdered in Whitechapel and Spitalfields in the East End areas of London, England. The killer was never caught and because of this there are hundreds on his personality and motives. No other killer in the British history rivaled that of the gruesome, mocking, utterly superior Jack the Ripper, a multiple murderer whose arrogance and boldness deified the entire police department of London and held in terror a great city for as long as he cared to roam its streets and slay at will.
“Jack the Ripper,” was the name given to an unidentified serial killer in the White Chapel district of London in 1888. The name came from a letter left at the crime scene, written by someone claiming to be the killer. The letter was believed to be a joke and thought to be written by a reporter in a deliberate attempt to heighten interest in the investigation.
Spencer, Kathleen L. “Purity and Danger: Dracula, The Urban Gothic, and the Late Victorian Degeneracy Crisis.” English Literary History 59.1 (1992): 197-226
Cornwell's book, though sensationalist and highly speculative, unfortunately suffers from the same oversights as Fuller's book, and employs selective facts and poor scholarship to support her case, and provides us with no real proof that Sickert was Jack the Ripper. Cornwell it is said spent $4 million of her own money in an attempt to prove Sickert was the Ripper. There is some evidence that Sickert may not even have been in England at the time of the Whitechapel murders, as during the whole of September he may have been on holiday in France, a letter written by Ellen, Sickert's wife, to her brother in-law Dick Fisher dated 21 September, suggests that Walter had been in France for some weeks.
A sadistic temptress, the aid and probable prompt of an evil and cold blooded killer. Or a 'political prisoner being used as a scapegoat by politicians and the media'? This is a very sensitive subject and people often respond with fear and anxiety when we decide to examine things like the Moors murders. We are told that our curiosity is 'unhealthy', and that wanting to know,or openly debate about a matter which is 'naturally' closed, can only be the desire of a sick mind. We are encouraged to turn a blind eye and leave well alone.
Victorian era London was chaotic. Whether people walked the busy streets or would dwell in London’s Holy Land, the overall environment painted a scene of disarray. This disorganization was enticing in nature; the prostitutes, underground sporting, and the will to hustle all held an aura that was provocative. Such was the case in Edward Pierce’s “crime of the century”: the great train robbery. With Pierce’s motives for the heist never unveiled, a deeper look into his actions and surroundings reveals that London’s organized chaos was Pierce’s motivation through the inception, progression, and completion of his daunting task.
In 1993, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, aged ten at the time, abused and murdered a two-year-old boy, James Bulger. There was media uproar about the case with the two boys being described as ‘evil’, ‘monsters’ and ‘freaks’ in the media (Franklin & Horwath 1998). There were many references to evil in the newspapers; with the telegraph stating that Thompson’s nickname was ‘Damien’ (from The Omen) and declaring that Venables birth date was Friday the 13th. The majority of society was united in the belief that these two boys were the epitome of evil and it was the media that nurtured this belief. ‘Newspaper reports were unequivocal in their denunciations of Thompson and Venables as inherently evil, prompted perhaps initially by Justice Morland’s description of the murder as an act of unparalleled ev...
The City of Dreadful Delight starts with some cultural analysis of the historical background that helped to produce the social landscape of Victorian London. In discussing the transformation of London, Walkowitz argues for seeing more than merely a shift from one type of city to another but rather a conflicted layering of elite male spectatorship, the “scientific” social reform, and W. T. Stead's New Journalism. Here Walkowitz investigates the “Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon.” The “Maiden Tribute” consisted of a series of articles, authored by Stead and presented in the penny press, which exposed the sale of girls into prostitution. According to Walkowitz, these stories relied on the new scientific methods of social investigation, but the...