The Myth of Jack the Ripper: An Analytical Essay

During the late 1880s, a hysteria of panic, fear, and excitement overwhelmed the East End of London. Jack the Ripper, the notorious, yet mysterious man who took the lives of five vulnerable women, and possibly many more, has divided countless opinions since 1888. This essay aims to analyze how these three main factors – the role of the press, the racial and discriminatory prejudices of the social groups who were blamed, and the slippery and frequently adjusting identity of Jack – contributed significantly to what effectively became the perplexing myth of Jack the Ripper. Additionally, this essay will explore contemporary newspaper sources and secondary commentary from historians, like Paul Begg and Judith Walkowitz, to confront the true reality haunting Victorian society during the nineteenth century.

Before we enter the illusion of Jack the Ripper, we must first establish the reality of the environment where the crimes took place. The reality was that the East End of London, specifically Whitechapel was densely populated with over 80,000 people, and according to Lewis Curtis, this ensured “Whitechapel was a breeding ground for criminals, prostitutes, and layabouts; a center of depravity, degradation and disease”. In addition, the East End by the late 1800s became a melting pot of ethnicities; home to the Jewish, the Irish, and the Chinese, creating a society full of alienation, rising tensions, and mounting pressure. All these building tensions and anxieties, ultimately created the perfect environment to breed what we now know as the myth of Jack the Ripper, as suggested by Judith Walkowitz: “Whitechapel thus provided a stark and sensational backdrop for the Ripper murders: a moral landscape of light and darkness […] both exciting and dangerous”.

Despite, the location of Whitechapel being the perfect place to breed the hysteria of a serial killer, we are now going to explore the significant role of the sensationalized press. By 1885, the appeal and style of the newspapers began to change, due to their affordability and an increased literate population. With the rise of New Journalism, editors began to develop prose and stories that attracted, and due to enhanced competition, tried to maintain a reader’s loyalty. However, in reality, this new style of journalism was closely linked to ‘slum fiction’. This, as Gray has concluded, “appealed to all readerships regardless of class”. Similarly, certain radical and liberal papers, for example, the Morning News and the Pall Mall Gazette, operated in the ‘nervous writing’ style whereby they would use criminal narratives as such opportunities to make sweeping social commentary and call for various reforms. This new form of sensationalism is what enabled the myth of Jack the Ripper to be exaggerated and become so well known throughout Victorian society, and even today.

The press coverage of real crime stories was every bit as gripping as a sensation novel when they were presented in dramatic prose. To further add to the hyperbolic prose and emotive language, the newspapers revealed intimate details relating to the crime scene, for example, which body parts were removed and allusions to ‘fallen woman’ to refer to the social situation of the victims. The hyperbolic tone of the media effectively turned the killer into a celebrity, whilst inadvertently suggesting that it was what the women deserved. Moreover, potential letters written by the killer, (although these are disputed to have been fabricated by the journalists themselves) further added to the myth surrounding Jack. It was through these letters that the distinctive name Jack the Ripper came to mass circulation. These letters, for example, the Dear Boss Letter, further invented the personality of the killer. Within the letter, it included phrases such as ‘I am down on whores’ and ‘my knife’s nice and sharp’, which further added to the speculation, about who and why he committed these brutal murders, whilst installing fear and panic into those who walked the streets of Whitechapel. Additionally, the way the newspapers presented the circumstances and objectified the vulnerable women who relied on the trade of prostitution to earn their living, further created the celebrity of Jack the Ripper, as in reality the true victims were forgotten and misrepresented. Ultimately, the newspapers played a fundamental role in fabricating the character of Jack and exaggerating his motive and identity.

This then leads us to explore the numerous social groups who were penalized and targeted for the murders within Whitechapel. However, the reality was that the newspapers enhanced these already present theories within society; as evidenced in the emergence of penny dreadfuls and novels containing characters like Bill Sykes, even before the killings. Therefore, the Jack the Ripper murders gave society the opportunity to confront the fears surrounding the social outcasts.

At the time of the murders, there were four theories surrounding the social group the killer may have belonged to. Firstly, the Jews, this theory was especially brought to the forefront when at the crime scene of Catherine Eddowes, a statement was written on the wall claiming, ‘The Jews will not be blamed for nothing’. Similarly, there was a theory that the Ripper was a shochet, a Jewish butcher, due to the precise way the victims’ carotid artery was slit. The upper class of society was also incriminated. This theory was most likely circulated because W.T. Stead had previously highlighted the culture of the East End music halls, whereby gentlemen would use them to pick up prostitutes. It has also been suggested that this theory was created to make the Ripper murders seem more relatable to the middle-class reader. Similarly, there were theories that Jack the Ripper had medical expertise, which was largely fueled by Annie Chapman’s inquest, whereby the coroner reported: “I think the mode in which they were extracted [vagina and two-thirds of the bladder] did show some anatomical knowledge”. Similarly, even today, this theory seems the most credible due to the poor lighting and speed of the mutilations. The last social group to be implicated was the mentally ill, as some were convinced that Jack was an escaped asylum patient. This was most likely created due to the derogatory language used by the newspaper, for example, in the Northern Echo the killer was described as a ‘ferocious maniac’, and in the Star ‘half-man, half-beast’.

The reality is there was no credible evidence to link any of these social groups to the actual killer himself, yet these wild theories allowed society to detach themselves from the idea of an ordinary Englishman having the ability to violently murder and mutilate five women. As Gray clearly explains, “It is not unusual for serial murderers to be credited with superhuman or alien powers; indeed, this helps set them apart from humanity”. Therefore, implicating ‘the mad doctor, the religious fanatic, and the upper-class maniac’ allowed society to become distracted from the true reality, further fabricating the myth of his identity.

Lastly, the third main theme that contributed to the myth of Jack the Ripper was his slippery and unpredictable identity. The reality was and remains that we have no solid evidence to suggest the identity of the perpetrator. However, it is possible that the police in 1888 were out of their depth, as the leads of inquiry were evolving much quicker than the police could comprehend. As well as this, the public was largely involved in the investigation, as evidenced by Wolf: “The police received an estimated 1000 letters per week at the peak of the murder”. Thereby showing how overwhelmed the police were and in reality, this most likely hindered the finding of Jack. Similarly, the home office figures show over 2,000 people were questioned as part of the inquiry. This further highlights his evasive identity as it was likely the police may have interviewed him during the inquiry. This is also pointed out by the FBI examination profile completed in 1988. Also, Jack’s identity became largely slippery because of the vague descriptions in witness statements. For example, James Brown described a male at Elizabeth Stride’s inquest as “5ft 7in tall and stoutly built, wearing a long overcoat”. It also became clear that no witness had seen a face, and that he was only described as ‘dark’. Also, due to the amount of detail published in the newspapers, it is difficult to tell if they were relaying something they had heard, as Walkowitz has suggested: “It was only after this idea was floated in the press that residents provided police with a description”. Therefore, significantly contributing to the surrounding myth of Jack’s identity.

However, the reality was the police were most likely trying to fit facts into fiction, being misguided by popular theories and fantasies. The evidence for this is the suspects who fit the social group descriptions, for example, John Pizer, who was a Polish Jew, or Aaron Kosminski, who was thought to be insane. In reality, Jack the Ripper would have most likely been “part of the social fabric […] so much so that nobody gave them a second glance”. As Hurren has indicated, Jack was most likely a mundane and ordinary individual, who would never be suspected as a serial killer. The harsh reality is, however, if it were not for the slippery identity of Jack, this case would never have received the limelight it did, and continues to have, as Begg has suggested: “Without the mystery, the Whitechapel murder become just another tale of sadistic serial killing”.

Overall, the sensationalized press, the social groups blamed, and the slippery identity together ultimately created the myth that was Jack the Ripper. The newspapers heightened the fear and excitement whilst effectively concocting the descriptions and identity reiterating the social fears already present, as proposed by Paul Begg. Jack was all the fears and anxieties wrapped in a human form, a flesh-and-blood embodiment of all that was wrong with society. The reality seems to be that Jack was most likely an uninteresting and average individual who was, due to these themes, reconstructed into a celebrity. However, the most important reality is that embedded in this myth, at least five young women lost their lives, and it is crucial their histories do not go forgotten.