jack the ripper
Jack The Ripper Coursework
Question 1
Source A, which is part of an article in the East End Observer describing the murders of Martha Tabram and Polly Nicholls. We learn from source A that the murders were brutal as the source tells us that the ripper uses an ’excess of effort’ in the killings. The source tell us that the victims; Martha Tabram and Polly Nicholls were very poor, “the victims have been of the poorest of the poor”. This suggests that the murderer is targeting poor women in the east London area. The content of source A also illustrates that the ripper had no clear reason of the murders “no adequate motive in the shape of plunder can be traced” this explains why the victims were poor as their was no motive to be figured out or there may be a motive but the source, which was a popular east end newspaper may be exaggerating to cause fear. The murders of Polly Nicholls and Martha Tabram were so peculiar, neither of them were mugged or raped, but mutilated. The source also gives us the idea that the serial killer was a mad man “both crimes are the work of a demented being” so this could have been the reason why he had no motive for the murders as they were poor. The newspaper may be trying to add to the panic in the East End of London “the two murders which have so startled London within the last month” nothing like this had happened before so it was bringing along more shock and confusion. source A was written when Jack the Ripper had committed his first murders. At the time the source would have created considerable alarm among the poor East end public. In the Nineteenth Century there was a large poor population. This suggests they were vulnerable victims for Jack the Ripper. They may have individual experiences that affected there writing. The source is limited to its evidence.
Question 2
Source A, Source B and source C all support each other they all show extreme violence. Source A; part of an article in the east end observer describing the murders of Martha Tabram and Polly Nicholls “the excess of effort…Extraordinary violence used is the peculiar feature in each instance”. source B; part of the Coroner’s report of the death...