“This was a part of the world he moved in, where men led an outwardly respectable life where appearance was everything. Such men could live as debauched a life as they chose, but so long as they maintained the semblance of respectability they would still prosper within this society.”
This shows that men love being superior to women. When they are at their lowest, many try to advantage. Dr. Jekyll liked the rush being Mr. Hyde because he was known to be respectful and so the acts his alter ego performed showed the real him. Richard Enfield, a well-known man around town “finds Hyde unaccountably detestable. He also relates the reactions of others present: the women, whom the sight of Hyde makes ‘wild as harpies’.” Mr. Hyde’s first killing was a lower class woman in the streets.
In the novella, Mr. Hyde’s first victim was a lower class woman. His alter ego was a doctor so he was higher up in class than this women. “The fact that a woman was the victim in each case, and that she was poor, takes away the suspicion of robbery and suggests some unutterably fiendish motive such as that which is supposed to animate the mystical character of Hyde in Mr Stevenson’s book.” This means that Mr. Hyde didn’t care what class, he was just out to kill .
‘Jack the Ripper’ was a name gave to a serial killer who killed many prostitutes in Whitechapel, London during the Victorian Era. Many refer to him as the ‘Whitechapel Murderer’ or ‘Leather Apron’. “The press was also partly responsible for creating many myths surrounding the Ripper and ended up turning a sad killer of women into a "bogey man", who has now become one of the most romantic figures in history.”(Barbee)
“…Ripper’s victims were prostitutes, we were not to imagine that they were physically attractive, or that we would be sexually attracted to them; in fact, they were ugly, alcoholic, and probably disease-ridden hags—hilarious in their wretchedness and easy sexuality. The Ripper, on the other hand, was surely an ingenious criminal to avoid detection and capture.” (Warkentin)
Attacks credited to the Ripper typically involved female prostitutes from the slums whose throats were cut prior to abdominal mutilations. The removal of internal organs from at least three of the victims led to proposals that their killer had surgical knowledge. This serial killer was never found.
clear-cutIt is said that the serial killer we a misogyny, a male that shows hatred towards women. Back in the Victorian Era, there were many of these but this one man decided to act upon it and make these ‘prostitutes’ scared. “…The ways in which inquiries are conventionally conducted in the field of Ripperology have shaped the field into a male-dominated, results-oriented arena from which women’s perspectives are notably absent.” (The term "ripperology" was created to describe the study and analysis of the Ripper cases.) This means that men thought they were on higher grounds than women even if the men were classified as lower class. Many argue that the Ripper Case can be re-examined as power imbalances and gender principles. These crimes must be represented as men having control of women. Murder and rape are natural events in a “patriarchal society”. This belief includes that women’s lives are secondary and their bodies are only good as sexual objects for men. This case is suggestive of larger issues related to gender, violence, and power.
WORKS CITED
Levine-Clark, Marjorie. "ENGENDERING RELIEF: Women, Ablebodiness, and the New Poor Law in Victorian England." Journal of Women’s History v. 11 i. 4 (1991): 107.
Alan Sharp, Casebook:The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Saucy Jacky, 28 February 2008, 10 March 2011
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Larry S. Barbee, Casebook: Jack the Ripper, 19 January 2009, 10 March 2011 http://www.casebook.org/intro.html.
Warkentin, Elyssa. "“Jack the Ripper” Strikes Again." Feminist Media Studies 10.1 (2010): 35-49. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 28 Mar. 2011.
Levine-Clark, Marjorie. "ENGENDERING RELIEF: Women, Ablebodiness, and the New Poor Law in Victorian England." Journal of Women’s History v. 11 i. 4 (1991): 107.
Alan Sharp, Casebook:The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Saucy Jacky, 28 February 2008, 10 March 2011
<http://www.casebook.org/dissertations/rip-alansharp.html>
Larry S. Barbee, Casebook: Jack the Ripper, 19 January 2009, 10 March 2011 <http://www.casebook.org/intro.html>.
Warkentin, Elyssa. "“Jack the Ripper” Strikes Again." Feminist Media Studies 10.1 (2010): 35-49. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 28 Mar. 2011.
alone, trying to adapt into another standard of living was frowned upon.
They sometimes become so desperate for money that they take up the life of a prostitute.
They put themselves in dangerous situations and put their lives at risk all for a little bit of money.
There is a commonality in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and 'Jack the Ripper' because the two stories take place during the Victorian Era and the victims in the two stories are prostitutes, suggesting the two are commenting on the class system of England.
A theme also seen in "Jack the Ripper".
Both the killer from Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as well as the man from the "Jack the Ripper" legend targeted women of society's lowest working class.
