5HIST004W Jack the Ripper Myth, Reality, Culture and Popular History

5HIST004W Jack the Ripper: Myth, Reality, Culture and Popular History

Essay Questions

Please see the module handbook for the required word length (there is a 10% leeway either way on this) and the deadline. Note also that we will discuss essay writing in class in week 5 and that you are welcome to make an appointment to discuss an essay plan with your seminar leader. You should also consult the ‘Studying History at the University of Westminster’ guide, available via Blackboard – which explains how to approach writing essays and how to reference correctly – and the essay writing rubric.Please choose one of the following:

Why were the reactions of the late nineteenth-century medical community to the Whitechapel murders so diverse?

With reference to an appropriate range of newspaper coverage, discuss the ways in which the press wrote about ONE of the following:

The figure of the murderer(s)

The Whitechapel population

The victims

In what ways were the suspects emerging in 1888 and before 1900 simply manifestations of Victorian fears and anxieties?

To what extent did the Whitechapel murders bring about change to the local area?

In what ways did knowledge of the realities of the victims’ lives challenge late Victorian perceptions of poverty, gender and sex work?