The Ripper as a foreigner, and his image.

Whilst researching for my part of the presentation, I came across Gary Covilles book on Jack the Ripper in popular entertainment. What interested me was the lack of depth to the witnesses’ accounts at the time and more importantly how the image of the Ripper was created from these vague accounts. Many suspects in the Ripper murders were foreign for example kosmiski who was a polish Jew and Ostrog who was Russian. Why did the Victorian public and police convey and believe that the Ripper was foreign? The attitude often portrayed for this was that such a terrible crime could not have been committed by an Englishman.

After much reading around the Jack the Ripper case, what came across was that foreigners were often frequemtly blamed or used as a scapegoat for all sorts off crime. Evidence of the Ripper being foreign is often with very vague descriptions. Covilles book indicates this well, with witnesses often stating that ‘he spoke in a foreign accent’ or that he just looked foreign. Jack the Ripper casebook website shows the witness accounts descriptions; in particular at the scene of Annie Chapman’s murder, most indicate the identity as foreign. Emily Walter states that he was ‘foreigner aged 37’ whilst Elizabeth Long states that he was a foreigner of "shabby genteel." Coville argues that the Rippers’ description as a foreigner was ‘fabricated by a commiteed of officals hoping to stave of criticism of police inaction’. These descriptions of the Ripper are extremely vague, and can be said to be not describing who the Ripper was, but the image of who we want him to be. As the image of Jack the Ripper creates an exciting tale that at the time helped sell newspapers. The use of this dark image of the Ripper is often the typical image and representation of the Ripper used today in numerous popular entertainments, such as films, tv, computer games and action figures. The uncertainty of the witness accounts of the Ripper only highlight even more so that the Rippers identity is completely unknown, and its creation made a more exciting tale of the murders of whitechapel, this has carried on to a high degree throughout the hundred and twenty years following the Ripper’s murders.

http://www.casebook.org/witnesses/

Coville, Gary, 1949- Jack the Ripper : his life and crime in popular entertainment