Jack the Ripper and the Gilded Age

The story of Jack the Ripper reflects what was happening during the Gilded Age in various aspects, especially when it came to the concerns regarding societal excess. The Gilded Age was a time when technology was starting to improve in huge quantities. During the Gilded Age, society was becoming a consuming nation and that started to concern many people. People were now able to live in different ways and spread out due to the advancements in technology such as transportation and building types (architecture). The rapid change during the Gilded Age worried many people and they believed that their society was going to take a downturn and that is how many people felt was happening to their society during the murders by Jack the Ripper. The difference in the way that people were living exemplified the difference among social classes.

The time that Jack the Ripper existed also had a very clear difference between people of various social classes. Many of the murders that happened were not paid attention because the women were of a lower class. During both time periods, crime and corruption broke out among the different social classes; Jack the Ripper was more intense with all of his murders and during the Gilded Age their were many violent acts and crime done out of jealousy and tension between the social classes and also because of some of the places people were being raised (crowded and dirty areas that made it easy for people to become corrupt in order to adapt to their environment).

In addition, excess came in the form of women beginning to seek work outside of the home to supplement their husband’s lacking income or to add to their family income they already had. From Hell shows many women seeking prostitution in order to make that extra amount of money and during the Gilded Age many women looked for work and in some cases had no other choice but prostitution.

Overall, many of the themes and key points made throughout From Hell were mirror references to what was going on during the Gilded Age in reality.