Final Project, ENGL 201-MT2, Spring 2006.  The material you are responsible for in putting together your final project includes the documents from Evans and Skinner facsimile collection,  The Daily Telegraph reporting on the Ripper case (including reports of the public inquests), and the films From Hell and Murder By Decree.  Jekyll and Hyde and the Sherlock Holmes stories we read earlier in the semester may also be relevant, depending on your argument.  The paper should be 4-6+ pages long.  It is essential that you have a clearly articulated thesis that provides a consistent focus for your paper and that you support your thesis with detailed examples and careful analysis of the evidence.  Include a works cited page.  The project is due on Wednesday April 19th with an optional revision due on Monday May 1st.  Make sure to print two copies of your paper, one for Hist100 and one for Engl201.    

I have made a few film stills you may want to consult as you prepare.  If you have forgotten the user ID or password you need to access the images, please email me at:  kthomps4 NOSPAM gmu.edu.  All of the films we have discussed are on reserve in the Johnson Center Library.   For stills from Murder By Decree, see:  http://classweb.gmu.edu/kthomps4/video/murder-decree/index.htm.  I haven't put any stills up for From Hell because that's a more recent film and should be easier for you to review on your own.  I have made some films of another film about the Ripper case, Hitchcock's The Lodger but we won't get to that film till after your project is due. 

I have written the questions below so that you have to make some of your own decisions on the issues and examples you want to address.  Make sure you develop and support a larger point or thesis in your essay and talk about relevant examples from the Evans and Skinner documents, The Daily Telegraph reporting, and one or more of the films we have watched.  You may also want to discuss the Conan Doyle's  image of the ideal detective if you write on the police documents (Evans and Skinner) and the Jekyll/Hyde split if you write on the Ripper's character.  Write on ONE of the following questions:   

1. In From Hell, grapes are a key piece of evidence in Inspector Abberline's investigation and have definite class connotations.  They also play a role, although less important, in Murder By Decree.  Discuss in detail the role grapes play in Abberline/Holmes investigation in at least one of these films and compare to the specific evidence for the presence or absence of grapes in The Daily Telegraph reporting, particularly the paper's account of the testimony of physicians at the Stride Inquest about grapes and cachous (breath sweeteners).  Then discuss Abberline's and Swanson's account of their investigations in the Evans and Skinner documents.  Because the police did not disclose to reporters the state of their investigations, an understanding of their approach--both to the case more generally and to the issue of grapes and/or cachous--is essential to in formulating a hypothesis about the historical accuracy of the treatment of grapes in later film representations of the Ripper case.  Yost's analysis of Packer's contradictory statements to investigators (see the Telegraph collection) provides a useful supplement to the police documents in the Evans and Skinner collection.  Although the structure of your essay is up to you, you might conclude by saying something about how the inconclusiveness of the evidence in The Telegraph reporting effects the experience of reading about the case as opposed to the more coherent narratives in films and fictional treatments. 
    
2. As we discussed in class, the absence of a unifying narrative makes The Telegraph's reporting of the Ripper case difficult to read.  One solution is to emphasize the role of a particular detective, like Abberline in From Hell, or Sherlock Holmes in Murder By Decree.  As the detective (and his partner or partners) unravel the case, narrative momentum and continuity can be established.  During the actual investigation, detectives like Abberline were reluctant to talk to the police.  At the time, whatever narrative coherence there was often depended on the idea that one individual was responsible.  Here, the publication of the letters the Ripper supposedly wrote to the press and others played a key role in the constructing the public's image of the case.  Analyze and compare the place of detectives in the case (in police documents, films and the reporting) and/or the image of the Ripper created by the letters republished in Evans and Skinner and papers like The Telegraph.  In the process, develop an argument about how this influence(d) public responses to the crime. 
    
3. Stories about crime are often tied up with political issues.  Discuss political comments in The Telegraph reporting (complaints about the absence of rewards or inadequate facilities, for example), making sure to specify what groups or interests are represented in these statements.   Compare to the details of the conspiracy theories embedded at least one of the films we have watched and the evidence about the reasons the police acted as they did as set out in the police documents in the Evans and Skinner packet.    When you write about these works make sure you talk about how political issues are addressed as well as their content.  There are significant differences, for example, in the way the conspiracy theory in From Hell and Murder By Decree is presented.