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The Portrait of a Killer. Jack the Ripper: Case Closed by Patricia Cornwell
This narrative is based on a real event in 1888. During this period, a series of murder were committed in parts of Whitechapel in London. Atleast five casual street prostitutes were believed to have fallen in the hands of the same murderer. The murdered was nicknamed Jack the Ripper who evaded being captured by the police. Interestingly, Cornwell’s story depicts a British artist Walter Sickert as the serial killer (Clark). She claims that she had unearthed some evidence that could help to close the case on murders committed in Whitechapel. In this case, this essay reveals that sometimes, life can be mysterious. It is not usual for one person to kill more than one person and, he is not captured by authorities. Secondly, human relationships can be challenging too, but it is wrong to kill one another. It is alos wrong to accuse another person of committing crimes without solid evidence.
She also claimed that Sickert’s paintings depicted a misogynistic idea and hatred towards women. For instance, Cornwell claimed that most of the Sickert’s sketches depicted women being abducted, tied, and even stabbed (Cornwell 5). She employed techniques such as DNA testing to reveal Sickert as the perpetrator and contended that his psychological profile matched that of a killer. Therefore, this means that Cornwell knew something about Sickert that other people did not know. It is clear that she observed her artwork clearly to conclude that they depicted themes of murder and misogyny. She seemingly knew that Sickert had a deformity on his manhood too and, it likely transformed him into a murderer (McCarthy). That is, he was revenging on women because of his inability to have an erection.
On a further note, the voice in Cornwell’s book is serious, cocky, and reflective. Cornwell is confident that Sickert was the perpetrator of serial murders committed in Whitechapel. She is convinced that for a long time, he had violent fantasies. He was known to draw brutalized images of nude women (Clark). He actualized them in 1888 when he killed five women. Secondly, she also reflects on Sickert’s letters and claims that their information was related to criminal activity such as murder.
As noted, Cornwell is the dominant character in this narrative. She uses her forensic skills to present some evidence that point to Sickert as a serial murderer. She wants to show that his works and letters were not hoaxes, but they had information that could only be written and created by Jack. Cornwell claims that she not simply a ripperologist, but she has used primary sources to support her evidence (Oyler). She emphasizes that the contents and appearance of his paintings and sketches were criminal in nature.
Notably, this is a sad narrative. It is intriguing to comprehend how an artist could possibly be cynical to murder five women. Further, the author has used dialog. For instance, she explains to her literary agent named Esther Newberg that she feels dismayed and angry because of Sickert. More so, Cornwell has effectively used figurative language such as hyperbole. This is seen when she tells Esther, “I was losing my life to Walter Richard Sickert. I want to write my novels. I don’t want to write about him (Cornwell 6)”. These words are not supposed to be taken seriously considering that Cornwell was so determined and invested to show that Sickert was indeed the murderer. In another case, she says that it did not matter if he was dead because she believed that she was right.
Conclusively, although Cornwell’s idea that Sickert was possibly Jack the Ripper has been criticized; she strongly believed that she had enough evidence. She tried to show that Sickert’s works depicted his fantasies with murder and it was possible that he actually committed murder in Whitechapel.
Works cited.
Hoffler, Benjamin. Portrait of a killer. Jack the Ripper: Case Closed. Retrieved from: https://www.casebook.org/dissertations/caseclosed.html?printer=true
Cornwell, Patricia. Portrait of a killer: Jack the Ripper. Case Closed. https://campbellmgold.co.uk/archive_definitive/portrait_of_a_killer_cornwell.pdf
Clark, Josh, Could Jack the Ripper have been an artist? Patricia Cornwell’s suspect. https://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/jack-the-ripper-artist1.htm
McCarthy, Matt. Patricia Cornwell’s Jack the Ripper reboot remains deeply flawed. 2015. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2017/02/27/ripper-the-secret-life-of-walter-sickert-patricia-cornwell-book-review/98274268/
Oyler, Laureen. Patricia Cornwell on the thrill of writing crime novels as a woman. 2015. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/4xk9yw/patricia-cornwell-on-the-thrill-of-writing-crime-novels-as-a-woman