From Hell

From Hell is a graphic novel by writer Alan Moore and artist Eddie Campbell speculating upon the identity and motives of Jack the Ripper. The title is taken from the first words of the "From Hell" letter, which some authorities believe was an authentic message sent from the killer in 1888. The work is dense, multilayered and immensely detailed; the collected edition is about 572 pages long.

Interpretations

Although, as mentioned above, Moore does not subscribe to the whole "Royal/Masonic Conspiracy" theory of Jack the Ripper's identity and motives, this fictional approach did allow him to pursue his own societal critique of London at the time of the murders.

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It is undeniable that Moore and Campbell use From Hell to severely criticize the Victorian Era and its inequalities. In one chapter, the lifestyles of the wealthy Dr. Gull and the poverty-stricken victim, Polly Nichols, are brutally contrasted and compared. During another murder, scenes from the killing are interspersed with scenes from a nearby meeting of a socialist club, addressed by William Morris, where a portrait of Karl Marx comes to dominate the scene. In his appendix, Moore sardonically expresses regret that England never had a bloody revolution as France did.

Related Topics:
Victorian Era - Polly Nichols - Socialist - William Morris - Karl Marx - Bloody revolution

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In the comic, Gull makes speculations on the subjugation of women as he prepares for the murders. Moore cites writers such as Marilyn French and Robert Graves, who argue (as the fictional Gull does) that women held both political and religious power prior to the rise of patriarchal religions such as Christianity. Such themes have become more prominent in recent years, as in the best-selling novel, The Da Vinci Code. Nonetheless, Moore depicts Gull as a misogynist who opposes women's suffrage, along with other progressive movements of his time. In fact, in his visions, Gull believes himself to be performing an occult ritual to 'keep women in their place.'

Related Topics:
Marilyn French - Robert Graves - Christianity - The Da Vinci Code - Misogynist - Women's suffrage - Occult

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In a brief appendix, "Dance of the Gull Catchers," Moore reports that he had been drawn into and even obsessed with the particulars of the Ripper crimes. The Ripperologists—or "Gull Catchers" as he refers to them—are depicted as slightly unhinged men running about with large butterfly nets, chasing details and connections, however tenuous. Initially, Moore observes them from a distance, but eventually—while researching and writing From Hell—he joins them.

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Moore compares the multitude of increasingly outlandish Ripper theories to a Koch snowflake, where a finite, fixed location, event and era (London, in late 1888) can have an infinite number of nooks and crannies.

Related Topics:
Koch snowflake - Finite - Infinite

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Perhaps the most elaborate theme in From Hell stems from Moore's appendix statement that "the 1880s embody the essence of the twentieth century." His meaning is unclear, though he notes that the 1880s saw the Mahdi uprisings, the first time the Western world had to face militant Islamic fundamentalism; physicists were beginning to make discoveries that would pave the way to the atomic bomb; and the growth of both Zionism and anti-Semitism. The period of the killings coincides with the conception of Adolf Hitler and the final scene alludes to the outbreak of the Second World War. This theme derives from the writings of C.H. Hinton (whose father James appears as a character) on the architecture of history.

Related Topics:
Mahdi - Islamic - Atomic bomb - Zionism - Anti-Semitism - Adolf Hitler - Second World War - C.H. Hinton

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In the comic, the theme is stated by Gull like this: "It is beginning...only just beginning. For better or worse, the twentieth century. I have delivered it." He says this after a vision of 1990s England.

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In the film version of From Hell, this is shortened to the following quote, which is placed on screen as the movie begins: "Someday, men will look back and say I gave birth to the twentieth century." - Jack the Ripper. As the film omits much of Moore's historical interpretation, this line is confusing in context.

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Much of the metaphysical speculation in From Hell can be attributed to Moore's embrace of gnosticism, which takes a more central role in his other work, most notably his comic series Promethea.

Related Topics:
Metaphysical - Gnosticism - Promethea

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