View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Abberline note would have been the result if he and Lees had not gone along with the conspiracy in the Prologue?

2. With what does Gull coat the grapes?

3. What sort of school does William Gull go to as a young man?

4. What does Gull frequently do with Dr. Hinton in the early mornings?

5. In Chapter 5, whose conception is witnessed?

Short Essay Questions

1. What assumptions are made about Polly's dead body, and what discoveries happen at the morgue?

2. What happens when Gull has a stroke in Chapter 2?

3. Describe the inquest Abberline attends in Chapter 6.

4. What is significant about the discussion on Martha Tabram?

5. What marks the conception of Adolf Hitler?

6. Why does Gull bring Annie Crook into his asylum, and how is she treated?

7. What is significant about Annie Crook's pregnancy and marriage to Albert?

8. What happens after Annie leaves her pensioner's house?

9. What do Abberline and Lees discuss in the Prologue?

10. What is Sickert's relationship with Mary Kelly?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What role does the written word play in "From Hell"? How do the tactics of yellow journalism increase newspaper sales while inciting a frenzy in Whitechapel? How does the fear of the public give the Masons at Scotland Yard the idea to frame the innocent Druitt for the murders? How do the false letters from Jack the Ripper sensationalize the murders? For what reasons does Gull send in his own letter? How does Gull make sure it is known that his own letter is authentic? Why is Gull's letter particularly important to the themes of this novel (title notwithstanding)?

Essay Topic 2

In the Epilogue, Abberline remarks that he and Lees, along with the deceased Druitt, are also victims of Jack the Ripper. What does Abberline mean by this statement? How does his view of being a victim relate to that of Druitt or the murdered prostitutes? How have Abberline and Lees' lives been inexorably altered by their knowledge of Gull? Are there any other victims of Jack the Ripper such as Abberline and Lees? If so, who are they and why?

Essay Topic 3

In what ways do the murders of the five women highlight Gull's deep-seated misogyny? What is significant about the mutilations in terms of Gull's fear of women? Why is Gull only able to feel affection for Mary Kelly after he has destroyed her body? What does Gull mean when he says, "Do you understand how I have loved you? You'd have all been dead in a year or two from liver failure, men, or childbirth. Dead. Forgotten. I have saved you. Do you understand that? I have made you safe from time, and we are wed in legend, inextricable within eternity." How does this contrast with Gull's treatment of his wife and his relationship with Queen Victoria?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,128 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample