ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the relationship between class, gender, taste, and modernity in a diverse corpus of humorous murder representations. It examines what were some of the most prevalent views on the culture of violence. The chapter opens with a discussion on the added value of humour as source material and then moves on to an in-depth exploration of hundreds of comical texts and images. In this chapter, I deploy a wide range of sources such as music hall songs, newspapers and magazines, comics and other visual representations, burlesques, and comedies. I argue that what was perceived as inflation in sensational and melodramatic depictions of murders throughout the nineteenth century, resulted in a reverse cultural process, where murder representations were believed to be losing their effectiveness and presented as outdated. Melodramatic and sensational murders were presented as manifestations of a distinctively modern, as well as plebian, and feminine mass culture, which was increasingly perceived as becoming outdated.
