Message #259198

[Keira Kensington]

Moving away from Liverpool did not help Kelly’s mental state, and in fact, may have made it worse. He searched all over the East end of London looking for work, and kept to himself. Then Kelly met a man named John Merritt who introduced Kelly to drinking and prostitutes. It was during this time that Kelly lost his virginity to a prostitute. Because he was forbidden by his faith to have sex before marriage, Kelly’s attitude toward the prostitutes was contemptuous. He could have sex with the prostitutes to relieve his sexual frustration and then have nothing to do with the women he had such hatred for throughout his life. The satisfaction that Kelly was looking for could not be found in prostitutes and he realized that he was on a path of self-destruction. It was at this time he left London and returned two years later in 1881, resuming his self destructive ways (Tully 10-14). It seemed that no matter where Kelly went his mental instability followed him and further debilitated his rational stance on life.