Looking For Changes

In the period preceding the Victorian era, Romantic ideology revolved only around self gratification. Unfortunately, self gratification only achieved superficial happiness. Therefore, many Victorian philosophers believed that the true road to happiness did not lay in tangible goods but in spiritual enlightenment. In pursuit of this spiritual enlightenment, people began to look beyond themselves and become more aware of their surroundings. One way in which the Victorian man strived to become a better person and find true happiness was their compassion for animals. Evidence of the Victorian value to treat animals with respect was seen in Victorian architecture. The belief in treating animals with a new level of respect was further proliferated through authors such as Thomas Hardy and Anne Sewell; this soon led to the movement in animals rights.

Victorian architecture contained an element of savagery in the home depicted by wild animals. Griffins were intricately carved perching on mantles and snakes were seen swirling around armchairs. The integration of wild animals into the home depicted that Victorians felt animals and man could co-exist. Animals did not necessarily have to be domesticated in order to survive in a human world. In the previous era, animals such as horses and draft dogs were used for heavy cart lifting and pulling carriages. These animals were domesticated solely for machine power and were often abused. They were not seen as creatures who felt pain and suffering such as humans. The animals in depicted in the home represented the belief that the wildness of animals should be maintained and that it is natural.

The portrayal of animals in Victorian architecture is rooted by the belief in animal rights. The new revolution of morals in the Victorian era put animals on the same plane as humans. The former “brutes” now deserved the same compassion and sympathy imparted upon people. At the beginning of the 19th century, these animals were still being openly abused and exploited for their labor. Humanitarians became concerned at public apathy towards the extreme conditions of animal abuse in the early 19th century. “…as early as the 1830s, despite the circumambient evidence to the contrary, the English humane movement had begun to claim kindness to animalsвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚Ñœ[1] Hence, the вЂ?revolution of morals’ began in England. People began to develop a sympathetic imagination.

Satire cartoons such as this depict humans in the “shoes” of animals. [2]

These beliefs were proliferated through works such as Jude the Obscure by Hardy and Black Beauty by Sewell.

Jude the Obscure described revolution of morals that occurred in the Victorian era. The transition period from complete disregard for animals to developing a sympathetic imagination, was not instantaneous, but a gradual process. Many people who showed compassion and sympathy for animals were met with scorn and disdain. The main character in the novel, Jude, was ridiculed by his wife, Arabella, for having a “soft heart” whenever he hesitated to kill a pig. Arabella represented the typical citizen prior to the revolution of morals. She viewed the pig merely as a vessel to obtain her needs. The pig was only as valuable to her as the quality of its meat. If the pig is allowed to bleed slowly, the meat would be more valuable, but Jude mercifully killed the pig quickly against his wife’s wishes to prolong its death.

In another instance, Jude does not only demonstrate compassion for the animal in his desire to ease its pain, but he goes further to demonstrate his sympathetic imagination for animals in the scene with the crow. While Jude is tending a nearby farmer’s crops, several crows attempt to catch a quick dinner in the field. Rather than swatting the crows away like he is supposed to, Jude allows them a couple of bites. He reasons that crows are animals that have needs and wants just like he does, and that the farmer could spare a few grains in his vast field of crops. As a result of his sympathetic imagination, Jude is reprimanded harshly by the farmer and loses his job in the fields.

In order to diminish animal abuse, human behavior and thought must be reformed as well. At the time, people did not worry about animals becoming extinct or protecting endangered species. Since animals were so plentiful, people took them for granted and did not care about their thoughts or feelings.

Vivisection was hotly protested in the Victorian Era.[3]

Animals were often used in all aspects of human life. In the Victorian era, “the most appalling cruelties were often associated with the most routine economic activities.”[4] Monkeys were used in vivisection. Horses were abused in transportation. Dogs were abused while pulling carts. Bulls were abused just in sport. And it was not only land animals that were mistreated; the sea was exploited as well. In a typical London scene in the 19th century, “the glistening, flaccid skin and featherless pores of stripped dripping carcasses border a market path formed by counters of ice fish, dank with salt, sea, and death.”[5] The vivid imagery in the streets of London spurred continuous works of literature concerning the relationship between human empathy and animal treatment.

Sewell approaches the topic of animal rights differently through Black Beauty. She writes the novel through the eyes of a horse named Black Beauty, arousing the reader’s sympathetic imagination. Black Beauty’s sad tale describes the abuse that a horse encounters throughout its life. The horses in this sad novel are abused for machine power, entertainment sports such as hunting and even frivolous reasons such as fashion. At the height of fashion in London during the 19th century, horses’ heads were held back with a bearing rein to make them appear more alert. The bearing rein is analogous to having a straight board attached to the back of a human’s back. It is very strenuous and painful, especially for an extended period of time. Black Beauty