| Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, and Anne Bronte's Agnes Grey, all published in 1847, illustrate Victorian society's understandings and misunderstandings of the emotional and intellectual capacities of other-than-human animals. Darwin's studies of human animality as well as newly awakened concern for suffering led to a shift in the way that humans and other-than-human animals were viewed. This shift both influenced and was influenced by literature. As compassion was promoted and humans began to re-consider animals as sentient beings and not automatons, the way that animals are represented in literature also changed.;These Bronte novels show that a society that condones the abuse and exploitation of animals---as workers, food, entertainment, and property---perpetuates a violent mentality and an acceptance of exploitation of those with less power. The novel having emerged as an exciting form of communication and commentary, during the Victorian era it had the potential power to reform and educate. Through their fiction, the Brontes consider Victorians' treatment and understanding of animals, as well as the human implications and consequences of cruelty. By drawing readers' attention to these issues, the Brontes explore the meanings of what it is to be human, and what it is to be humane. |
