ABSTRACT
British attitudes toward animals changed dramatically in the nineteenth century as a large percentage of the population moved from the country to the city. Animal protection legislation was passed, and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) was founded in 1824. It gained royal patronage in 1840 to become the RSPCA. Animals were used in Victorian literature and art to represent a range of issues, from class conflict to gender roles to family relationships. Domestic animals in particular such as dogs and cats as animal members of the family played roles in novels and symbolically mediated human relationships. Wild animals, especially exotic species, raised issues of imperialism, xenophobia, and violence. As the century progressed, animal rights advocacy became linked to the fight for women’s suffrage and the vegetarian movement. In addition, following the publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species (1859), the representation of animals expressed anxieties about evolution, devolution, and extinction.
