Victorian Science and the Humanistic Vision of Bronte, Browning and Tennyson

During the Victorian Age, new developments in astronomy, geology and biology diminished man's place in the universe. In 1830, Charles Lyell published Principles of Geology challenging the prevailing view on how the earth was formed. In 1844, Robert Chambers published Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation which introduced a theory of cosmic transmutation, suggesting that current natural formations developed from earlier formations. Finally in 1859, Charles Darwin published Origin of the Species, which introduced the idea of biological evolution and natural selection.

These new ideas began to undermine the religious, social, and political heritage inherited from previous generations. Without these infallible guiding principles, many artists searched for new ones to fill the gap. Three who did so include Charlotte Bronte, Robert Browning, and Alfred Tennyson. Through characters like Jane Eyre, Bronte explored the in growing sense of moral individualism developing in the face of a naturally hostile world. In Poems like "Andrea del Sarto," and "The Bishop Orders his Tomb", Browning explored the moral obligations of artist and art. And with poems like "The Lady of Shalott" and "Ulysses", Tennyson explored mystical and mythological forms of wisdom in an increasing empirical age.

In the preface of The Professor, Bronte clarified her intention: "my hero should work his way through life . . . no sudden turns should lift him in a moment to wealth and high station" (Bronte). The idea of the self-made man was a popular one during the industrial boom of the 19^th Century. The self-made woman, on the other hand, still faced a hostile reception. In the December 1848 issue of Quarterly Review, one such critic wrote:

Jane Eyre is throughout the personification of an unregenerate and undisciplined spirit . . . It is true Jane does right, and exerts great moral strength, but it is the strength of a mere heathen mind which is a law unto itself. No Christian grace is perceptible upon her. She has inherited in fullest measure the worst sin of our fallen nature-the sin of pride.

(Rigby)