Caricatures_of_Charles_Darwin_and_his_evolutionary_theory_in_19th-century_England
Caricatures of Charles Darwin and his evolutionary theory in 19th-century England
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Before Charles Darwin and his groundbreaking theory of evolution, primates were mainly used as caricatures of human nature. Although comparisons between man and animal are rather old, it was not until the findings of science that mankind recognised itself as a part of the animal kingdom (however, in some religious beliefs, mankind still plays a unique role above animals and is not considered part of the animal kingdom).[1] Caricatures of Darwin and his evolutionary theory reveal how closely science was intertwined with both the arts and the public during the Victorian era.[2] They display the general perception of Darwin, his "monkey theory"[3] and apes in 19th-century England.
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The caricatures provide not only insights into the public perception of Darwin's evolutionary theory but also played an essential part in its dissemination and popularisation.[4] During the 1860s and 1870s the kinship between ape and man received far more opposition than it would in the following century, with the theory of natural selection today considered a subject of universal scientific consensus.