While Darwin and Gamble's theses contain multiple arguments and have multiple conclusions, the most important of them is the notion of natural selection. In Descent of Man, Darwin summarizes his argument by saying, "through the contest of rival males…[and] from the general struggle for life…the characters gained will have been transmitted to the offspring." (Darwin 6). It is contended that change among a given species is spontaneous (and normal), and sometimes the change is good (insofar as it adds a positive trait or traits to the organism), and sometimes it is bad. Those organisms with good changes will be fit to gather food and protect offspring, and those that are less fit will be less apt to do this. Extending the logic of this statement, the fit will survive, and the weak will die. The argument of whether or not one gender has become superior to another within the same species is irrelevant to Natural Selection. However, Darwin and Gamble bring this dispute to each of their respective works. Since they agree on the original concept of the survival of the fittest, their disagreements are reconcilable.
Darwin creates a somewhat artificial bipolarization between men and women that doesn't necessarily need to be drawn. He bluntly says "man has thus become ultimately superior to woman." (Darwin 6). Despite his lack of scientific training, and despite the other theories of evolution that were prominent in the mid 19th century, natural selection remains a very important theory, and is often used as the benchmark when other theories are evaluated. It is elegant in its simplicity, but clearly biased in its application to the course of human events. Granted, the bipolar view was considered popularly acceptable in the Victorian era, but by polarizing his view of humanity and considering men to be naturally superior to women, he has brought in another, and less important, dimension to his argument. It is this artificial dimension that Gamble disagrees with so passionately.
Gamble's work is mainly a response to Darwin's, but it has more value than just argumentative jingoism. She says, "in his zeal to prove the superiority of man over woman, and while emphasizing energy, perseverance, and courage as factors in development, Mr. Darwin seems to have overlooked the importance of distinctive characters belonging to the female." (Gamble 4). There are two ways to read this quote. The first, and most obvious, is that she disagrees with Darwin's views. However, if we look more closely into what she is saying, we see that her true argument is that natural selection has caused women to be superior to men. This is profound because she agrees with the concept behind Darwin's views, just not with the bipolarization he creates. The differences between Darwin and Gamble are reconcilable because of this fact.
"The Birthmark" helps further our understanding of this debate by making Darwin's and Gamble's generalizations specific, and by integrating them into a parable. In the story, the hand represents Georgiana's undesirable trait. Aylmer, being her potential mate, naturally wants her to be perfect so that his offspring will have perfect genes. This is well expressed in a passage from page 3 of the story. "[Aylmer] had fancied himself, with his servant Aminadab, attempting an operation for the removal of the birth-mark. But the deeper went the knife, the deeper sank the Hand, until at length its tiny grasp appeared to have caught hold of Georgiana's heart; whence, however, her husband was inexorably resolved to cut or wrench it away." Explicitly, Aylmer would rather cut out his wife's heart than be forced to look at the birthmark (and what it represents). The conclusion that his disgust comes from some primordial desire can be drawn from the simple fact that he indeed courted her, and married her. As a girlfriend, she posed no immediate risk to his potential children (this is before premarital sex became an option). Implicitly, Hawthorne is perpetuating gender stereotypes and polarization between man and woman. Georgiana, the feeble wife, required the superior intellect of her powerful husband to help her achieve a higher status. The birthmark only became horrible when the thought that his children might also be haunted by such a defect, entered his conscience mind. What Hawthorne accomplishes is an intimate personification of the evolutionary theory presented by Darwin and Gamble.
After examining the story, an important question might be why do Aylmer and Georgiana appear to be as polar as Darwin's superior male and Gamble's perfect female? Aylmer is intelligent enough to be able to make an elixir that can cure his wife, and Georgiana is so frail that she faints when her husband stares at her birthmark. Contrarily, Aylmer is so involved in the science of the experiment, that he is willing to kill his wife in the name of science, and Georgiana has such incredible powers of intuition and perception that she is able to see that something is troubling Aylmer, even though he is trying to hide it. These are the very traits that both Darwin and Gamble agree both men and women posses. The difference is that Darwin considers some traits (namely those that men posses) to be superior, and Gamble considers other traits (namely those that women posses) to be superior. The two agree, however, that the fittest will survive, and that survival means transferring fit genes to progeny (or affecting marriages, as they put it).
I am a conservative feminist, and a proponent of the theory of natural selection. As such, I would naturally favor Gamble's view of women over Darwin's, but my thesis averts a gender-contest. It is my contention that the application of the theory of natural selection to society and humanity is relatively unimportant, when compared with the application of the theory to evolution. Hawthorne's "The Birthmark" was a very timely interpretation of the events surrounding the emergence of the theory of natural selection. It shows the reader that the academic debate between Darwin and Gamble has a human face, and that all of us can learn from Aylmer's mistake, and Aminadab's nobility.
Works Cited
1. Darwin, Charles. "Sexual Selection in Relation to Man." The
Descent of Man. New York: Prometheus Books, 1998. 576-586.
2. Gamble, Eliza Burt. "The Supremacy of the Male." The Sexes
in Science and History. New York: G.P. Putnam Sons, 1916. 74-92.
3. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Birthmark." Anthology of American
Literature. New York: McMillan, 1985. 1159-1169.
