Darwin and Gambles Debate Essay -- Nathaniel Hawthorne The Birthmark

Darwin and Gambles Debate Nathaniel Hawthornes The nevus gives a human face to Darwin and Gambles pedantic debate concerning natural selection. In the story, Georgiana has a birthmark on her cheek that has been visible her entire life, entirely was just starting to agitate her husband, Aylmer. He used science to successfully rid his wife of the birthmark, but the procedure was fatal. The process that the couple went by appears to be a response to the theory of natural selection, with her death as the ultimate conclusion. This essay will examine the theory, the story, and the link between them. part Darwin and Gambles theses contain multiple arguments and have multiple conclusions, the most important of them is the vox populi of natural selection. In Descent of Man, Darwin summarizes his argument by saying, through the compete of rival malesand from the general struggle for lifethe characters gained will have been contagious to the offspring. (Darwin 6). It is contended that c hange among a given species is spontaneous (and normal), and sometimes the change is broad(a) (insofar as it adds a positive trait or traits to the organism), and sometimes it is bad. Those organisms with secure changes will be fit to gather food and protect offspring, and those that atomic number 18 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 indoors the same species is irrelevant to Natural Selection. However, Darwin and Gamble bring this dispute to for each one of their respective works. Since they agree on the original concept of the survival of the fittest, their disagreements ar reconcilable. Darwin crea... ...t is my contention that the application of the theory of natural selection to society and world is relatively unimportant, when compared with the application of the theory to evolution. Hawthornes The Birthmark was a very incidentally 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 Aylmers mistake, and Aminadabs nobility. Works Cited1. Darwin, Charles. Sexual Selection in relation back 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.