Artifact of Empire Presentation: Cassandra and Walker

Artifact of Empire: Evolution Through Literature and Art

Darwin and The theory of Evolution

• Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882)
• English naturalist
• In his youth, science was considered
  “Dehumanizing in English public
  Schools”
• HMS Beagle
• Famous voyage to Galapagos Islands
• Darwin associates bird beak size and shape with ecological niche, sufficient evidence for natural selection
  Scientific theory of evolution by natural selection

• Formulated theory privately in 1837-39
• Did not publish Origin of Species until two decades later

History of the 1880’s

• Agnosticism takes root in America
• Religion is still dominant, but...
• “Scientific progress, Darwinian theories, and new technologies begin to edge out religion as the leading authority on ‘truth’”(pbs.org)
• Small group of “free-thinkers” abandon belief in god
• 1882- Darwin passes away in English at age of 73
• Darwin is agnostic!

• 1884- Mark Twain publishes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• 1887- Sherlock Holmes makes first appearance
• 1888- first victim of “Jack the Ripper” discovered in London

Artifact of Empire

• • 

Study of Monkeys

• Wheaton’s Permanent Collection
• A gift of Alexander B.V. Johnson and Roberta J. M. Olson
  
• Richard Doyle (1824-1883)
• Designed front cover of Punch magazine
  
• Illustration prior to 1883
  
• Graphite and ink on paper
  
• Monkeys becoming more human-like
• May depict evolution
• Usage of tools as monkeys progress from left to right
• More upright stature
• 
  

Charles Darwin’s Descent of Man

• “It is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science”(176)“Man is descended from some lowly organized form”“...Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin”“Stamp”, significant language“...(Man) has given rise to many races, some of which differ so much from each other, that they have often been ranked by naturalists as distinct species”(222)
  
  • Polygenism

Darwinism in Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886)

• Mr. Hyde as a lower form of man, evolutionary past
• “ape-like fury”(48), “trampled” his victim
  leaving him “incredibly mangled”(48)
• “clubbed”(48)
  
• Hyde’s deformities
• Rosanna Spearman
  
• Concept of evil rampant in this novel
• Evil coexisting with morality undermines Christianity, thus supporting Darwinism
• “My devil”(84)
• Utterson equates Mr. Hyde to the devil
• "...if I ever read Satan's signature upon a face, it is on that of your new friend"(43)

Questions

1. At the end of Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Mr. Hyde becomes stronger as Dr. Jekyll becomes weaker. Why might this be significant while considering Darwin’s theory of evolution?
2. What kinds of similarities can we observe between Dr. Jekyll and Ezra Jennings? Between Mr. Hyde and Rosanna Spearman?
3. Can we see parallels between Hyde and Bertha? Between Jekyll and Rochester?
4. Why is it important to analyze concepts of Darwinism in multiple perspectives (science, literature, art)?
   Works Cited
   "Charles Darwin". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
     Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 31 Mar. 2016

   <http://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Darwin>.

   Cooke, Simon. "Richard Doyle, 1824-83." Richard Doyle, 1824-83: A Brief   Biography. N.p., 5 Nov. 2009. Web. 27   
   Mar. 2016. <http://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/doyle/bio.html>.

   Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man (1871). Ed. Philip Appleman. Third ed. New York. London.: W.W.Norton, 2001.
   Print.

   Doyle, Richard. Study of Monkeys. Prior to 1883. Graphite and Ink on Paper. Wheaton College Permanent
   Collection, Norton, MA.

   Stevenson, Robert Louis. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Ed. Martin A. Danahay. 3rd ed. Peterborough:
   Broadview Editions, 2015. Print.

   "Timeline: Faith in America." PBS. PBS, 11 Oct. 2010. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
   <http://www.pbs.org/godinamerica/timeline/>.

   "Timeline: Historic Events in the 1880s." About.com Education. N.p., 4 Dec. 2014. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
   <http://history1800s.about.com/od/timelines/a/1880-1890-timeline.htm>.