While reading The Temple of Nature I focused on the use of exclusively female characters to discuss these scientific ideas and why Darwin would choose to do this. I thought about the sciences as masculine and the humanities as feminine, yet Darwin seems to disregard this understanding. The character of Urania is an example of the blending of masculine and feminine qualities in one character and the blurring of distinctions overall. Urania is the muse of astronomy and is representative of the sciences but simultaneously preserves her own femininity.
Urania performs the unveiling of nature, which is depicted on the frontispiece of the text. She addresses the Priestess saying, “Priestess of Nature! While with pious awe Thy votary bends, the mystic veil withdraw” (30). The image of the unveiling shows a three-breasted woman and Urania turning away while still pointing to the breasts, seemingly in an act of exhibitionism or even shock. Interestingly on the page before the unveiling of nature Darwin makes a reference to the cave of Trophonius and in his notes he says that it, “seems to have been designed to warn the contemplative from considering too much the dark side of nature” (34).
I honestly am not sure entirely what to make of all this, but what I am thinking is that Darwin seems to be simultaneously warning against and encouraging the questioning of nature. Perhaps he is even encouraging an interdisciplinary course of study through the character of Urania and his presentation of ideas through poetry.
I'd love to hear what you all think about masculinity and femininity in the text.
I was struck by Darwin's choice to express his ideas on nature through poetry and allegory. This blending of disciplines is reflected throughout The Temple of Nature in the action and the characters, as you noted. Darwin's choice of a poetic form reinforces the idea that he is encouraging an interdisciplinary course of study. Though the areas of science and humanities are very much separated now, when this was written they were not so polarized. This text is also very classical, in its identification as a Canto, in the invocation of the muse, and in the numerous classical allusions. In The Temple of Nature, Darwin has created a sort of epic with Nature as the hero. I think that the prevalent use of female characters could be another effort by Darwin to tie this work to his classical influences through the muses. It could also be an indication of his interpretation of Nature as something pure, and therefore feminine. I was also curious about this choice.
ReplyDeleteWhere I see the connection between Darwin's "warning," as portrayed through the three-breasted woman, and masculinity and femininity is in the discussion of birth defects and monsters in Darwin's, Zoonomia. In this discussion, Darwin indicates that birth defects such as a lack of extremities or an abnormal number of legs are the fault of the mother. Although I do not know what the relationship is between Zoonomia and The Temple of Nature, I can't help but notice some sort of connection between the image of the three-breasted woman and the issues that can accompany generation as a result of the mother providing too much or too little nutrition. He points out females as the cause of defectiveness, yet females are necessary to the sexual reproduction about which he speaks. Through both the image in The Temple of Nature and the control that females have over the normalcy of their offspring in Zoonomia, Darwin seems to be suggesting that females may be the "dark side of nature."
ReplyDeleteIf we think back on our discussion about the imagination and what it means, i think it unveils the nature of Darwin's poetry. Darwin's ability to truly study and observe is severely limited, and he's very aware of this. He mentions some of the microscopic organisms they've discovered but mentions that just like the many stars they find every time telescopes get better, there could be countless more. Regardless he struggles to express the things he can not understand, and that's where the poetry and the religious imagery comes in as an attempt to describe the unknowable. The image of Urania turning away from nature might point at some latent fear of what the answers to these questions may be.
ReplyDeleteThis article brought two past classes back into focus for me—Gender and the Environment and Art History. In Gender and the Environment we had numerous discussions about “Mother Nature” and the way that femininity is tied into nature, and by extension into science, but that view is becoming somewhat muddled in modern times as the field becomes more masculine. I do agree with Kristen that Darwin was making an effort to connect feminism and science and, from an analysis of a painting of Urania in Art History, I know she is one of the more assertive and progressive of the Nine Muses of Greek Mythology. As Sarah said, Urania is the muse of astrology, an arguably more masculine focus as opposed the muses of poetry, music and dance. It is an interesting dichotomy.
ReplyDeleteSo I totally dropped the ball and thought we were supposed to be posting on Wednesday, not last night. But, as anyone who knows me can attest, I can't resist talking about classical literature and issues of femininity. So, even though I'm late to the party, I'm going to post anyway.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kirsten that Darwin's choice to make his characters female could be an attempt to align "The Temple of Nature" with a classical literary tradition. Darwin's invocation of the Muse: "Say, Muse! how rose from elemental strife/Organic forms and kindled into life" is almost identical to Virgil's in the Aeneid: "Muse, tell me the cause: how was she offended in her divinity, how she was grieved, the Queen of Heaven, to drive a man, noted for virtue, to endure such dangers, to face so many trials?" The Muses in ancient texts, were not like our concept of muses today. "Muse" did not refer to a real woman who inspired a man's creativity. Rather, the Muses were the goddesses who held the knowledge about creation. Thus, it seems natural (excuse the pun) that in his attempt to trace the creation of society, that Darwin would feminize science and literature.