Progress and Culture

In the mid-1800s, massive changes in technology and industrial progress were bringing changes to society as a whole in Britain. The Great Exhibition, which featured hundreds of new inventions, epitomizes the spirit of the times, which emphasized progress and the positive changes that could be brought about through mechanization and technology. However, this intense period of change caused difficulties in other areas of society. The Padre, for example, is at first happy to praise a church structure featured at the Exhibition. However, such an emphasis on physical progress meant that there was a danger to spiritual and emotional matters. This is what Fleury means when he argues against the Padre. Fleury is "behind the times" since he is still a romantic at heart. For him, emotional and spiritual matters are just as important as the scientific inquiry of which he is also capable.

During the...