Edwardian Synthesis Question Ash.p3.t1

alex

morgan

jennifer

sarp

asher

After industrialism occurred in the previous era, there was a large focus on imperialism during the Edwardian era, which was a cause for much violence in that period. Due to these imperialist dominated thoughts of the time, the idea of violence as retribution for sins committed against ones self or one’s community was less and less considered as an immoral act but as the normal practice. This idea of retribution has been part of the zeitgeist of most eras since the Greek rule. The most prominent example of Imperialism in the Edwardian era is the British searching for ivory in the jungle of Africa. The novel, The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, takes place during this time and the idea of violence as retribution is demonstrated extensively in the character of Kurtz and his tribal followers. Kurtz lost his morality as he grew to want more and more ivory and eventually became amoral as he began to kill off any African who would not give him their ivory. This idea of violence as retribution has always been somewhat accepted by society, even after the medieval era ended, we still justify it today in our times. The perfect example of that would be when former President Bush sent troops into Afghanistan in order to end the ‘war on terrorism.’ Through all the pretense and excuses, the reason for sending in the army was retribution for the attacks on 9/11 and to find the people responsible for them.