Approaches to Literary Criticism

Approaches to Literary Criticisms

Literary criticisms are the evaluation, analysis, or interpretation of literary works. The purpose of literary criticisms is (1) to help us solve a problem in the reading (2) to help us choose the better of two conflicting readings and (3) to enable us to form decisions about literature. Criticisms may observe a certain literary work, or may look at an author's writings as a whole, or may compare and contrast works by time period or with other authors. The point of criticism is to argue your point of view on a work of literature. Literary Criticism is generally in the form of a critical essay or extended book review.

An archetype is "a symbol, usually an image, which recurs often enough in literature to be recognizable as an element of one's literary experience." Archetypes/symbolic can be divided into three categories. Archetypal characters include (but are not limited to): the hero, the villain, the outcast, the femme fatale, and the star-crossed lovers. Archetypal situations include (but are not limited to): the quest, the journal, death and rebirth, and the task. Archetypal symbols and associations include polarities: light/dark, water/desert, height/depth, and spring/winter. An example of an archetype will be the hero who is involved in a quest (in which he overcomes obstacles). He experiences initiation (involving a separation, transformation, and return), and finally he serves as a scapegoat, that is, he dies to atone.

Mythological criticism evaluates content for instinctual and the deepest emotions in human nature which are influenced by certain events, happenings and character situations. The analysis is based on common beliefs since mythology is strongly derived from religious beliefs, anthropology, and cultural history Mythological criticism studies recurrent universal patterns underlying most literary works (for example, "the hero's journey"). It combines insights from a variety of academic disciplines--anthropology, psychology, history, comparative religion; its concerns with demonstrating how the individual imagination shares a common humanity by identifying common symbols, images, plots. Mythological critics identify "archetypes" (symbols, characters, situations, or images evoking a universal response). Myth critics identify these archetypal patterns and discuss how they function in the works. They believe that these archetypes are the source of much of literature's power.

A formalistic approach to literature, once called New Criticism, involves a close reading of the text. The New Criticism approach resulted from the pre-1920s and '30s focus on context. Formalistic critic believe that all information essential to the interpretation of a work must be found within the work itself; there is no need to bring in outside information about the history, politics, or society of the time, or about the author's life. The New Criticism is mostly used in poetry analysis and evaluates elements like diction, imagery, stanza structure, verse form, meanings, particularly and complexities of meaning. Terms that are commonly used in New Criticism are intentional fallacy which is the false belief that the meaning or value of a work may be determined by the author's intention, affective fallacy meaning the false belief that the meaning or value of a work may be determined by its effect on the reader and external form consisting of the rhyme scheme, meter, stanza form.

Psychological critics view works through the lens of psychology. They look either at the psychological motivations of the characters or of the authors themselves. This approach is considered the most controversial and least appreciated. It uses psychological theories, mainly of Freud, including the id, ego, super ego, phallic and ionic symbols, and oedipal complexes. Freudian (believed that all human behavior is motivated by sexuality). Freudian critics like to point out the sexual implications of symbols and imagery. A Freudian approach often includes pinpointing the influences of a character's id (the instinctual, pleasure seeking part of the mind), superego (the part of the mind that represses the id's impulses) and the ego (the part of the mind that controls but does not repress the id's impulses, releasing them in a healthy way). Most frequently, psychological critics apply Freudian psychology to works but other approaches (such as a Jungian approach) also exist. Psychological critics are generally concerned with his concept of the process of individuation (the process of discovering what makes one different form everyone else). Jungian labeled three parts of the self: the shadow, or the darker, unconscious self (usually the villain in literature); the persona, or a man's social personality (usually the hero); and the anima, or a man's "soul image" (usually the heroine).

Feminist criticism is concerned with the impact of gender on writing and reading. Feminist criticism is political and often revisionist. The origin of Feminist Criticism is originally derived from the classic works of 19th Century women authors like George Eliot and Margaret Fuller. Feminists often argue that male fears are portrayed through female characters. They may argue that gender determines everything, or just the opposite: that all gender differences are imposed by society, and gender determines nothing. Based on the Feminist Theory, the Feminist Critical Evaluation analyzes elements like stereotypes of women, images of women in literature, literary mistreatment of women, place of women in patriarchal societies and challenges faced by women in the modern era. The stages of female identity are feminine is the female accepts the definitions and roles male authorities have created for her, feminist rebels against male authority and intentionally challenges all male definitions and roles and female are no longer concerned with male definitions or restrictions; defines her own voice and values.

Deconstruction is a literary criticism movement originated by French critic Jacques Derrida in the 1960s. Deconstruction involves the close reading of texts in order to demonstrate that any given text has irreconcilably contradictory meanings, rather than being a unified, logical whole. Although deconstruction is primarily applied to the