What Are the Functions of Literary Criticisms?

1. Understanding Meaning
The Victorian poet Matthew Arnold was the first contemporary literary critic.

 Arnold's criticism usually involved poetry; his support of literary criticism greatly influenced the literary world,
building a new appreciation for its practice.

 Arnold's scientific approach to criticism included both individual and comparative evaluations.
 He would explore an author's purpose for writing, helping to determine what the author was saying beyond
the obvious.

2. Philosophy
Arnold was a moralist who based his interpretations on this philosophical foundation.

 Arnold assumed the position that poetry ought to have a moral foundation, with positive ideals and
perspectives to communicate to readers.
 He thought that poetry founded on amoral or indifferent beliefs was counterproductive and rebellious to life
itself.

3. Discover History
Citing Aristotle, Arnold believed that poetry was more valid than historical accounts
because it was created as an emotional reaction to events instead of being a subjective
report.

He based his moralist perspectives on this belief:

 By assessing literary devices, metaphors, similes, social norms and societal interpretations in literature from
a given period, you can learn a lot about that period as well as about its society.

4. Develop Writing Skills

Literary criticism will not only help students better understand literature, but it will also
help them to write it.

 Literary criticism and interpretation give meaning and value to an author's work.

 It is important for every writer to understand literary criticism so that he can improve the way he
communicates directly and indirectly.
 Literary criticism also helps students discover new ideas, develop philosophical positions and learn about
the nuances of societies from throughout history.
Key Term of Feminist Literary Criticism
Patriarchy is the key term in feminist literary criticism.

Feminists consider that it is a social system in which men are the principal authority figures who are
the central to social organization, control of property, occupy leading roles of moral authority,
political leadership and where male family members hold authority over women and children in
household.

Historically, patriarchy has made itself in the political, social, economic and legal organization of a series
of different cultures.

It also refers to the institutions of male rule and female subordination. The patriarchal societies are
also patrilineal which means that title and property can only be inherited by the male lineage.

Patriarchy refers to the role of males in the society in which men take the chief responsibility over the
community welfare by and large.

The word "patriarch" derived from two Greek words: “patira,” and “archy” which means family and rule
respectively.

“Traditionally, patriarchy granted the father nearly total ownership over wife or wives and children”
classically, as head of the family the father is both begetter and owner in a system in which kinship is
property".

In a word, males are the absolute authority while females are subordinate and inferior to males
wherever in the family and society.

According to Einstein, Patriarchy ideology hammer at “destroy woman's consciousness about her
potential power, which derives from the necessity of society to reproduce itself.

The patriarchal ideology also can be called masculinist or androcentric which is prevailing in most great
classical literary writings that were mainly created by male for male up to now.

In these works, male writers usually describe female characters, neglecting female their own
characteristics but using the male values and ways of thinking, emotion and action.

Hence, the female readers always act as an alien or outsider and are unable to understand and
appreciated the heroes who were described by the male writer and even female may generate anti-
emotions against the works.

All in all, Patriarchy can be understood as male-dominated, male supreme over female and androcentric
in the society.

It is known to us all, in the patriarchy society, men are the absolutely dominators in every social
aspect.

Since the emergence of the feminism, feminists have done their best to lead all women to fight
against the male-dominators.
Even though they have got great success, the root of the patriarchy hasn’t been removed. Females still
suffer in the male-dominated society.

More precisely, it means the female subordination and female inferiority. Moreover, patriarchy has
already shaped by both female and male, for which male are the rulers while female are the ruled.

Overall, Patriarchy idea prevailing in all social areas and rejecting patriarchy is the key step to the
liberation of the female.

Tools of the Feminist Literary Critic

 Examining how relationships between men and women and those
assuming male and female roles are depicted in the text, including power
relations
 Examining the text to find ways in which patriarchy is resisted or could
have been resisted
 Deconstructing the way that women characters are described in novels,
stories, plays, biographies, and histories, especially if the author is male

Feminist literary criticism is the critical analysis of literary works based on

the feminist perspective. In particular, feminist literary critics tend to reject
the patriarchal norms of literature "that privileges masculine ways of
thinking/points of view and marginalizes women politically, economically and
psychologically," according to Paul Ady, associate professor of English at
Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts. Instead, feminist critics
approach literature in a way that empowers the female point-of-view, typically
rejecting the patriarchal language that has dominated literature.

"feminist criticism makes space for and listens to women's voices previously
muted or drowned out by dominant patriarchal literary-critical practices."

“What is written reveals what society believes.”

Feminist literary criticism is used to explore the inequalities, social injustices
and abusive messages directed toward women within patriarchal societies
and cultures. Patriarchy is a system of social organization that traces descent
through the male line and bestows privilege and power to males on the
assumption of their physical and intellectual superiority over women. Feminist
literary criticism has evolved from a strictly literary activity to a way of
analyzing and interpreting all forms of human communication and language.

Feminist criticism looks at the conflicts and hardships faced by women in

different literary eras and genres.

What Are the Functions of Literary Criticisms?

1. Understanding Meaning
The Victorian poet Matthew Arnold was the first contemporary literary critic, S.N.
Radhika Lakshmi writes on the website Literature-Study Online.

 Arnold's criticism usually involved poetry; his support of literary criticism greatly influenced the literary world,
building a new appreciation for its practice.
 Arnold's scientific approach to criticism included both individual and comparative evaluations.
 He would explore an author's purpose for writing, helping to determine what the author was saying beyond
the obvious.

2. Philosophy
Arnold was a moralist who based his interpretations on this philosophical foundation,
Lakshmi writes.

 Arnold assumed the position that poetry ought to have a moral foundation, with positive ideals and
perspectives to communicate to readers.
 He thought that poetry founded on amoral or indifferent beliefs was counterproductive and rebellious to life
itself.

3. Discover History
Citing Aristotle, Arnold believed that poetry was more valid than historical accounts
because it was created as an emotional reaction to events instead of being a subjective
report.

He based his moralist perspectives on this belief:

 By assessing literary devices, metaphors, similes, social norms and societal interpretations in literature from
a given period, you can learn a lot about that period as well as about its society.

4. Develop Writing Skills

Literary criticism will not only help students better understand literature, but it will also
help them to write it, according to the humanities department at Georgia Perimeter
College.

 Literary criticism and interpretation give meaning and value to an author's work.
 It is important for every writer to understand literary criticism so that he can improve the way he
communicates directly and indirectly.
 Literary criticism also helps students discover new ideas, develop philosophical positions and learn about
the nuances of societies from throughout history.