CRITICAL

APPROACHES TO
LITERATURE
IB DP1 - Literary Theory
 What Makes English into Art?
 Look at the list below. Which might you describe as creative ‘language art’? In what ways
are they creative? Which would you identify as literature? What criteria are you using?
 Shakespeare’s Hamlet
 A poem written in dialect
 Fan fiction, derived from the TV show Glee
 A list of immigration laws
 The song, ‘Imagine’ by The John Lennon
 An anonymous traditional ballad
 A label on a bottle of wine
 Wole Soyinka’s Ake (20th century Nigerian dramatist’s autobiography)
 An improvised 21st century theatre piece
 A conversation with your teacher about football
Discuss your choices and explain them.
Is there a difference between ‘everyday language’, ‘language art’, and ‘literature’? Discuss what
you think these differences are.
Multiple Perspectives: Remember
This?

Do you see the rabbit or the duck?

Do you see the old woman or the
young woman?
Unit Focus Questions

How do we study literature?

How do viewpoint and bias affect our

perception of reality?
Critical Approaches to the Study of
Literature
Critical Approaches are different perspectives we
consider when looking at a piece of literature.
Critical approaches to literature

 The simplest definition of a

critical approach to literature is:
the lens through which we
understand a piece of writing
Critical Approaches to Consider
1. Reader-Response Criticism
2. Formalist Criticism
3. Psychological/Psychoanalytic Criticism
4. Sociological Criticism
A. Feminist/Gender Criticism
B. Marxist Criticism
5. Biographical Criticism
6. New Historicist Criticism
Literary Criticism Map

Where do the theories fall?

Questions to Ponder for Each
Theory/Approach
 What are the benefits of each
form of criticism?
 What are potential problems

with each form?

 Is there a “right” or a

“wrong” form?
 Can the mode of criticism

alter the entire meaning of a

text?
1. The Reader-Response Approach
Reader-Response Criticism asserts that a great deal of
meaning in a text lies with how the reader responds to
it.
 Focuses on the act of reading and how it affects our
perception of meaning in a text (how we feel at the
beginning vs. the end)
 Deals more with the process of creating meaning and
experiencing a text as we read. A text is an experience, not
an object.
 The text is a living thing that lives in the reader’s
imagination.

READER + READING SITUATION + TEXT =

MEANING
 1. The Reader-Response Approach
2 Important Ideas in Reader-Response
1. An individual reader’s interpretation
usually changes over time.
2. Readers from different generations and
different time periods interpret texts
differently.

Ultimately… How do YOU feel about

what you have read? What do YOU
think it means?
Cinderella
 How is the reader/audience meant to feel when
Cinderella finally wins over the Prince?
 Who is the most sympathetic character of the film?
Why are we drawn to these characters?
2. The Formalist Approach
Formalist Criticism emphasizes the form of a
literary work to determine its meaning, focusing on
literary elements and how they work to create
meaning.
 Examines a text as independent from its time period,
social setting, and author’s background. A text is an
independent entity.
 Focuses on close readings of texts and analysis of the
effects of literary elements and techniques on the text.
2. The Formalist Approach

Two Major Principles of Formalism

1. A literary text exists independent
of any particular reader and, in a
sense, has a fixed meaning.
2. The greatest literary texts are
“timeless” and “universal.”
Cinderella
 Look for symbolic, or some other, significance for
the specific items and animals chosen (for the coach
and staff) and/or the numbers of each chosen.
 Compare the speech patterns of Cinderella and the
stepmother and stepsisters. Are there noticeable
differences in cadence? Do any use more (or less)
figurative or poetic language than the others? Do any
speak noticeably more (or less) than the others?
 Are there any internal ironies or inconsistencies that
render the work disunified?
 3. The Psychological/ Psychoanalytic
Approach
Psychological Criticism views a
text as a revelation of its author’s
mind and personality. It is based
on the work of Sigmund Freud.
 Also focuses on the hidden
motivations of literary characters
 Looks at literary characters as a
reflection of the writer
The Psychoanalytical Literary Lens

Thesis: Our sub-conscious desires controls our

actions.
Characteristics:
ID: involves basic desires such as food,
aggression, and sex. It’s prime motive is
survival. Someone influenced by his/her Id
is considered less developed.
SUPEREGO: involves morality and is
opposed to the Id. It is formed from
standards acquired from your upbringing
and society. Someone who is acting
primarily under the influence of the
Superego denies him/herself of pleasure
and develops obsessive/compulsive
disorders.
EGO: is a healthy balance of the Id and
Superego. Someone who is acting
primarily on his ego will have his/her
desires fulfilled in a manner acceptable to
society.
When a psychoanalytical lens is applied to
literature, it follows a character’s
development throughout a story.
Sex is Everything
Freud believed that all human behavior is motivated
by sexuality
 Oedipus complex: a boy's unconscious rivalry

with his father for the love of his mother

 Electra complex: a girl’s unconscious rivalry with

her mother for the love of her father

A Psychoanalytical Reading of
Cinderella
 Cinderella initially is driven by her
Superego because she denies her
desires in order to please her
stepmother and stepsisters.
 However, her dreams reflect the Id
waiting to come out.
 When her fairy godmother grants her
wishes, she breaks out of the
Superego dominance.
 Cinderella gives in to her Id by
leaving her job and going to the party,
something she was forbidden to do.
 Because she fell in love with the
prince and got married, this
exemplifies the emergence of her Ego
because marriage is a socially
acceptable relationship.
Cinderella

VS
4. The Sociological Approach
Sociological criticism argues that social
contexts (the social environment) must
be considered when analyzing a text.
 Focuses on the values of a society and
how those views are reflected in a text
 Emphasizes the economic, political,
and cultural issues within literary
texts
 Core Belief: Literature is a reflection
of its society.
 4A. The Marxist Approach
Marxist Criticism
emphasizes economic and
social conditions. It is
based on the political theory
of Karl Marx and Friedrich
Engels.
 Concerned with

understanding the role of

power, politics, and
money in literary texts
4A. The Marxist Approach
Marxist Criticism examines literature to see how
it reflects
1. The way in which dominant groups
(typically, the majority) exploit the
subordinate groups (typically, the minority)
2. The way in which people become alienated
from one another through power, money,
and politics
Marxist Criticism
 Marx argued that
capitalism, like
previous
socioeconomic
systems, will produce
internal tensions which
will lead to its
destruction
Marxist Criticism
 Marx believed that groups
of people that owned and
controlled major industries
could exploit the rest of the
population by forcing their
own values and beliefs
onto other social groups
How to Use Marxist Theory
 Focus on power and
money in the literature
 Who has the power or
money?
 Who does not?
 What happens as a
result?
The Marxist Literary Lens
Thesis: A group of elite people control
most of the wealth of the world,
leaving everyone else poor and
powerless.
Characteristics:
 Sympathy for the working class and
hatred of the middle and wealthy
classes.
 Attention to how much material
wealth one has.
 Class structure in a text.
 Characters in opposition to each other
because of a power struggle.
 Inequalities in society.
 Characters who dream of a better life.
 Class warfare between the rich and
the poor.
A Marxist reading of Cinderella
 Cinderella is exploited by her rich
relatives.
 She exploits the mice, birds, and
fairy godmother who help her for no
pay.
 Cinderella has no wealth and her
only hope is to marry the prince.
 Class structure with Cinderella
(poor) who does all the work, Step
Sisters (middle class) who yearn to
marry the rich prince, prince
(wealthy) who controls the power in
the kingdom decides who he will
marry.
 In the original fable, the animals
gouge out the eyes of the step sisters
and drive them out of town
symbolizing the violent clashes
between the rich and the poor.
4B. The Feminist Approach
Feminist Criticism is concerned
with the role, position, and
influence of women in a literary
text.
 Asserts that most “literature”

throughout time has been

written by men, for men.
 Examines the way that the

female consciousness is depicted

by both male and female writers.
4B. The Feminist Approach
4 Basic Principles of Feminist Criticism
1. Western civilization is patriarchal.
2. The concepts of gender are mainly cultural
ideas created by patriarchal societies.
3. Patriarchal ideals pervade “literature.”
4. Most “literature” through time has been
gender-biased.
The Feminist Literary Lens
Thesis: Women are dominated by
men and thus are stereotyped.
Typically male authors include a
gender bias in their writing that
demeans women.
Characteristics:
 Male characters are
strong/dominant and female
characters are weak/passive.
 Negative stereotypes regarding
women and sexuality.
 Women striving to survive in a
male-dominated society.
 Power struggle between men
and women.
Stages of Female Identity
 Feminine: the female accepts the definitions and
roles male authorities have created for her
 Feminist: rebels against masculine authority and
intentionally challenges masculine definitions and
roles for the sake of gender equality
 Female: no longer concerned with male definitions
or restrictions; defines her own voice and values
 Cinderella
 Consider the misogynist (a person who dislikes,
despises, or is strongly prejudiced against women)
theme of abused-girl-waiting-to-be-rescued-by-
prince.
 Can Cinderella save herself? Why in need of man?
Can’t woman exist independent of man?
 Consider the values conveyed in the portrayal of the
“good girl” as physically beautiful and the “wicked
girls” as physically ugly
 Are women only valuable to men as sexualized
objects?
A Feminist Reading of Cinderella
 Cinderella’s happiness
depends on men.
 After Cinderella’s father dies,
she is forced to live with the
evil step-sisters.
 She becomes happy after she
marries the prince.
 In order to attract the prince,
she must impress him with
her looks.
 The prince only knows her by
her beauty and the missing
glass slipper.
 Without men, Cinderella has
no control over her life.
5. The Biographical Approach
Biographical Criticism
argues that we must take
an author’s life and
background into account
when we study a text.
5. The Biographical Approach
Three Benefits:
1. Facts about an author’s experience can help a
reader decide how to interpret a text.
2. A reader can better appreciate a text by knowing
a writer’s struggles or difficulties in creating that
text.
3. A reader can understand a writer’s preoccupation
by studying the way they apply and modify their
own life experiences in their works.
6. The New Historicist Approach
New Historicist Criticism argues that every literary
work is a product of its time and its world.
 6. The New Historicist Approach
New Historicism:
1. Provides background information necessary to
understand how literary texts were perceived in their
time.
2. Shows how literary texts reflect ideas and attitudes of the

time in which they were written.

 New historicist critics often compare the language in

contemporary documents and literary texts to reveal

cultural assumptions and values in the text.
REMEMBER…
 We will never look at a text STRICTLY from one
standpoint or another, ignoring all other views.
That is antithetical to what we are trying to do.
 We should always keep our focus on the text and
use these critical approaches to clarify our
understanding of a text and develop an
interpretation of it.
 Critical Lenses of The Lion King
 Feminist/Gender: Can be viewed as the helpless role females have in society. The
female lions are used to provide food and care for the young yet it is the males that
have all the power. When Mufasa dies his power transfers to either his son or his
brother. His wife is never even considered. Nala is also clearly “stronger” than
Simba yet she is considered inferior.
 Marxist: Can be viewed as the upper class (lions) trying to maintain power over an
unhappy lower class (hyenas). The lower class resents the privileges of better food
and hunting grounds that the upper class maintains. This conflict causes a rebellion,
which disrupts the normal social order causing chaos and destruction.
 Psychoanalytic: Can be viewed as a classic case of sibling rivalry—Scar is savagely
jealous of his much stronger and might I say better looking older brother. Can also
be viewed as the classic struggle to overcome feelings of guilt or inadequacy—both
of which Simba has after the death of his father.
 Narratology: Simba represents the classic hero quest. Simba suffers from a loss of a
father figure and must go off on a journey to grow into his destiny. During his
journey he meets tricksters (Timon/Pumba) who also act as his helpers and finds a
mentor (crazy monkey with a stick). Nala also acts as the herald as she upsets the
sleepy equilibrium in which the Simba has lived and starts his growth. He then has
enough strength (mental and physical) to overcome the villain and restore
everything to order.