1. Introduction to CRITICAL THEORY

2. What is Critical Theory?
Critical theory is the method used to interpret any work of literature. The different schools of literary criticism provide us with lenses which ultimately reveal important aspects of the literary work.
Through critical theory, readers are able to understand what is important about the text, including its structure, its context, and its cultural relevance.
Critical theory helps us view literature in new ways and through different perspectives.

3. Narratology
Focuses on how the narrator impacts the reader’s perception of the text.
New Historicism
Focuses on how a text is impacted by the era in which it is written.
Feminist Theory
Focuses on gender roles, patriarchy, and the oppression/
empowerment of women.
Psychoanalytic Theory
Focuses on psychology and its impact on character behavior and how it reflects the human condition.
Biographical
Focuses on the relationship between the author’s life and their works of literature.

4. Narratology/Structuralism What do these critics explore?
Individual narratives to identify basic parts and procedures common to all forms of story-telling
The teller of a story (narrator) and the way the story is told (point of view) 
Function of common plot formulas and how it shapes reader perspective
Ways in which narratives make meaning

5. Narratology/Structuralism What questions do they ask?
Can the narrator be trusted? What may be impacting their interpretation of the novel’s events?
Is there a consistent narrative perspective in the novel? If not, why was the choice made to offer different perspectives?
What is the effect of time and order on the novel? How does it impact the readers understanding?

6. Narratology/Structuralism What are the important ideas?
1. Tense: the arrangement of events in the narrative with respect to time.
• Order: the relationship between the chronology of the story (order in which the events of the story occur in the fictional world) and the chronology of the narrative (the order in which the narrative presents those events).
• Duration: the relationship between the length of time over which a given event occurs in the story and the number of pages of narrative devoted to describing it. 
• Frequency: the relationship between the ways in which events may be repeated in the story (the same event may occur more than once) and in the narrative (a single event may be described more than once).

7. Narratology/Structuralism What are the important ideas?
2. Mood: the atmosphere of the narrative created by distance and perspective
• Distance: created when the narrator is one of the characters in the narrative, a “go-between” through whose consciousness the story is filtered
• Perspective: point of view, or the eyes through which we see any given part of the narrative.
3. Voice: refers to the voice of the narrator and its relationship to the story.
• Reliable vs. Unreliable: a reliable narrator is one who is accurate and impartial, while an unreliable narrator lacks objectivity and may conceal, or be ignorant to, significant information.

8. Narratology/Structuralism May I have an example ?
Narratology Application in To Kill a Mockingbird Our first-person narrator is Scout Finch, who is five when the story begins and eight when it ends. From the first chapter, it's clear that Scout is remembering and narrating these events much later—after all, the second paragraph of the novel begins, "When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to [Jem's] accident" (1.2). For the most part, Scout gives us the events from her childhood perspective, as she understood them at the time, rather than imposing an adult commentary. This makes the narrative perspective naïve: often we get descriptions of events just as she experiences them, without commentary on what they mean, or a commentary that is hilariously innocent. But having the adult perspective be there in the background, even if it isn’t in play for most of the narration, means it can pop out when it’s needed. Like this:

9. Narratology/Structuralism May I have an example ?
Narratology Application in To Kill a Mockingbird …cont’d Mr. Underwood didn’t talk about miscarriages of justice, he was writing so children could understand. Mr. Underwood simply figured it was a sin to kill cripples, be they standing, sitting, or escaping. (25.27) Seven- or eight-year-old Scout doesn’t understand words like “miscarriages of justice”; this is the adult Scout telling us that “miscarriage of justice” is what happened. She’s giving us her kid’s perspective: what happened was a sin. And that makes this book perfect for tweens and teens: old enough to understand the shades of justice, but still young enough to remember the black-and-white rules of childhood. (Shmoop)

10. New Historicism What do these critics explore?
Literature through a wide historical lens – how the time period affected the writer’s work, how the work reflects the time period, and how the critic’s current cultural contexts shape his/her conclusions about the text
The relationship between a text and the political, social, and economic circumstances in which the text originated
How literary texts reflect the ideas and attitudes of the time in which they were written (social organization, prejudices, taboos, etc.)

11. New Historicism What questions do they ask?
What does this literary work add to our tentative understanding of human experience in that particular time and place?
How does the text promote beliefs that support (or undermine) the power structures of that particular time and place?
What does the literary work suggest about the experience of groups of people who have been ignored, underrepresented, or misrepresented by traditional history?

12. New Historicism What are the important ideas?
Self-hood/Self-fashioning:
Self-hood: one’s individual identity. New Historicists believe that it is shaped by and shapes the culture into which a person is born.
Self-fashioning: a practice in which authors create an identity for themselves and their characters according to the social, cultural, and political codes of their time.
Materialism: a belief that everything we do – and everything we think – is determined by our material conditions. Are we rich or poor? What do we do for work? What kind of house do we live in? According to New Historicists, these conditions are important in how literary works are produced and consumed by audiences.

13. New Historicism What are the important ideas?
Circulation of Power: New Historicists believe that power does not only come from the top of the political and socioeconomic structures of society. Instead, it moves in all directions, to and from all social levels, at all times. This happens through exchange – exchange of material goods (buying and selling, bartering, etc.), exchange of people (marriage, adoption, etc.), and exchange of ideas (various discourses a culture produces)
Self-positioning: the practice in which New Historicists are as aware of and honest as possible about their own psychological and ideological positions related to the material they analyze so their readers can have some idea of the human “lens” through which they are viewing the historical issues at hand.

14. New Historicism May I have an example ?
New Historicist Application in Shakespeare’s Hamlet
A great number of critics have explored Shakespeare’s Hamlet through the lens of new historicism. In fact, the field of new historicism arose out of historical and cultural studies of Shakespeare and Renaissance drama. A new historical reading of Hamlet might consider the ways in which the play contests and examines Elizabethan England’s monarchy, by virtue of the play’s focus on matters of succession, rule, and power. Many new historical approaches to the play attempt to recreate or conceptualized the various historical environments—such as the political systems, as well as the gender, sexual, and class systems—in which the play was composed and enacted in order to reach a stronger and more dynamic understanding of the text and where it came from. A number of new historicist readings of Hamlet have focused on how some of the religious conflicts occurring in England during Shakespeare’s time— particularly the cultural conflicts surrounding Catholicism and the new Protestant faith— are both directly and indirectly explored throughout the play. A new historicist reading would not attempt to merely understand how Hamlet reflects the historical circumstances under which it was created but, moreover, the various and sometimes contradictory historical ideas and movements which influenced the play and which the play comments upon.

15. Feminist Theory What do these critics explore?
Representations of women in literature and depiction of the female consciousness by both male and female writers
Gender roles and gender appropriateness to identify historical treatment of women and evaluation of their worth
How femininity is represented as passive and emotional (the “caregiver”) and the male is associated with reason and action (the “doer”)
Cultural impact of rigidly defined idea of femininity and masculinity

16. Feminist Theory What questions do they ask?
How are women portrayed and how do these portrayals relate to the gender issues of the period in which the novel was written or set?
How does the work seem to define femininity and masculinity? What seems to be the work’s attitude toward the gender(s) it portrays?
Does the work reinforce or undermine patriarchal ideology?

17. Feminist Theory What are the important ideas?
Patriarchy: In the literal sense, patriarchy is any social system where family names and property pass from father to son. In the more general sense, and that studied by Feminist theorists, it is a social system where men hold more power and value than women.
Social Constructionism: The argument that our personal identity develops because we’re conditioned by society, instead of being something that’s fixed at birth. Social constructionists argue that what it means to be a woman and what it means to be a man has to do with social factors like science, religion, law, and popular culture have discussed masculinity and femininity over hundreds of years.

18. Feminist Theory What are the important ideas?
Performativity: Argument made famous by Feminist theorist Judith Butler. She argued that there’s no such thing as “true” sex or gender, but rather social forces subtly push us to make our bodies and identities conform to norms that have been built up over centuries. Sex and gender aren’t “essential” parts of our identities – we “perform” them daily and our repeated acts are what add up to be viewed as our “identity.”
Essentialism: The concept that there are innate, essential differences between men and women. That is, we are born with certain traits. For example, this idea has often been used as an explanation for why there are so few women in science and technology.

19. Feminist Theory May I have an example ?
Feminist Theory Application in Shakespeare’s Hamlet
A feminist theory based interpretation of Hamlet would focus, most particularly, upon the characters of Ophelia and Gertrude. In fact, hundreds of feminist theory chapters and articles—as well as several academic studies—have focused upon the character of Ophelia. A feminist theoretical reading of Hamlet might argue that Ophelia—who is driven to seeming madness throughout the play and, possibly, eventual suicide—is figured as being repressed, abused, ignored, and renounced by male characters throughout the play because of her gender. Ophelia, then, represents a lack of consideration given to the feminine in the world of the play, as well as the inability for male characters within the play to understand the plight and psychologies of women. This sort of feminist reading of the play positions the world of Hamlet as being decidedly sexist and masculine and suggests that the play offers, then, a critique of a male-dominated and patriarchal society. This sort of feminist approach might suggest that the female in which Shakespeare himself lived. While some feminist theorists have suggested that Shakespeare demonstrates a sexist ideology within the play, most feminist theorists view the play as asserting a somewhat enlightened and progressive view of women, with the play itself serving as a critique of a male dominated society. Other feminist theories have argued that Hamlet himself is figured as a woman in the text, for he violates patriarchal power and rule and is subjected to the political force of a patriarchal power that denies him his intrinsic human rights and desires. A feminist theorist might argue that Shakespeare places Hamlet in the position of a woman in the play in order to critique and examine the nature of patriarchal power.

20. Psychoanalytic Theory What do these critics explore?
How human behavior is relevant to a reader’s experience of literature
The literary text as a fictional expression of the personality, state of mind, feelings, and desires of the author
The psychology of the character(s) or the author to find meaning in the text (hidden motivations)
The movements of reader’s and writer’s desires in a text

21. Psychoanalytic Theory What questions do they ask?
What unconscious motives are operating in the main character(s)? What core issues do they illustrate and how do these issues structure or inform the piece?
Are there any oedipal – or any other family dynamics – at work here? Is it possible to relate a character’s patterns of adult behavior to early experiences in the family as represented in the story? What do they reveal?
How can a character’s behavior, narrative events, and/or images be explained in terms of psychoanalytic concepts of any kind (for example – regression, crisis, projection, fear or fascination with death, etc.)?

22. Psychoanalytic Theory What are the important ideas?
1. Existence of the unconscious: Part of the mind where painful experiences and emotions, wounds, fears, guilty desires, and unresolved conflicts are kept, but not easily accessed.
Types fears: Fear of intimacy; fear of abandonment; fear of betrayal; low self-esteem; insecure or unstable sense of self (both low self- esteem and insecure or unstable sense of self can cause fear of inadequacy and also feed into the other fears)

23. Psychoanalytic Theory What are the important ideas?
2. Family Conflicts
Oedipus Complex: According to Freud, young boys between the ages of 3 – 6 develop a sexual attachment to their mothers. A boy will compete with his father for the mother’s attention until he passes through the castration complex, which is when he abandons his desire for his mother out of fear of castration by his father.
Electra Complex: According to Jung, this complex is the female counterpart to the Oedipal Complex. Young girls between the ages of 3 – 6 develop an increasing love for their fathers and increasing animosity towards their mothers.
3. Meaning of Death: A person’s relationship to death is closely tied to a person’s fear of being alone, fear of abandonment, and fear of intimacy.
Death Drive: Freud’s theory that humans are biologically pushed towards death, which results in self-destructive behaviors such as repeating painful or traumatic events.

24. Psychoanalytic Theory May I have an example ?
Psychoanalytic Application in Shakespeare’s Hamlet
Of all works of Western literature, probably no single text has undergone more psychoanalytic theoretical consideration than Hamlet. Psychoanalytic theorists have been interested in the psychological depth of Hamlet and have attempted to conceptualize him through a variety of different psychoanalytic perspectives, the most famous of which is Ernest Jones’s argument that Hamlet suffers from an Oedipal complex throughout the play that causes his seeming psychological problems. Psychoanalytic theorists have also “diagnosed” Hamlet with a range of psychological maladies and offered a range of different ways of conceptualizing Hamlet’s mental processes as well as those of the other characters in a story. Psychoanalytic theorists have also proposed numerous interpretations of the play through the perspective of Shakespeare’s own psychology, with some theorists suggesting that the play functions as an attempt—whether conscious or not —by Shakespeare’s to resolve the trauma of his father and/or son’s death.

25. Biographical What do these critics explore?
Concentrates on the author’s life experiences and how those may have influenced his/ her works.
Focus on the way authors apply and modify their own life experiences in their works can help readers understand the author.

26. Biographical Theory What questions do they ask?
What aspects of the author’s personal life are relevant to this story?
Which of the author’s stated beliefs are reflected in the work?
Does the writer challenge or support the values of his/ her contemporaries?
What seem to be the author’s major concerns? Do they reflect any of the writer’s personal experiences?
Do any of the events in the story correspond to events experienced by the author?
Do any of the characters in the story correspond to real people?

27. Biographical Theory What are the important ideas?
Understanding the author’s life helps the reader more thoroughly comprehend the literary work.
Does not simply describe the author’s life.
Interpret the work using insights provided by knowledge of the author’s life.
Distinguishing the author from the persona(s) he or she has created within the text.

28. Biographical Theory: May I have an example ?
Biographical Criticism of Lord of the Flies:
As a young boy, William Golding acted as a bully in his elementary school. He even confessed that he "enjoyed hurting people." This same drive to inflict pain upon others reflects itself in the majority of the "biguns" on the island. Golding also stated that he has "always enjoyed Nazis because I am of that sort of nature." Jack and his group of "hunters" share similar characteristics to the Nazis in the way they seize power and create a scapegoat. The "biguns" methods and thoughts of hurting others exhibit Golding's own thoughts. Mr. Carey, the author of William Golding: The Man Who Wrote Lord of the Flies, wrote that Golding "was scared of being alone in the night" as were the littluns. This fear creates the idea of the beast, the driving force for the boys to become even more savage and uncivilized. While growing up, Golding often mocked his father's view of rationalism, a belief that our world can be understood through reasoning. The character Piggy exemplifies this belief, while all other characters, at one point or another, become his foil. When the hunters murder the level- headed Piggy, Golding proves that basic human nature opposes the ideals of rationalism. In 1940, Golding joined the Royal Navy to fight for five years in WWII. He created both plot events and characters in Lord of the Flies that parallel the Holocaust. For example, Jack compares to Hitler in his seizure of power, promise of food and a better life, and his development of a scapegoat: the beast. These methods, in the quote, "I gave you food...and my hunters will protect you from the beast. Who will be in my tribe?" (150) succeed in drawing out the shadows of the boys on the island, until they are ruled by their drive to hunt and kill. After the war, Golding had two children, a boy and a girl. His son had a mental illness and his daughter also had troubles growing up. This fueled his lack of faith in humanity, "man produces evil, as a bee produces honey," even in something as pure as a child. This thought of an inner evil within us plays a vital role within his novel, as the children on the island possess sinful thoughts and plan corrupt plots.