Critical Approaches to Literary Analysis
Info from: Writing About Literature by Edgar V. Roberts
Moral/Intellectual - concerned with content and values. The concern in moral/intellectual
criticism is not only to discover meaning but also to determine whether works of literature are
both true and significant. Ideas, lessons, messages- does it help readers lead better lives and
improve their understanding of the world?
Caution- the belief that “message hunting” reduces a work’s artistic value
Topical/Historical - stresses the relationship of literature to its historical time period. This
approach investigates relationships - an integration of knowledge and interpretation in regards to
relevance.
Caution- in the extreme it can deal with background info rather than the literature itself
New Critical/Formalist - focuses on literary texts as formal works of art. Emphasis is placed
on examination and explanation - point of view, tone, plot, character analysis, structure. It
provides readers with explanation of the content of the work but also with the insights needed for
evaluating the artistic quality - content and form. Each work takes on its own existence and
identity and the critic’s work is to discover a reading without excluding the validity of multiple
readings of the same work.
Caution - may ignore relevant knowledge that history or biography can bring
Structuralist - attempts to discover the forms unifying all literature. The concern is on finding
relationships and connections. Looks for patterns - protagonists, genres, themes, linguistics,
archetypes, etc...
Caution - may have too broad of a focus
Feminist - holds that most of our literature presents a masculine-patriarchal view in which the
role of women is negated or at best minimized. It seeks to raise consciousness about the
importance and unique nature of women in literature.
Economic Determinist/Marxist - features individuals in the grips of the class struggle.
Psychological/Psychoanalytic - aims to understand a character, to explain fictional characters
and their behavior. It can also be used to analyze an author’s intentions - interpretation.
Motives, purpose, psychological condition.
Archetypal/Symbolic/Mythic - presupposes that human life is built up out of patterns that are
similar throughout various cultures and historical times. It stresses the connections that may be
discovered in literature written in different times and in vastly different locations in the world.
Universal human consciousness, compare/contrast.
Deconstructionist - (they prefer performance rather than approach)stresses ambiguity and
contradiction. It assumes that there is no central truth because circumstances and time, which are
changeable and sometimes arbitrary, govern the world of the intellect. This analysis leads to the
declaration “All interpretation is misinterpretation.” Multiple interpretations- each with their own
validity. Nothing is definite and therefore, everything is vague.
Reader-Response - deals with the understanding of how things appear. Reality is not to be
found in the external world itself but rather in our perception of the world - actual knowledge is
our collective and personal understanding of the world and conclusions about it. The reader is a
necessary third party in the author-text-reader relationship - personal yet aims to develop skill.
Character
develop a central trait or major characteristic
explain a character’s growth or change
organize the essay around central actions, objects, or quotations that reveal characteristics
From this information we get a full picture of Minnie, who has changed from passivity to destructive assertiveness.
Her change in character is indicated by her clothing, her dead canary, and her unfinished patchwork quilt.
Point of View
explain how point of view determines aspects such as situation, form, content, and
language
Ambroce Bierce’s control over point of view in “Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is essential to his success in
showing the human mental capacity to register an immense length of perceived time and action in no more than an
instant of real time. Bierce brings this idea to life by using a narrative in the dramatic point of view as the frame of
a narrative in the third-person limited omniscient point of view.
Plot and Structure
determine conflict (impulses, goals, values, issues, historical perspectives)
form- explain why things are the way the are
On one side is justice and on the other injustice. This opposition can be analyzed according to the characters on
each side.
Hardy controls the structure to develop this opposition, which embodies the idea that the letter of the law is
insignificant when compared with the spirit of the law. Hardy develops his conflict and brings out his idea by
showing the lives of his country people positively, by portraying his Hangman negatively, and by creating suspense
about his first stranger, who is the legally condemned “criminal.”
Setting
explain how the natural, manufactured, political, cultural and temporal environment
impacts meaning
In “Masque of the Red Death,” Poe uses details of setting to create an eerie atmosphere. The prevailing eerie
mood is brought out through Poe’s use of graphic description, geographical direction, evocative color, and
sepulchral sound.
Idea or Theme
values, ideas, actions, situations- meaning
One of the play’s major ideas is that love and desire are powerful enough to overcome even the strongest obstacles.
This idea is shown as the force of love conquers commitment to the dead, renunciation of womankind,
unfamiliarity, and anger.
Tone
the way attitude or feeling is revealed
towards material, towards readers, between characters
show how the author establishes the dominant moods of the work
There are many ironies in the story, which grow out of error, misunderstanding, incorrect expectations, and a
certain degree of pompous pride. The story contains a rich mixture of situational, cosmic, and dramatic irony.