Name ________________________
Date __________________
Literary Criticism: A Primer
A Brief history of Your Reading Experience
If you are like most students, your English class experience was something similar to the
following: First, you learned to recognize that certain symbols, known as letters, represent
sounds. Then, you began to blend the sounds together to make words. Words, which contain
meaning in and of themselves, gave way to sentences. And sentences produced even more
complex meaning that it was your duty to comprehend. As a reader, you became more adept at
extracting meaning from longer and longer texts; you went beyond comprehension to
interpretation and analysis. The texts that enable complex interpretation and analysis are what
we refer to as literature. But what is next in the English classroom?
You stand at the threshold of a new way of looking at literature.
A Brave New Literary World
Interpretation of a text does not always have to do with what you think. Often, what the
author is doing with the text—the techniques the author uses to communicate effectively—is
independent of what you think. In other words—and here’s the big shift in thinking—your
opinion doesn’t necessarily matter when interpreting a text. What matters is your logical and
contextualized interpretation of the text itself. Over time, your reading has shifted from a
basic understanding of the meaning of the words on a page to an interpretation of ideas,
symbols and themes.
Always be on the lookout for symbols and themes and ideas, bring your own interpretation to
the text, but read the text for what it is not what you want to read. There are two main
reasons that I want to introduce you to literary criticism. First, as your understanding and
interpretations of texts becomes increasingly sophisticated, I want to add some tools to your
arsenal of interpretation. Next, I want you to get in the habit of seeing texts from points of
view apart from your own. This will enable you to enhance your understanding of the text and
draw increasingly sophisticated ideas and lessons from a text.
Literary Criticism: The Schools
There are many “schools” of literary criticism. Below is a brief menu of some of the most
popular
Literary Criticism: The Schools
Moral/Philosophical – In this school of criticism, scholars view the primary reason for a work of
art is to teach morality and to probe philosophical ideas. What moral lessons can we learn, for
instance, from the “plotting” and “destructive” characters in A Doll’s House? What is Ibsen
saying about the “morality” of Victorian Norway in this text? Example text from another class:
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Historical/Biographical – In this school of criticism, scholars view the text largely as a
reflection of the author’s life and times. Using this type of interpretation, A Doll’s House would
be viewed as a way of looking at Victorian Norway. Any historical/biographical interpretation of
A Doll’s House would require prior knowledge about the Victorian era and, specifically, Norway,
at that time. Example text from another class: ____________________________________
Gender - This school of criticism is primarily concerned with the role that gender plays in the
ideas and characters of literature. This school of thought is often political and begins with a
critique of the traditionally dominant role of men in society. In A Doll’s House, gender scholars
might analyze the limited options Nora has when she leaves Torvald. They might also look at the
different social roles of the various women in the story like the maid and Mrs. Linde. Example
text from another class: ____________________________________________________
Marxist – The critics in this school of criticism apply Karl Marx’s ideas of economic theory to a
text particularly the social forces—particularly wealth distribution and class conflicts—that
shape a people and culture. Marxists think that class systems are an unfair economic structure
that breed inequality. Marxist critics might interpret Torvald as a symbol of all that is wrong
with Norway’s Victorian class system and his fate could be interpreted as the fate of all men
unwilling to accept women as equals. Example text from another class: __________________
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Psychological – Critics in this school of thought interpret the actions of characters in a novel as
a result of their complex psychological motivations. The famous psychoanalysis Freud used
Oedipus as a primary example of a character acting out basic psychological urges. Critics in this
school would interpret Nora’s drive to provide for Torvald and keep the secret from him as a
way to make up for her own father’s moral judgement problems. Example text from another
class: ___________________________________________________________________
Archetypal-An archetypal approach to literature assumes that there is a collection of symbols,
images, characters, and motifs (i.e. archetypes) that evokes basically the same response in all
people. According to the psychologist Carl Jung, mankind possesses a "collective unconscious"
that contains these archetypes and that is common to all of humanity. Archetypal critics
identify these archetypal patterns and discuss how they function in the works. An archetypal
analysis of A Doll’s House could examine Nora’s character growth as it follows the hero cycle.
Archetypal critics might debate whether she’s a tragic hero or a triumphant one. Example text
from another class: ________________________________________________________