The Concept of Literary Criticism Essay

Literary criticism is the science of analyzing works of literature. There are many ways, methods, and theories of literary criticism. Feminist literary criticism is focused on the analysis of texts from the feminist perspective. Feminist critics pay attention to the functions, words, and actions of women within the specific piece of literature. Psychoanalytical criticism, on the other side, is a criticism devoted to the in-depth analysis of psyche of the character. Psychoanalytical critics aim to understand the character’s motivations through reading between the lines. Finally, Formalism criticism is focused purely on the textual evidence without going beyond the information available in the piece of literary. Feminist, Psychoanalytical, and Formalism literary criticisms serve absolutely different functions; but each of these theories can be used to analyze literature effectively.

Feminist Literary Criticism

Feminist literary criticism is based on the feminist theory and broad politics of feminism. It is based on the analysis of words written by women authors. Feminist criticism is used to develop the theoretical framework in women’s and gender studies. There were several waves of feminist criticism theory development: firstly, the feminist criticism was concerned with the politics of women’s authorship within the literature; secondly, the broader gender studies were included.

The goals of feminist criticism can be defined as follows:

1. to analyze the female tradition of writing;
2. to dissect the symbolism of women’s writing in opposition to male point of view;
3. to analyze writings of female authors from female perspective;
4. to address sexism in creative writing;
5. to increase awareness of the sexual language.

One of the perfect examples of literature suitable for feminist literary criticism is “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen. This novel is suitable because it is written about by female author, the main character is female, and the story occurs in 18^th century. Thus, “Pride and Prejudice” can be successfully analyzed from feminist criticism perspective.

Feminist literary criticism is concerned with the issues of gender and sexism in literature. Analyzing the text with the help of feminist criticism, it is of primary importance to pay attention to the representation of women, the words used to describe women, men as well as general situations, the setting, the sociopolitical environment, etc. All of these factors should be analyzed in the light of female studies. For example, when a dialogue between a man and a woman is presented, it is important to look at women’s manner of speaking and the word choice of both men and women. The dialogues are especially interesting to analyze from historical feminist perspective because they may provide insight into gender relations.

Psychoanalytical Literary Criticism

Psychoanalytical literary criticism is closely related to the theory of psychoanalysis as developed by Sigmund Freud. Literary criticism of psychoanalysis is a rich interpretive tradition. From the perspective of psychoanalytical analysis, the text is seen as a dream which represses the real behind the content. In other words, the critics should look at the text as symbolic in essence as if it is not based on anything real. The analysis of the language is done to arrive at the specific thoughts and ideas on the text.

Psychoanalytical criticism explores the psyche or the mind of characters as well as the author. For example, “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare should be analyzed with the help of psychoanalytical criticism because the main character undergoes significant psychological challenges and makes many decisions requiring attentive consideration. The author is also considered as one of the main characters. In other words, the intentions of Shakespeare in presenting the specific character as it is are evaluated. It should be noted that psychoanalytical criticism is analytical and objective, even though literary criticism is subjective due to its interpretive nature.

Psychoanalytical criticism is formal analysis of the text. The language, the word choice, the actions of characters and even intentions are closely analyzed in the light of their rationality and motivations. Moreover, symbols are also taken into account. The interpretation of symbols allows making judgments about the motivations of the characters. Finally, symbols allow uncovering the themes behind the lines (the hidden messages or explanations).

Formalism Literary Criticism

Formalism is the critical approach to analysis, interpretation, and evaluation of the fundamental features of the piece of literature. Features under formalist analysis include grammar, syntax, meter, tropes and other literary devices. One of the main drawbacks of formalism criticism is ignorance of historical, cultural, and biographical context of the literature. In other words, the text is seen as an independent piece which is not affected by the time when it was written as well as by author’s biography.

Firstly, the formalism criticism is focused on the representation of fictional persons: antagonist, antihero, dynamic vs. flat, etc. Secondly, figures of speech are evaluated: irony, analogy, personification, symbolism, metaphors, etc. Thirdly, the plot is dissected using the following elements: climax, conflicts, foreshadowing, internal vs. external conflicts, etc. All of these elements are essential components of any piece of literature.

Unlike feministic and psychoanalytical approaches, formalism criticism covers only the formal elements of the literature without providing any analysis of issues or themes going beyond the text. In other words, formalism critics do not pay attention to the time when the literature was written or the intentions of the author. The piece of literature is taken as a product which is not affected by any other factor other than the text itself. From one side, formalism criticism is less valuable compared to feministic approach and psychoanalysis. From the other side, formalism criticism gives an opportunity to look at the piece of literature as pure writing. Thus, formalism approach allows taking an objective look at the text.

In conclusion, the overview of the Feminist, Psychoanalytical, and Formalism literary criticism theories suggests that Feminist and Psychoanalytical theories are more concerned with the symbolic analysis of the text. Feminist criticism, in particular, gives an incentive to look at the presentation of the female within the text and to create the link between the text and the time when it was written. Psychoanalytical criticism relates the author’s life to the characters, their actions and motivations. Formalism criticism, on the contrary, does not address issues that are not evident in the text. Each of these theories has its own pluses as well as minuses; however, any can be used for effective analysis of the literary writings.