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INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY CRITICISM

What is literary criticism?

Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of
literature.
“Criticism asks what literature is, what it does, and what it is worth."

Why do we have to analyze everything????

 Talking about experiences enhances our enjoyment of them
 Talking about experiences involves the search for meaning which
increases our understanding of them
 Because Socrates said so: "The life which is unexamined is not worth
living."

To further explain …
Literary criticism helps us to understand what is important about the text
 its structure
 its context: social, economic, historical
 what is written
 how the text manipulates the reader

Literary Lenses
 Formalist Criticism
 Moral-Philosophical Approach
 Historical and Biographical Criticism
 Feminist Criticism
 Marxist Criticism
 Archetypal Criticism
 Psychoanalytic Criticism

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Understanding the Map

 The work itself is placed in the center because all approaches must deal,
to some extent or another, with the text itself.
 Formalism and deconstruction are placed here also because they deal
primarily with the text and not with any of the outside considerations such
as author, the real world, audience, or other literature. Meaning, formalists
argue, is inherent in the text. Because meaning is determinant, all other
considerations are irrelevant.
 Deconstructionists also subject texts to careful, formal analysis; however,
they reach an opposite conclusion: there is no meaning in language.
 A historical approach relies heavily on the author and his world. In the
historical view, it is important to understand the author and his world in
order to understand his intent and to make sense of his work. In this view,
the work is informed by the author's beliefs, prejudices, time, and history,
and to fully understand the work, we must understand the author and his
age.
 An intertextual approach is concerned with comparing the work in
question to other literature, to get a broader picture.
 Reader-Response is concerned with how the work is viewed by the
audience. In this approach, the reader creates meaning, not the author
or the work.
 Mimetic criticism seeks to see how well a work accords with the real world
(is it accurate? correct? moral? ).
 Then, beyond the real world are approaches dealing with the spiritual
and the symbolic--the images connecting people throughout time and

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cultures (archetypes). This is mimetic in a sense too, but the congruency

looked for is not so much with the real world as with something beyond
the real world--something tying in all the worlds/times/cultures inhabited
by humans.
 The Psychological approach is placed outside these poles because it can
fit in many places, depending how it is applied:
(1) Historical if diagnosing the author himself
(2) Mimetic if considering if characters are acting by "real world"
standards and with recognizable psychological motivations
(3) Archetypal when the idea of the Jungian collective unconscious is
included
(4) Reader-Response when the psychology of the reader--why he sees
what he sees in the text--is examined.
 Likewise, Feminist, Minority, Marxist, and other such approaches may fit in:
(1) Historical if the author's attitudes are being examined in relation to his
times (i.e. was Shakespeare a feminist for his times, though he might not
be considered so today?)
(2) Mimetic--when asking how well characters accord with the real world.
Does a black character act like a black person would, or is he a
stereotype? Are women being portrayed accurately? Does the work show
a realistic economic picture of the world?

FORMALIST CRITICISM (NEW CRITICISM)

 “a unique form of human knowledge that needs to be examined on its
own terms.”
 All the elements necessary for understanding the work are contained
within the work itself.
 A primary goal for formalist critics is to determine how such elements work
together with the text’s content to shape its effects upon readers.

Elements of a Story
1. Plot - Structure of the story
 Linear plot – beginning, middle and end
 Nonlinear – In- medias res

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Freytag’s Pyramid

*Explication and Exegesis

2. Setting
- It is when and where the story takes place.

3. Characters
Types of Character

Protagonist
Antagonist
Dynamic Character
Static/Flat Character
Round Character
Foil Character
Confidante Character
4. Theme
- It is the central message
- What the author wants you to learn or to know
- A broad idea about life
- Usually not stated – must be inferred

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Elements of Poetry
• STANZA
These are a series of lines grouped together and separated by an empty
line from other stanzas. They are the equivalent of a paragraph in an essay. One
way to identify a stanza is to count the number of lines. Thus:
• couplet (2 lines)
• tercet (3 lines)
• quatrain (4 lines)
• cinquain (5 lines)
• sestet (6 lines) (sometimes it's called a sexain)
• septet (7 lines)
• octave (8 lines)

THEME
This is what the poem is all about. The theme of the poem is the central idea
that the poet wants to convey. It can be a story, or a thought, or a description of
something or someone; anything that the poem is about.

SYMBOLISM
Often poems will convey ideas and thoughts using symbols. A symbol can
stand for many things at one time and leads the reader out of a systematic and
structured method of looking at things. Often a symbol used in the poem will be
used to create such an effect.
Example: (Gabu)
The sea is restless and can be destructive
Sea = Life

SENSES AND IMAGES

These are used by the writer to describe their impressions of their topic or
object of writing.
• Visual Imagery
• Olfactory Imagery
• Gustatory Imagery
• Tactile Imagery
• Auditory Imagery

DICTION
It is the denotative and connotative meaning of the words in the sentence,
phrase, paragraph or poem.

RHYME
A poem may or may not have a rhyme. When you write poetry that has
rhyme, it means that the last words or sounds of the lines match with each other
in some form. Rhyme is basically similar sounding words like 'cat' and 'hat', 'close'

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and 'shows', 'house' and 'mouse', etc. Free verse poetry, though, does not follow
this system.

RHYME SCHEME
It is the way the author arranges words, meters, lines, and stanzas to create
a coherent sound when the poem is read out loud.
It is the pattern of rhyme form that ends a stanza or a poem. The rhyme is
designated by the assignment of a different letter of the alphabet to each rhyme.
As a continuation of rhyme, the rhyme scheme is also one of the basic
elements of poetry. In simple words, it is defined as the pattern of rhyme. Either
the last words of the first and second lines rhyme with each other, or the first and
the third, second and the fourth and so on. It is denoted by alphabets like aabb
(1st line rhyming with 2nd, 3rd with 4th); abab (1st with 3rd, 2nd with 4th); abba
(1st with 4th, 2nd with 3rd), etc.

Examples:
from To Helen by Edgar Allan Poe
Helen, thy beauty is to me A
Like those Nicéan barks of yore, B
That gently, o'er a perfumed sea, A
The weary, way-worn wanderer bore B
To his own native shore. B

Therefore, the RHYME SCHEME is ABABB.

from Gabu by Carlos Angeles

The battering restlessness of the sea A
Insists a tidal fury upon the beach B
At Gabu, and its pure consistency A
Havocs the wasteland hard within its reach. B

Therefore, the RHYME SCHEME is ABAB.

METER
It is the systematic regularity in rhythm; this systematic rhythm (or sound
pattern) is usually identified by examining the type of "foot" and the number of
feet.
1. Poetic Foot: The traditional line of metered poetry contains a number of
rhythmical units, which are called feet. The feet in a line are distinguished as a
recurring pattern of two or three syllables("apple" has 2 syllables, "banana" has 3
syllables, etc.). The pattern, or foot, is designated according to the number of
syllables contained, and the relationship in each foot between the strong and
weak syllables. Thus:

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__ = a stressed (or strong, or LOUD) syllable

U = an unstressed (or weak, or quiet) syllable
In other words, any line of poetry with a systematic rhythm has a certain
number of feet, and each foot has two or three syllables with a constant beat
pattern.
a. Iamb (Iambic): weak syllable followed by strong syllable. [Note that the
pattern is sometimes fairly hard to maintain, as in the third foot.]

b. Trochee (Trochaic): strong syllable followed by a weak syllable.

c. Anapest (Anapestic): two weak syllables followed by a strong syllable.

e.g.
In her room at the prow of the house
Where light breaks, and the windows are tossed...
From "The Writer", by Richard Wilbur

d. Dactyl (Dactylic): a strong syllable followed by two weak syllables.

2. The Number of Feet: The second part of meter is the number of feet contained
in a line.
Thus:
one foot=monometer
two feet=dimeter
three feet=trimeter
four feet=tetrameter
five feet=pentameter

Poems with an identifiable meter are therefore identified by the type of feet (e.g.
iambic) and the number of feet in a line (e.g. pentameter). The following line is

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iambic pentameter because it (1) has five feet [pentameter], and (2) each foot
has two syllables with the stress on the second syllable [iambic].
That time | of year | thou mayst | in me | behold

Thus, you will hear meter identified as iambic pentameter, trochaic tetrameter,
and so on.

3. Blank Verse: Any poetry that does have a set metrical pattern (usually iambic
pentameter), but does not have rhyme, is blank verse. Shakespeare frequently
used unrhymed iambic pentameter in his plays; his works are an early example of
blank verse.

4. Free Verse: Most modern poetry no longer follows strict rules of meter or rhyme,
especially throughout an entire poem. Free verse, frankly, has no rules about
meter or rhyme whatsoever! [In other words, blank verse has rhythm,
but no rhyme, while free verse has neither rhythm nor rhyme.] So, you may find it
difficult to find regular iambic pentameter in a modern poem, though you might
find it in particular lines. Modern poets do like to throw in the occasional line or
phrase of metered poetry, particularly if they’re trying to create a certain effect.
Free verse can also apply to a lack of a formal verse structure.

HISTORICAL-BIOGRAPHICAL APPROACH

HISTORICAL APPROACH
Historical criticism seeks to understand a literary work by investigating the
social, cultural, and intellectual context that produced it.
Historical critics are less concerned with explaining a work’s literary
significance for today’s readers than with helping us understand the work by
recreating, as nearly as possible, the exact meaning and impact it had on its
original audience.

Example
Noli Me Tangere by Dr. Jose Rizal
It was clearly depicted in the story how Filipinos were treated by the
Spanish people during that time.
In the course of their stay in the country, Filipinos suffered to the point
of violating their human rights and freedom in their own country.

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BIOGRAPHICAL APPROACH
Biographical criticism begins with the simple but central insight that
literature is written by actual people and that understanding an author’s life can
help readers more thoroughly comprehend the work.
Anyone who reads the biography of a writer quickly sees how much an
author’s experience shapes—both directly and indirectly—what he or she
creates.
Reading that biography will also change (and usually deepen) our
response to the work.
Caution:
Some authors don’t disclose their lives and tend to provide different facts
that can destruct or ruin a text.

Example
This is My Letter to the World by Emily Dickinson
THIS is my letter to the world,
That never wrote to me,—
The simple news that Nature told,
With tender majesty.

Her message is committed

To hands I cannot see;
For love of her, sweet countrymen,
Judge tenderly of me!

Emily Dickinson- Among several poets writing in English in the nineteenth

and twentieth centuries, Emily Dickinson is believed to present the most
authentic cognitive difficulties in her poetry. Dickinson is said to have within
her the flair and qualities of inventiveness, acquiring mastery in trope and
craft, with an originality in her thoughts like Shakespeare and Freud. Emily
Dickinson wrote most of her poems in the Dickinson Homestead on Main
Street in Amherst, Massachusetts, a place where she was born in
December 1830, and lived in virtual seclusion as an adult, and in May 1886,
died. Dickinson never published her poems by her own, and therefore they
may be seen as a private genre – her poetry can be said to be the replica
of letters, that which she used as a means to communicate her personal
thoughts with individuals. Dickinson composed over 1770 poems, but no
one around had a clue that she was writing.

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MORAL-PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACH
Moral / philosophical critics believe that the larger purpose of literature is to teach
morality and to probe philosophical issues.

TENETS OF THE MORAL-PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACH

 Investigates the effects literature has on readers as moral beings based on
what improves and enriches human lives.
 Concerned with human character and behavior.
 Looks at texts as combinations of various moral qualities.
 Questions how literature is influenced by plot, character, ideas and style.
 Views the work through a particular philosophy or discerns a work in the
“philosophy” on which it is based.
 Looks at how the work influenced or was influenced by the ideas of the
time.
 Views the ideas in a work in relation to ideas found elsewhere.

TYPES OF MORAL-PHILOSOPHICAL CRITICISMS

1. THE UTILITARIAN APPROACH

Utilitarianism was conceived in the 19th century by Jeremy Bentham
and John Stuart Mill to help legislators determine which laws were morally
best. Both Bentham and Mill suggested that ethical actions are those that
provide the greatest balance of good over evil.
2. THE COMMON-GOOD APPROACH
This approach assumes a society comprising individuals whose own
good is inextricably linked to the good of the community. Community
members are bound by the pursuit of common values and goals.
In this approach, we focus on ensuring that the social policies, social
systems, institutions, and environments on which we depend are beneficial
to all. Examples of goods common to all include affordable health care,
effective public safety, peace among nations, a just legal system, and an
unpolluted environment.

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3. THE VIRTUE APPROACH

The virtue approach assumes that there are certain ideals toward
which we should strive, which provide for the full development of our
humanity. These ideals are discovered through thoughtful reflection on
what kind of people we have the potential to become.
Virtues are attitudes or character traits that enable us to be and to
act in ways that develop our highest potential. They enable us to pursue
the ideals we have adopted. Honesty, courage, compassion, generosity,
fidelity, integrity, fairness, self-control, and prudence are all examples of
virtues.
4. RELIGIOUS HUMANISM APPROACH
It is advocating the self- fulfillment of man within the framework of
Christian principles.
Most human beings have personal and social needs that can only
be met by religion.
5. THE RIGHTS APPROACH OR KANTIANISM
The second important approach has its roots in the philosophy of
the 18th-century thinker Immanuel Kant and others like him, who focused
on the individual's right to choose for herself or himself. According to these
philosophers, what makes human beings different from mere things is that
people have dignity based on their ability to choose freely what they will
do with their lives, and they have a fundamental moral right to have these
choices respected. People are not objects to be manipulated; it is a
violation of human dignity to use people in ways they do not freely
choose.

6. THE FAIRNESS OR JUSTICE APPROACH

The fairness or justice approach has its roots in the teachings of the
ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, who said that "equals should be treated
equally and unequals unequally." The basic moral question in this approach is:
How fair is an action? Does it treat everyone in the same way, or does it show
favoritism and discrimination?

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Favoritism gives benefits to some people without a justifiable reason for

singling them out; discrimination imposes burdens on people who are no
different from those on whom burdens are not imposed. Both favoritism and
discrimination are unjust and wrong.
7. HEDONISM APPROACH
Hedonism holds that it is an essential aspect of human nature to seek
pleasure and avoid pain; human beings cannot act in any other way. A
human being will always act in a way that, to his understanding, will
produce what he perceives as the greatest pleasure, or protect him from
undesirable pain.
8. HUMANISM APPROACH
Good literature is of timeless significance; it somehow transcends the
limitation and peculiarities of the age it is written in, and thereby speaks to
what is constant in human nature.
In other words, literature is timeless and speaks to what is constant in
human nature, meaning that while some novels and short stories seem set
in the current time period, it must still contain a ‘universal truth’ or constant.

Example
The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe
● Humanism Approach was seen in the most prominent idea running
through this story and that is revenge. It plays on the notion of many
people’s way of jumping into things, and not thinking of the
consequences beforehand.
● While Fortunato is obviously a boorish person who doesn’t realize what
he is doing. There is overtone of cruelty in his words which reveals his
personality. Other people may not show that we have offended them
by some thoughtless comment, but they remember some such
impudence for a lifetime. Montresor is a perfect example of how a
person might remember some insensitiveness for years, but he is also
just a perfect example of human nature.
● Hedonism Approach was seen in the part when Montresor wants the
perfect revenge against Fortunato. He had to kill him to make him feel
better for “the thousand injuries” Montresor feels Fortunato has done
to him.

FEMINISM APPROACH
It is concerned with women’s role portrayed in the society as portrayed
through text.
Feminist criticism focuses on how literature has represented women and
relationships between women and men, drawing attention to how women have
been marginalized and denied a voice of their own in literature.

BEFORE:

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Aristotle
• “The man is by nature superior, and the female inferior; and the one rules
and the other is ruled.” Darwin (The Descent of Man – 1871)
• “Women are of a characteristic of … a past and lower state of civilization.”
• Are inferior to men, who are physically, intellectually, and artistically superior
Religious leaders
Thomas Aquinas
• women were merely “imperfect men”
• Spiritually weak creatures
• Possessed a sensual nature that lures men away from spiritual truths, thereby
preventing males from attaining their spiritual potential.

NOW:
Mary Wollstonecraft• A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792)
• Have an equal education
“How can a rational being be ennobled by anything that is not obtained
by its own exertions?”
• To be treated as equal partners not as ornamental wives
“Women are systematically degraded by receiving the trivial attentions
which men think it manly to pay to the sex, when, in fact, men are insultingly
supporting their own superiority”

Virginia Woolf• A Room of One’s Own (1929)

• Women’s need for economic and social freedom
“A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write
fiction”
“It would have been impossible, completely and entirely, for any woman
to have written the plays of Shakespeare in the age of Shakespeare”
• Forego the traditional role as a mirror for man’s ability
"Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses possessing the
magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of a man at twice its natural
size."

What feminism does

• rediscovers texts written by women
• revalues women’s experience
• examines representations of women in literature
• challenges the view of woman as “other”
• examines and challenges patriarchal roles
• examines language as a tool of gender construction
• discusses social versus biological difference

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Example
A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner
 In “A Rose for Emily”, Faulkner presents the South as an area powerfully
traditional, family-centered and with a clearly defined social roles. At
the beginning of the 20th century women in the South were
discriminated as well as docile to men. It was the man, most often, the
father who had a dominant power, who was intolerant of any
opposition. Miss Emily is a figure who lives in the shadow of her father.
The honor she maintains is rooted in her family name and her sense of
propriety.
 Certainly, Emily lives under the patriarchy of her father. After her father’s
death, still so attached has she become to her father, Emily refuses to
bury her father, standing in a black dress with his
...thin gold chain descending to her waist…the invisible watch
ticking at the end of the gold chain…

MARXISM

Who started it?

He was a 19th century German philosopher that became a part of the
Young Hegelians, and later, the Communist League. Marx is revered as one of the
most influential socialist thinkers of the 19th century.

Some of his most notable works are:

• The German Ideology (1846)
• The Communist Manifesto (1848)
• Das Kapital (1867)

But we can’t have Marx without... Engels was pretty much Marx’s best
friend. He shared Marx’s socialist beliefs and provided support financially as well
as intellectually while Marx developed his theories.

Some of his major works were:

• The Condition of the Working Class in England (1844)
• Co-authored the Communist Manifesto (1848)

Engels and Marx founded the social and economic system of Marxism in the
19th century. Essentially, it is the opposite of capitalism. ** Proletariat Capitalist
Capitalism is based on private ownership and motivation by profit. Marx
criticizes capitalism for its tendency to abuse the working man, or “the
proletariat,” by paying a wage that barely guarantees the workers’ survival.

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What is Marxism in literature?

It is the belief that literature reflects this class struggle and materialism.
It looks at how literature functions in relation to other aspects of the
superstructure, particularly other articulations of ideology.
Like feminist critics, it investigates how literature can work as a force for
social change, or as a reaffirmation of existing conditions

 It promotes the idea that literature should be a tool in the revolutionary

struggle.
 It attempts to clarify the relationship of literary work to social reality. It is
political in nature.
 It aims to arrive at an interpretation of literary text in order to define the
political dimensions of literary work.
 It believes that the literary work has ALWAYS a relationship to the society.
 It judges literature by how it represents the main struggles for power going
on that time, how it may influence those struggles.

What to do?
 The Introduction-Tell the ideology and how it is related to Marxist
principles.
 The Body - It will depend on the style of the critic - Reveal, in detailed
points, the proofs of having inequality, oppression, and control of wealth.
 The Conclusion - Endorse that lower class be given chance to access
equal wealth and power. - It may be a suggestion of social reform ASAP. -
You may tell the impact of Marxist principles into your life as a critic.

Questions in Mind
1) What is the economic status of the characters?

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2) What happens to them as a result of this status?

3) How do they fare against economic and political odds?
4) What other conditions stemming from their class does the writer
emphasize?
5) To what extent does the work fail by overlooking the economic, social,
and political implications of its material?
6) How should the readers consider this story in today’s developed or
underdeveloped world?

Example
The World is an Apple by Alberto Florentino
The World is an Apple is a clear example of a Marxist literature. We can
see different ideologies and class systems that affect human behavior.
Injustice is evident in the text, just by stealing a single apple, Mario was fired
out of his work. This points me to Economic Power. The company where Mario
worked was just waiting for him to make mistakes.
In this way they can throw men out without any reason and replace
them with men whom they know or whom they want. This shows how status
and power works in our society. Mario can’t even complain because whatever
he does these people who have the authority will always win.
Poverty is the main reason why Mario considers stealing as an option to make
money. Manipulation of Pablo is also a factor that affects Mario’s decisions.
The text somehow invites us to condemn and criticize socio-economic forces.
It tries to open our eyes in the reality that the poor have nothing to say
because they are forced to be submissive with those who are in power.

PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH

Sigmund Freud
He was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical
method for treating psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and
a psychoanalyst.

Psyche
- the human soul, mind, or spirit.

Psychoanalytical Criticism
• Psychoanalytical criticism is a type of criticism that uses theories of
psychology to analyze literature. It focuses on the author’s state of mind
or the state of the mind of fictional characters.

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The Freudian Mind

• The conscious mind is the part of the mind that interacts with the outside
world. It is the decisions we make and the actual thinking we do.
• The unconscious mind is made up of the impulses and instincts that
dictate our behavior without us knowing about it.

Three Parts of the Mind

1. ID (instincts)
- We normally associate inborn instincts (such as the behaviors of an infant
or an animal) with the ID.
- It includes basic human needs, instinctual drives such as sex, hunger or
aggressiveness.
- It is based on pleasure principle to avoid pain or displeasure and to
obtain pleasure.
2. EGO (reality)
- It seeks to placate the id, but in a way that will ensure long term benefits
(such as trying to get what the id wants without breaking laws or social
standards).
- Ensure that the ID wants is acceptable in the reality world.
- Logical and conscious aspect of the personality.
- It is based on reality principle.
3. SUPEREGO (morality)
- It is like a conscience, it punishes misbehavior with feelings of guilt.
- Moral aspect of the personality
- Learned rights and wrongs that control you
- Since the super-ego is concerned with societal norms, it is based on
morality principle.

Conflicts of the Personality

 Slips of tongue (“Freudian slip”)  Anxiety
 Dreams  Defense Mechanisms
 Jokes
Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism
- It argues that literary texts, like dreams, express the secret unconscious
desires and anxieties of the author or the character.
- This critical endeavor seeks evidence of unresolved emotions,
psychological conflicts, guilt, ambivalences, and so forth within the
author’s literary work.
- The author's own childhood traumas, family life, sexual conflicts, fixations,
and such will be traceable within the behavior of the characters in the
literary work.

2 WAYS TO FOCUS
 Author

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 Characters

HOW?
 Use psychological theories
 Ask psychological questions
PSYCHOLOGICAL QUESTIONS
1. Why do the characters react the way they do?
2. What causes characters to mature in the book?
3. How have the characters’ lives and backgrounds influenced their
actions?
4. What fears and nervous ticks do characters have? Why?
5. What kind of personalities do they have? Why?

Example
A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner
 Necrophilia is an abnormal fondness for being in the presence of dead
bodies. In the story, the townspeople came into the room decorated like
a bridal or honeymoon room. They looked around and saw a decomposed
body in the bed and beside it is the indentation of a head and a long
strand of “iron-gray hair”. Since Emily’s hair did not become gray, until after
the disappearance of Homer Baron, the implication is that she killed Homer
and then slept in the corpse. It seems she wanted only to keep Homer’s
body to keep up the pretense in her mind that they were married.
 His overly oppressive behavior was a result of the superego that dominated
his psyche and made him prefer isolating his daughter from member of the
opposite sex as the society expected that being a Grierson she had to
remain chaste and marry someone of her own class as the family tradition
dictates. It brought about sexual repression in here because she was never
let to date any man, she kept repressing her sexual desires in her
unconscious and it affected her personality severely. These hidden
unfulfilled desires hurt anger and frustration become part of her id as she
grows up.

ARCHETYPAL APPROACH

Archetype is a concept introduced by the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung,

who believed that archetypes were models of people, behaviors, or
personalities.

• In literature, an archetype is a typical character, an action, or a situation

that seems to represent universal patterns of human nature.

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21ST CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD

• An archetype, also known as “universal symbol,” may be a character,

a theme, a symbol, or even a setting. Many literary critics are of the
opinion that archetypes – which have a common and recurring
representation in a particular human culture, or entire human race –
shape the structure and function of a literary work.
• The use of archetypical characters and situations gives a literary work a
universal acceptance, as readers identify the characters and situations in
their social and cultural context.
• By using common archetypes, writers attempt to impart realism to their
works, as the situations and characters are drawn from the experiences of
the world.
Archetype Examples
• The Hero
He or she is a character who predominantly exhibits goodness, and struggles
against evil in order to restore harmony and justice to society.
• The Mother Figure
Such a character may be represented as a Fairy God Mother, who guides and
directs a child, Mother Earth, who contacts people and offers spiritual and
emotional nourishment, or a Stepmother who treats their stepchildren poorly.
• The Innocent Youth
He or she is inexperienced, with many weaknesses, and seeks safety with
others. Others like him or her because of the trust he or she shows in other
people.
• The Mentor
His or her task is to protect the main character. It is through the wise advice and
training of a mentor that the main character achieves success in the world.
• The Doppelganger
It is a duplicate or shadow of a character, which represents the evil side of his
personality.
• The Scapegoat
A character that takes the blame for everything bad that happens.
• The Villain
A character whose main function is to go to any extent to oppose the hero, or
whom the hero must annihilate in order to bring justice.
• The Journey
The main character takes a journey, which may be physical or emotional, to
understand his or her personality, and the nature of the world.
• The Initiation
The main character undergoes experiences that lead him towards maturity.
• Good Versus Evil
It represents the clash of forces that represent goodness with those that
represent evil.
• The Fall
The main character falls from grace in consequence of his or her own actions.

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21ST CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD

Example
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
 Hero. Santiago struggled from being a fortunate to an unfortunate
fisherman but was able to regain his dignity in the end.
 Villain. The sharks opposed Santiago in pursuing for the meat of the marlin.
 The Journey. It happened when Santiago decided to fish farther than his
normal distance to be able to fish successfully.

LITERARY CRITICISM 22