LITERARY

CRITICISMS
What is Literary Criticism

The art or practice of JUDGING and

commenting on the qualities and
character of literary works.
It is the comparison, analysis,
interpretation, and/or evaluation of
works of literature.
 STRUCTURALISM

Considered language as a system of signs

and signification, the elements of which are
understandable only in relation to each
other and to the system.
 STRUCTURALISM

Structuralist critics analyzed material by

examining underlying principles and
structures, such as characterization of plot,
and attempted concept to show how
patterns were universal and could be used
to develop general conclusion.
 STRUCTURALISM

In structuralism, an analyst shall focus on the following

aspects of the text:
1. Plot/Theme
2. Grammar
3. Number of stanzas/lines
4. Tone and mood
5. Rhyming scheme
 FEMINISM

Feminist literature is fiction, non-fiction,

drama or poetry which supports the feminist
goals of defining, establishing and defending
equal civil or equality of the sexes, political,
economic and social rights for women.
 FEMINISM

It aims to establish that women are not

inferior to men, thus the language used in
feminist’s texts lack the ego and pride of a
male written text usually have.
 BIOGRAPHIC

Analyzes a writer’s background or biography

to show the relationship between the
authors’ life and their literary works.
 BIOGRAPHIC

A critical method that “sees a literary work

chiefly, if not exclusively, as a reflection of its
author’s life and times”.
 MARXISM

From Karl Marx’s theory about history and

society, Marxist Criticism views literary works
as reflections of the social institutions from
which they originate.
 READER’S RESPONSE

Focuses on the readers’ (or “audience”)

perspective in terms of experience and
realizations in reading a literary work.
In contrast to other theories that primarily
focuses on the author or the content and
form of the work.
 READER’S RESPONSE

Reader-response theory recognizes the

reader as an active agent who imparts “real
existence” to the work and completes its
meaning through interpretation.
 GENDER CRITICISM

Gender criticism examines how sexual identity

influences the creation, interpretation, and
evaluation of literary works. (Kennedy, 2017)
Greatly influences the way society views gender
differences. Therefore it examines how an author
may have influenced gender perception through
a work of literature.
 GENDER CRITICISM

Began in 1960s when feminist criticism arose.

Difference between feminist and gender criticism
is sex and sexuality. Gender criticism is based on
common conceptions of gender.
 GENDER CRITICISM

PURPOSE:
 To criticize gender as we commonly conceive it.

ESSENTIALISM
 Concentrates in the differences between men and women and
their bodies.
CONSTRUCTIONISM
 Concentrates in the differences being related to nurture not
nature.
MLA FORMAT