Core Humanities – Critical Approaches
(M.A. English – Core Humanities)
What you’ll get out of these notes
- A plain‑English definition of “critical approach.”
- A concise map of the main traditions (formalism, structuralism, etc.).
- One worked example that shows how to read a text through a chosen lens.
- A quick‑revision cheat sheet for exam or essay prep.
1. Simple Explanation
| Term | What it Means | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Critical Approach | A set of tools (theory, method, perspective) that a scholar uses to interpret a text. | It turns a surface reading into a deep, systematic analysis that uncovers hidden meanings, power dynamics, and cultural contexts. |
| Film/Article/Essay | The object of study. | The lens you choose shapes what you notice and what you ignore. |
| Theorist | A thinker who develops a particular approach (e.g., Marx, Freud). | Their theories anchor the method and give you a vocabulary to argue your points. |
Bottom line: Every critical approach gives you a filter that highlights certain aspects of a text while down‑playing others.
2. Key Points – Major Critical Approaches
| Approach | Core Ideas | Representative Theorists | Typical Methodology | Typical Textual Features Examined |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formalism / New Criticism | Focus on structure (form, style, diction) as the sole source of meaning. | Cleanth Brooks, John Crowe Ransom | Close reading of language, imagery, meter, etc. | Poetic devices, syntax, imagery |
| Structuralism | Texts are systems of signs organized by underlying structures. | Claude Lévi‑Strauss, Roland Barthes | Identifying binary oppositions, narrative functions. | Archetypes, mythic patterns |
| Post‑Structuralism / Deconstruction | Language is unstable; meaning is contingent, multiple. | Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault | Deconstructing binary oppositions, tracing contradictions. | Paradox, double meanings |
| Marxist Criticism | Power, class, economic relations shape texts. | Karl Marx, Louis Althusser, Raymond Williams | Class analysis, ideology critique. | Social hierarchy, labor, commodification |
| Feminist Criticism | Gender, patriarchy, representation. | Judith Butler, Simone de Beauvoir, bell hooks | Gender‑role analysis, intersectionality. | Gendered language, body politics |
| Psychoanalytic Criticism | Unconscious motives, desire, repression. | Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan | Reading symbols, dreams, Oedipus complex. | Symbols, archetypal figures |
| Reader‑Response | Meaning is co‑constructed by reader & text. | Stanley Fish, Wolfgang Iser | Focus on gaps, expectations, interpretive communities. | Reader’s preconceptions, textual gaps |
| Post‑colonial Criticism | Colonialism, imperialism, cultural hybridity. | Edward Said, Homi Bhabha, Gayatri Spivak | Decolonial readings, Otherness. | Representation of colonized peoples |
| New Historicism | Texts are products of historical contexts. | Stephen Greenblatt | Contextualizing cultural, political, social milieu. | Historical references, patronage |
| Ecocriticism | Literary representation of nature & environment. | Lawrence Buell | Environmental reading, nature‑human relations. | Nature imagery, environmental ethics |
Quick note: Often scholars blend approaches (e.g., Marxist‑feminist). The choice depends on the question you want to ask.
3. Worked Example
Text – “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (T.S. Eliot, 1915)
Approach – Marxist Criticism
Step 1: Identify the Question
How does Prufrock’s position in capitalist modernity shape his self‑image and actions?
Step 2: Gather Marxist Concepts
- Class Position: Prufrock is a bourgeois professional—educated, middle‑class, but economically insecure.
- Ideology: The poem reflects the ideological alienation of the working class and middle class.
- Commodity Fetishism: Prufrock’s fixation on “the yellow fog” and “the windows” reflects commodified urban life.
Step 3: Close Reading with Marxist Lens
| Line (excerpt) | Marxist Reading |
|---|---|
| “Let us go… and let us…” | A call for collective action that is thwarted by individual anxiety—reflecting the fragmentation of capitalist society. |
| “I have heard the mermaids singing… but I have no part of the chorus. | The alienation of the individual from collective joy; the lack of participation in productive labor. |
| “The blood of the old men… is the blood of the old men.” | The repetition of the same capitalist labor pattern; no social mobility. |
| “I have measured out my life in the measure of a piece of paper… and the page is one of them.” | The commodification of time—life measured in monetary terms (wage labor). |
Step 4: Synthesize Findings
- Prufrock’s self‑delusion mirrors the ideological state apparatus of capitalism, which convinces individuals that they have agency when they actually lack it.
- The poem critiques class stagnation and the alienation of the bourgeoisie from authentic community.
Step 5: Write Your Argument
*In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” T.S