Understanding Frankenstein Through Literary Criticism

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UnderstandingFrankensteinThrough Literary
Criticism

• Meaning Changes with Personal Bias

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A Critic

• One who expresses a reasoned opinion on any
  matter especially involving judgment of its
  value, truth, righteousness, beauty, or
  technique.

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A Literary Critic

• The evaluative or interpretive work written by
  professional interpreters of texts
• Criticism not because it is negative, but
  because it asks hard, analytical, crucial, or
  critical questions about the work

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A Literary Critics Approach

• Uses Literary Theory to guide the analysis and
  interpretation of the work
• Literary Theory has five basic points of view
• The real world as it connects to the work
• The authors life and times as influencing the
  work
• The moral implications of the work
• The structure of the work itself
• The relationship of the work to earlier works

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In other words

• Critics use different lenses use to view and talk
  about art, literature, and even culture which
• consider works of art based on certain
  assumptions within a school of theory
• focus on particular aspects of a work they
  consider important to the meaning as a whole

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What are the types of Literary Criticism?
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In short

• Lit. Crit. helps the reader
• Resolve a question, problem, difficulty in the
  reading
• Decide which is the more accurate of conflicting
  readings
• Form judgments on the artistic merit of a work

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Which Lenses We Will Use Today

• Psychoanalytic
• Feminist
• Post Colonial
• Archetypal / Symbolic

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The Theories in BriefPsychoanalytic

• The psychological motivation of characters and
  imagery
• Freud influences of a characters id
  (instincts, pleasure seeking) ego (What you
  consciously want), and superego (the moral
  governing principle that keeps the ID and Ego in
  check its consequences and repercussions.)
• Jung the process of individuation (what makes
  one different form everyone else). Three parts of
  the self the shadow, or the darker, unconscious
  self the persona, or a man's social personality
  and the anima, or a man's "soul image.  A
  neurosis occurs when someone fails to assimilate
  one of these unconscious components into his
  conscious and projects it on someone else instead

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Guiding QuestionsPsychoanalytic Theory

• How do the operations of repression structure or
  inform the work?
• How can characters' behavior, narrative events,
  and/or images be explained in terms of
  psychoanalytic concepts of any kind?
• Are there prominent words in the piece that could
  have different or hidden meanings? Could there be
  a subconscious reason for the author using these
  "problem words"?

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The Theories in BriefFeminist

• The impact of gender on meaning
• A critique of patriarchal culture where women are
  marginalized
• Argues that male fears are represented through
  women

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Guiding QuestionsFeminist Theory

• How is the relationship between men and women
  portrayed?
• What are the power relationships between men and
  women?
• What does the work reveal about the operations
  (economically, politically, socially, or
  psychologically) of patriarchy?

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The Theories in BriefPost-Colonial

• looks at issues of power, economics, politics,
  religion, and culture
• Questions whether the work reinforces or
  criticizes colonial hegemony (dominant culture
  controls and defines the weaker)

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Guiding QuestionsPost-Colonial Theory

• How does the literary text, explicitly or
  allegorically, represent various aspects of
  colonial oppression?
• What person(s) or groups does the work identify
  as "other" or stranger? How are such
  persons/groups described and treated?
• How does the text respond to or comment upon the
  characters, themes, or assumptions of a canonized
  (colonialist) work?

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The Theories in BriefArchetypal / Symbolic

• assumes that there is a collection of symbols,
  images, characters, and motifs (i.e. archetypes)
  that evokes basically the same response in all
  people
• Some common archetypes
• Garden paradise, Desert spiritual emptiness
• Red passion, Green growth, fertility
• Serpent evil, wisdom, destruction
• Hero archetype - quest, initiation (separation,
  transformation, return), scapegoat
• Biblical, Mythical allusions

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Guiding QuestionsArchetypal / Symbolic Theory

• How does the work use imagery to develop its own
  symbols? (i.e. making a certain road stand for
  death by constant association)
• Is there a central symbol or focal point that can
  be said to sum up the entirety of the work?
• How does the imagery and characterization connect
  to the associations with the archetype?

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Your Task

• 1. Read the passage through the assigned critical
  theory lens.
• 2. As a group, annotate the text, underlining
  important words and sentences.
• 3. Discuss the meaning of the passage. Keep in
  mind that you are reading the passage through the
  eyes of the literary critic that you were given.
  Ask yourself, "What would this sort of critic
  look for? Why is it important?
• 4. After discussion, construct a paragraph
  interpreting the passage through your lens.
  Use the guiding questions to help frame your
  analysis.

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Group Roles

• Recorder take notes on the discussion
• Manager guide discussion through the questions,
  keep group on task (in other words, manager keeps
  it focused on the critical theory)
• Researcher (s) anchor discussion in the text
  (in other words, researchers ground the
  discussion in the work)