1. Theoretical Approaches to Literary Criticism
Critical Lenses
Theoretical Approaches to
Literary Criticism

2. Formalism Primary Focus: Structure Key Questions:
How well does a literary work employ the conventions of the genre to convey meaning?
What is the quality of the work's organic unity "...the working together of all the parts to make an inseparable whole..."
How are the various parts of the work interconnected?
How do these parts and their collective whole contribute to or not contribute to the aesthetic quality of the work?
How does the author resolve apparent contradictions within the work?

3. Historical Criticism Primary Focus: Historical Context Key Questions:
When was the text written/published?
In what time period is the text set?
What language/characters/events present in the work reflect the current events of the author’s day?
How does the literary text function as part of a continuum with other historical/cultural texts from the same period?

4. Psychoanalytical Criticism
Sigmund Freud
id – primitive, instinctive part of a personality; drives for survival, procreation, and aggression
ego – reason; make choices and decisions to avoid negative consequences
superego – strives for the ideal based on society’s morals and values

5. Psychoanalytical Criticism
Primary Focus: Unconscious, Desires, Defenses
Key Questions:
Are there words, items, or images that have hidden meaning?
Is there evidence of repression driving a character’s actions?
How can a character’s actions be described in terms of psychoanalytic concepts?
Are there any oedipal dynamics at work in the text?

6. Sociological Criticism
Primary Focus: Political and Social Systems
Key Questions:
What explicit or implicit cultural, economic, and political values does the text promote?
Does the text challenge the existing ideologies?
Are there any power struggles among characters in the text? (Marxist)

7. Gender Criticism Primary Focus: Gender Roles Key Questions:
What are society’s expectations for the behavior of men and women?
What constitutes masculinity and femininity?
How do characters embody these traits?
Is there evidence of inequality based upon gender?
How do issues of sexual identity and gender influence the creation of the work?

8. Reader Response Primary Focus: Interplay Between Reader and Text
Key Questions:
How does a reader interact with a text to create meaning?
What connections can the reader make to the text?
What does the body of criticism published about a literary text suggest about the critics who interpreted that text and/or about the reading experience produced by that text?

9. Biographical Criticism
Primary Focus: Author’s Life Experiences
Key Questions:
How do the events of the author’s life manifest themselves in a text?
How do the events of the author’s life influence the structure and content of the text?

10. Moral Criticism Primary Focus: Didactic Key Questions:
What lesson does the reader learn from a literary work?
How is the reader edified?
To what degree does the literary work teach life lessons?

11. Archetypal Criticism Primary Focus: Recurring Universal Patterns
Key Questions:
What common symbols, patterns, or images appear in the text?
Are there any archetypal characters that represent the collective unconscious?
Does the work employ, contribute to, or comment upon the mythology that is common to all humanity?