Critical Theory/Perspectives

Traditional approaches have been challenged by a number of competing perspectives which contest the interpretation and significance of Shakespeare.

The argument is that traditional criticism is elitist, sexist, unpolitical and individualist.

Assumptions of traditional studies:

• There exists an undeniable canon of great literary works, Shakespeare being at its center
• Literary works are the product of men (and occasionally women) of undeniable genius
• Canonical authors somehow transcend time to provide universal, eternal truths about the human condition.

Assumptions of traditional studies (more)

• A canonical work has certain essential attributes which are present in the text, regardless of whoever reads it.

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• Literature and drama should be studied for aesthetic reason rather than for social or ideological purposes.

Opposition of New Perspectives:

• There is no such thing as “literature, or a “canon” All these have been constructed by particular groups at particular times to serve particular interests.
• “Great works” like Shakespeare’s do not convey universal truths
• Rather, they are used to reproduce the ideology of dominant groups

Opposition of New Perspectives:

• “Theory” provides more valid readings of Shakespeare: interpretations should draw upon the writings of major social or psychological theorists.
• Shakespeare is not timeless: he is to be understood in the context of the social, political and ideological production of his work. (the study of Shakespeare should be a political enterprise)

Feminism/Gender

The fasted growing and most widespread of all recent approaches.

• Questions how meaning relates to gender and of the “maleness” of traditional Shakespeare criticism
• Challenges the cultural shaping of gender roles in all social institutions: the family, work, politics, religion, and, of course literature and drama.
• Exposes how patriarchal ideology often stereotypes, distorts, ignores or represses experience, misrepresenting how women think, feel and act.

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Feminism

Some feminist interpret the plays as sympathetic to feminism, while others see Shakespeare as supportive of patriarchy.

• Most feminists agree that the plays express the realities of the limited power and lower status of women in Elizabeth England.
• Feminist criticism frequently roots patriarchy, misogyny and female stereotyping in the actual practices of Renaissance society.
• Feminism recognizes that Shakespeare’s female characters merit equal attention with male characters.

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How to approach a play with a Feminist perspective

• Ask questions like:
• How are the women’s freedom limited?
• Do they achieve self-confidence or spirited independence?
• Do they contest male power/dominance?
• What is the relationship like with the men in their lives? (husbands, fathers, brothers)
• What type of language is used to describe women?

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Possible arguments

-Hamlet the character displays misogynistic tendencies.

-Hamlet the play portrays women as weak and submissive.

- Hamlet is actually sympathetic to feminism because it shows the realities of the time period.

-Hamlet himself is a man who does not conform to stereotypical gender roles.

Psychoanalysis

• Lays great stress on the unconscious and the irrational
• Freud argues that actions and motives do not spring simply from conscious, rational sources
• Assumptions: the importance of repressed memories and wishes, of sexuality, of fantasy, and of the role of anxiety and conflict in personality formation

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Psychoanalysis

• The Psychoanalyst makes a distinction between the explicit and implicit meanings
• Just as the interpreter of dreams distinguishes between manifest and latent desires (obvious and hidden or forbidden)
• Shortcomings of Freud are well known
• They are neither provable nor disprovable

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Psychoanalysis

• Both psychoanalysis and the plays share a preoccupation with love and hate, dreams, fantasy and confusion
• Any form of character study which explores a character’s feeling and personal relationships owes some kind of debt to psychoanalysis.

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Does Hamlet have an Oedipus complex?

A few arguments from

Psychoanalytic critics:

Hamlet main disfunction lies in his repressed homosexuality.

Laertes has incestuous desires for Ophelia.

Hamlet suffers from the Oedipus Complex; He hates Claudius because of his own confused feelings toward his mother.

Political Perspectives (mostly rooted in Marxism)

• Assert that every aspect of human life is rooted in politics and power
• They insist that Shakespeare studies be taken out of the realms of aesthetics and personal response, and into the political
• All judgment, all interpretation and evaluation arises from social, rather than from individual factors
• Characters’ behavior is determined by material (economic) pressures.

Political Perspectives (mostly rooted in Marxism)

• Objective is to challenge and displace traditional interpretations which stress harmony and integration
• Material or economic factors dictate the form and content of all institutions of society
• For example, law, religion, government, education, literature and drama

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How to approach a play with a Marxist perspective

• MAIN QUESTION: Does the text reveal ideological oppression of a dominant economic class over subordinate classes. In order to do this a Marxist might ask the following questions:
• Does the text reflect or resist a dominant ideology? Does it do both?
• Whose story gets told in the text? Are lower economic groups ignored/ devalued?
• Are values that support the dominant economic group given privilege?
• Marxists also look at the conditions of production for the work of art. They ask:
• Who was the audience? What does the text suggest about the values of it?

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A few arguments from

Marxist critics:

Hamlet (the character) symbolizes the dominant class’s oppression of the working class. (Through his interactions with certain minor characters)

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern suffer because they are of the subordinate class and are used simply as pawns of the dominant class.

Critical Theory paper

• Pick a theory and take a stance (thesis) using the characteristics of the theory to back up your claims about the text or character
• Use examples from the text with at least two quotations (properly cited)
• 2-3 pages, double spaced
• Move through your discussion of the play in chronological order
• MLA format

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