Perspectives on New Historicism, Feminist Criticism and Deconstruction in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter Introduction Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter has been a highly debatable topic of numerous critical essays, written by scholars who approach the novel from various perspectives of literary criticism. Due to the diversity of perspectives, the questions proposed by these scholars vary and hence the conclusions they arrive at by examining the same literary text may differ
Stephen Greenblatt’s essay “Learning to Curse” presents a New Historicist reading of William Shakespeare’s seminal play, The Tempest. In his essay, Professor Greenblatt demonstrates the beliefs and practices essential to New Historicism by analyzing The Tempest through the lens of imperial discourse. A discourse is composed of the language and opinions related to a field of intellectual study. Established in the 1980’s, New Historicism disputes the notion that historians can recreate a precise,
spatial and temporal analysis of literary text. The past is revived for the utility of the present. Works Cited (1) Abrams, M. H. and Geoffrey Galt Harpham. A Handbook of Literary Terms. New Delhi: Cengage Learning, 2009. Print. (20) Greenblatt, Stephen. Learning to Curse: Essay to Early Modern Literature. New York: Rutledge, 1990. Print. (3) Kettle, Arnold, ed. Shakespeare in a Changing World. London: 1964. Print. (4) Rice, Philip and Patrice Waught, ed. Modern Literary Theory: A Reader. 2nd edition
past, and America's future. In this analysis of Beloved, the characteristics of new historicism will be used to evaluate this literary piece. New Historicism is a literary critique theory founded primarily by Stephen Greenblatt in the early 1980s. What began as a critique by Greenblatt of Shakespearean works became an improved theory of criticism. The basis of this theory is the opposite of historicism; new historicism critiques a work not only during the time period in which it takes place but also
how they are expressed in a different way, because of the lack of a language of feminine sexuality. As Ross C Murfin points out in his introduction to this essay, Wolff combines several theoretical perspectives such as feminism, gender studies, new historicism, psychoanalytic criticism, and deconstruction (376). Wolff introduces her thesis in her initial discussion of the opening passage of The Awakening stressing the fact that the parrot has no language of its own. She remarks that “there is a sense
as well (Meyer 2034). When the culture or context is studied, the motives or tensions, which drive characters’ behaviors, may be accounted for and studied (Crawford). Cultural critics use strategies such as deconstructionism, gender studies, new historicism, and psychology to analyze and evaluate pieces of work (Meyer 2128). Literary texts are not the only thing which cultural critics critique; in fact, they analyze a wide range of items from comic strips, to commercials, to radio talk shows (Meyer
considered a very liberal book from the beginning of the nineteenth century. The ideas expressed within the content concern the women's movement and an individual woman searching for who she really is. Ross C. Murfin in his critical essay "The New Historicism and the Awakening", shows how Chopin uses the entity of the hand to relate to both the entire women's issue and Edna Pontlierre's self exploration: "Chopin uses hands to raise the issues of women, property, self-possession, and value.
New Historicism is heavily indebted to deconstruction. One of the most brilliant readings of Billy Budd along these lines is Brook Thomas's reading in Cross Examination of Law and Literature. As its name implies, New Historicism combines an analysis of literary works with whatever historical backdrop is deemed relevant or important to our understanding. The "new" in this historicism has to do, among other things, with the recognition that history (or reality) is itself a kind of construct (or fiction
A Historicism Approach to Doctor Faustus A young man studies theology his entire life and in turn receives his Doctrine in this field. One lonesome and desperate night, he decides to ignore God and fulfill his deepest desires. Hence, he conjures up a servant of Lucifer and agrees to sell his soul only if he can receive whatever or whomever he desires. This is the story of Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. Doctor Faustus is a doctor of theology that wants no limits on what he can know or
Methodological Introduction New historicism is premised upon an ideological attempt to wed the practice of history and literary criticism. In this type of textual analysis, the literary work is juxtaposed with historical events (characteristic of the time period in which the work was produced) in an effort to understand the implications within the text. This line of inquiry serves to recover a "historical consciousness" which may be utilized in the rendering of literary theory. "Poems and novels
According to Chapter 1, theory is institutionally singular but intellectually plural, theory is always theories. While agreeing with the notion that the age of theory is over, Kastan does not devalue theory. Rather, he suggests that instead of producing new theories we must address the controversies in already existing ones. Since theory showed us that meaning was not inherent but rather dependent upon the situation, action, and context of the piece. These reliances are otherwise known as history. Kastan
Fitzgerald, when looked at through the lenses of Psychoanalytical Criticism and New Historicism, expose the stasis and uncaring state many of the characters appear to be in as a result of the great war. Psychoanalytical Criticism explains certain human behaviors shown by the characters of this novel: especially Nick Carraway, whose time in the war clearly affected him as he is unable to return to his life after. New Historicism shows how the trauma of the war affected American society through the desolation
In respect to Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night, the question of how far did Maria’s joke on Malvolio go through its course, and eventual end, is an interesting quandary to answer. There are a few questions to ponder first: Has Malvolio brought this humiliation on himself? Is this “joke” a way to bring Malvolio to a humiliating end? What is Maria’s true motivation in her implantation of her plan? What was Maria’s desired end? The answer to each of these questions’ answers can lead to a separate conclusion
graphic arts. It is characterized by sinuous, asymmetrical lines based on organic forms; in a broader sense it encompasses the geometrical and more abstract patterns and rhythms that were evolved as part of the general reaction to 19th-century historicism. There are wide variations in the style according to where it appeared and the materials that were employed ‘Florated madness, liniar hysteria, strange decoratve disease, stylistic free-for-all’, such were the terms its contemporaries used to describe
of need or having some one to just be ... ... middle of paper ... ...per meanings. Looking at my critical approach New historicism and comparing it with my piece A Clean Well-Lighted Place, only from the point of view of a new historicist without doing any additional research into the ties or times of the author I believe I have a well understanding of what it means to be a new historicist and how it applies to my piece that I have chose. I tend to think that knowing more about Hemingway and the
Romanticism” gives an explanation of how Hawthorne uses historicism in his early short stories [“Rappaccini’s Daughter” was in Twice-Told Tales in 1836] for an ironic effect: The Romantic historicist used the past for a double, interconnected purpose. On the one hand it was a means for separating oneself from society. . . .He can be aware of the failure of the institution to fulfill its avowed intentions and its social function. . . . Romantic historicism, therefore, is never an end in itself but a strategy
Strategies of Influence: Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Feminine Ego Works Cited Missing ... despite the influence of the women's movement, despite the explosion of work in nineteenth century American social history, and despite the new historicism that is infiltrating literary studies, the women, like Stowe, whose names were household words in the nineteenth century ... remain excluded from the literary canon. And while it has recently become fashionable to study their works as examples of cultural
their homelands. Tim O'Brien, one of the returning solders, put together short stories pertaining to the war and how he viewed it as well as the America's society. While reading O'Brien's stories, it would be more effective if the reader applied the New Historicist Approach taking in to consideration his and American society's beliefs, habits of thought, and biases about concepts during the 1960s. Afterwards the true image of women in combat will be revealed, the mocking of deceitful war stories, and
Thomas Pynchon in TV Land: The Televisual Culture in Vineland Mark Robberds’ 1995 Article "The New Historicist Creepers of Vineland" is an insightful look into how Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel fits the new historicist criteria of Michel Foucault, Stephen Greenblatt, and other new historicists. He convincingly argues for the "vinelike" characteristics of the novel, and shows how it is "genealogical in structure and archeological in content" (Robberds 238). What Robberds means is that Vineland
oppression as a whole. The plays main characters, Prospero and Caliban, have come to personify the thrust of the oppressors vs. oppressed debate. In the introduction to Critical Essays on Shakesp... ... middle of paper ... ...d Alden T. Vaughan. New York: G.K. Hall & Co, 1998. 247-266. [1] Accounts of the Caribbean islands from the misdirected crew of the Sea Venture – a colonial ship – who in a 1609 storm landed off the Bermudas and took shelter there for the winter. [2] See p. 8 of Jonathan