Writing Advanced Critical Analysis Essays with Literary Critical Theory

We read in order to connect with experiences and emotions portrayed by the writers in their works. By reading a text we learn to get to know the full spectrum of emotions, that our experiences can produce in our daily life.

Through the character, we learn about the psychology of individuals, we experience the complex emotion of loss and death; we face the idea of trouble faced by those under siege by the powers of discrimination, greed, false beliefs, politics, and authority. We also learn about the history and about the people back then, their culture and ways.

The most important step you take towards producing an analysis of a text is its close reading. During this process make sure to put everything down on paper or on a device, and never burden your brain with remembering information regarding the text.

While close reading you should focus on:

There are many critical theories out there that both the reader and the writer should know about. Theories such as ethnic and gender studies theory, Marxist critical theory, Structuralism, Classic Materialism, and many more. Each theory will suit different types of writing, according to the genre, the topic, and the period of publication.

Here we will take a look at four theories that can help you with your critical analysis essays.

Basing your critical analysis in accordance with Formalism or New Criticism, cuts you off from information outside the text: The time the text was written, the author’s projections of real-life experiences, or the cultural biases prevalent during the writing of the text.

The reader will only focus on the text. The characters and their interplay, the plot and its shape, the style of the writing, the metaphors and imagery, the tone of the narration, etc.

This form of criticism gives center stage to the interaction of the reader and the text. It sets each reader-text relationship as a unique one, governed by the reader’s cultural background, knowledge, values and beliefs, specific experiences, social interactions, etc.

The reader according to this approach interprets the text in his or her own way. There is no right interpretation, each one is personalized. This type of criticism is used in classrooms to let the students come up with their own interpretations of the text.

This criticism uses psycho-analyses the characters in the literature. How their behavior or actions in the text are derived from hidden psychological factors. It also applies its analysis to the author of the text; how the difficulties and the challenges faced by the author seeped into the characters in the text, or how the culture, religion, and ideas surrounding the author led to some projections in the writing.

This type if theory will lead you to research into the period of time that is discussed in the text. You will be required to base your analysis on the cultural and political makeup of the time and reflect upon the text the ideas and beliefs prevalent during the time.

This method gives a unique perspective about the events and the people. A point of view that is at a time contrary to the established ones.

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