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A critical lens is a way of looking at a particular work of literature by focusing on style choices, plot devices, and character interactions and how they show a certain theme (the lens in question). It is a common literary analysis technique.

Types

There are many types of critical lenses but there are several that are the most common.

Marxist

The Marxist critical lens came into vogue with the advent of the Marxist school of thought. Sometimes also called the socioeconomic lens, this focuses on how characters' wealth and social connections affects the work. Leon Trotsky's Literature and Revolution claims that "old literature and 'culture' were the expressions of the nobleman and the bureaucrat" and that "the proletariat has also to create its own culture and its own art". This viewpoint is common for the Marxist critical lens.

Psychoanalytic

Also called the Freudian or Jungian critical lens, this school of thought analyzes the psychological motives of the characters. Jungian literary criticism in particular focuses on archetypes.

Feminist

Gender/Queer Studies

The gender/queer lens, while influenced by the feminist lens, treats gender as more of a spectrum, and also considers human sexuality. David Richter notes in The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends that "XXY syndromes, natural sexual bimorphisms, as well as surgical transsexuals defy attempts at binary classification". This thinking, along with the advent of a more prominent LGBT community, has heavily influenced this lens.

Semiotics

The semiotic literary lens grew out of the structuralist literary lens, which was influenced by structuralism. It came about with the advent of semiotics.

Moral

The moral lens was the earliest critical lens to come about, beginning in Book X of Plato's Republic. In it, he notes "will any one be profited if under the influence of poetry, man neglect justice and virtue?" This lens was common through the end of the 19th century. For example, in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Gulliver notes in one of his letters that he had written "for amendment, and not their approbation", reflecting the belief at the time that the novel was primarily a method for instruction of the populace, and entertainment was only a secondary goal. This is especially true in books for children from the time - see for example the book that a young Jane Eyre is given by Mr. Brocklehurst, which "'is a book entitled the 'Child's Guide,' read it with prayer, especially that part containing 'An account of the awfully sudden death of Martha G -, a naughty child addicted to falsehood and deceit'" - this is meant to instruct Jane in the consequences of lying, and was common in children's literature of the time. This lens is common in analysis of religious works.

Ecocriticism

Ecocriticism addresses the work from an environmental and ecological perspective.

Development

The earliest critical lens was the moral lens, which came about in 360 B.C. in the writings of Plato's Republic.

See also

• Literary criticism
• Critical theory

References

1. Lab, Purdue Writing. "Introduction to Literary Theory // Purdue Writing Lab". Purdue Writing Lab. Archived from the original on 2019-03-06. Retrieved 2019-03-05.
2. Lab, Purdue Writing. "Marxist Criticism // Purdue Writing Lab". Purdue Writing Lab. Archived from the original on 2019-03-06. Retrieved 2019-03-05.
3. Trotsky, Leon (2005). Literature and revolution. Chicago: Haymarket Books. ISBN 1931859167. OCLC 56517462.
4. Lab, Purdue Writing. "Psychoanalytic Criticism // Purdue Writing Lab". Purdue Writing Lab. Archived from the original on 2022-08-02. Retrieved 2019-03-05.
5. Lab, Purdue Writing. "Gender Studies and Queer Theory // Purdue Writing Lab". Purdue Writing Lab. Archived from the original on 2019-03-06. Retrieved 2019-03-05.
6. Richter, David H. (1998). The Critical tradition : classic texts and contemporary trends (2nd ed.). Boston: Bedford Books. ISBN 0312101066. OCLC 38274747.
7. "The Internet Classics Archive | The Republic by Plato". classics.mit.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-05.
8. Swift, Jonathan, Gulliver's travels, ISBN 9781982711368, OCLC 1054909999
9. Brontë, Charlotte, Jane Eyre, ISBN 9781489471703, OCLC 1076519534

• Literary criticism
• Literature
• Literary theory