Structuralism and literary criticism

Structuralism and Literary Criticism

Thinking activity on Structuralism and Literary Criticism

Somehow Structuralism connected to linguistic branch. Ferdinand de Saussure gives the basic Idea of Structuralism in his work "General linguistic". This text becomes the basic text for studying Structuralism. The Linguistics looks at language from scientific point of view. All literary writers do something with science.

Saussure used three terms 

1. Language
2. Langue
3. Parole

Langage includes the entire human potential for speech, whatever we understood or not, all kinds of words included in Langage. Langue is the part of langage, the words we understand and speak, Parole is the words which we utter.

We can see same or different structure in films also. In many films same structure applied, For eg, Boy and Girl are in love with each other but their family are enemies, therefore they cant meet and becomes two star crossed lovers. That similar pattern we can see in Isaaq and Romeo and Juliet. Both these films have similar structure.

Gerard Genette

Gerard Genette speaks about various things and gives more influential detail of Structuralism which we can applied in many films, advertisements and many other things. He speaks about sign in Literature and from that we conclude or think about its significance. He says that if writer questions the universe, the critic questions the literature, that is to say, the universe of signs, but what was a sign for the writer, becomes meaning for the critic, and in another way what was the meaning for the writer becomes a sign for the critic.

Examples:

Baby movie:
In this movie, the title of the film confused us to know the main character or theme.
structure of the scenes makes us curious to see its sequence which the key of this movie to umderstand. Its first one is 'Naam shabana'.

Dangal:
in this movie we find frame narrating system and also there is the theme of women wresteling that makes us 'signifier' and 'signified' the male dominated game come up with the new era of women empowerment. That makes the construction of the character is shown the langue and parol from another movie ideas.

Amoretti XXX: My Love is like to ice, and I to fire

 By Edmund Spenser

My Love is like to ice, and I to fire:

How comes it then that this her cold so great

Is not dissolved through my so hot desire,

But harder grows the more I her entreat?

Or how comes it that my exceeding heat

Is not allayed by her heart-frozen cold,

But that I burn much more in boiling sweat,

And feel my flames augmented manifold?

What more miraculous thing may be told,

That fire, which all things melts, should harden ice,

And ice, which is congeal’d with senseless cold,

Should kindle fire by wonderful device?

Such is the power of love in gentle mind,

That it can alter all the course of kind. 

Fire and Ice by Robert Frost 

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Both the words are same destructive, on one hand fire burns our skin, then on other hand Ice also gives us some kind of burning. Both Ice and Fire has a power to kill something. There is simmilarty  of perishing the things. We waits for summer for getting cure from disease. Summer brings elements of Fire, similarly in foreign countries, where there is cold weather, the peoples waits for snow fall for getting cure from any types of disease. In short  we can say that both can destroy the world, both are same powerful.

Northrope Fry: Archetypal Criticism

Thinking Activity of Archetypal criticism by Northrope Fry

1) What is Archetypal criticism?
what does archetypal critic do?

In general meaning Archetypal criticism means narrative design, pattern of action, character types, themes, and images. It has number of variety in literature. Some patterns are universal patterns in human psyche and it apply in literature. So archetypal critic observe pattern which have already in history or in present. For example that sun is rising, at noon in the middle and at night set. As same the pattern of tragedy that rising, climax, falling.

2)  What is fry trying to prove by giving an anology of 'Physica to Nature' and 'criticism to Literature'?
 I think that Fry want to define the real meaning. As we know that students of Physics say that they are learning physics. But in reality they are observing and learning nature and it is systematic study. As same learn literature but transitively is the criticism of literature.

3) Share review of organised body of  knowledge. Explain relation of  Literature with history and philosophy.

 As we know that physics is an organized body of knowledge. Because they believe that they are learning physics but in real sense they are observing nature and it is systematic study and study itself criticism. So we can say that criticism is an organized body of knowledge.                                                       History and philosophy are totally different because history deal with fiction or events while philosophy deal with ideas. And if think about literature so it is in between these. It is related with both the things, history are important to create literature. And we can connect treads of literature with history and it emerged complete meaning. Because we get meaning because we have context for example ‘ Vansaladi dot com morpich dot com’ in this line we can not understand only words but out of words meaning we understand because of history. It also connect with philosophy that we think while reading any literature. And say that this character is punished because of his/her bad ‘karma’. Thus it related with history and philosophy.

4) Briefly explain inductive  method with illustration of shakespear's hamlet's grave diger scene.

   Inductive method means ‘ examples to definition’. And if we observe Grave digger scene in Hamlet, his down fall started because of this scene as a psychological relationship according to Bradley. And we can’t for gate that it is Elizabethan play so we take another step back in the group of Stoll and Shaw. And see it in dramatic context. One step more back and we see the archetype of the scene as the hero’s Liebestod.And because of his love his death emerge it mean final scene of the play.

5)  Briefly explain deductive method with reference to  an anology  of music,painting,rhythem and pattern. Give example of outcome of deductive method.

Deductive method means ‘ definition to examples’. As the thinkable point that some arts move in time and others are in space, for example music related with time and painting with space. And music with rhythm and painting with pattern but we may also speak rhythm of painting and pattern of music. And literature seems to between music and painting. So we may call the rhythm of literature is narrative and pattern is the verbal structure.

6)   refer to the Indian seasonal grid.
if you can,please read small gujrati od hindi or engliah poem from the archetypal approach and apply Indian seasonal grid in the interretation. 

   Here, I apply seasonal grid in this Gujarati poems…
 
Maru chomasu kyak as-pas che,
Galo par lajja ni lali puchya nu koi,
 karan puche to bahu khas che…
                  Maru chomasu kyak as-pas che.
 
 
                Fagan ayo, Fagan ayo, Fagan ayo re
                Rutuo kero rajan ayo, Fagan ayo re.
                Fulade chayo, rang sohayo maliyanil ni foram layo…
 
                In this first lines we can understand that monsoon used as rich season. And he says that ‘galo par lajja ni lali’ it means shy or happiness. And what is the reason for that happiness is his monsoon is near him. And it season is also for romance. Then in next lines from other poem start with word ‘Fagan’. Fagan season is the king of all the seasons. It means we get more happiness in this season, so it is the symbol of happiness. So this type of symbol I found in these lines.

Sense and sensibility : Jane Austen

Que13 Sense and sensibility has sadeest end. Are you agree with this statement?

Sense and Sensibility was the first novel published by Jane Austen in 1811. Like many of her later novels, it deals with the themes of love, romance, attraction, betrayal, marriage and money. Irony is used as a powerful tool by Austen in her works. Austen’s novels work at various levels and she takes the reader into the feminine world.

Jane Austen grew up in a country parsonage and even in her novels , we find frequent mention of the countryside. She was a part of a large family and her parents lived on the fringes of gentry. Though her mother hailed from a rich family, they were dependent on rich relatives for help. From a young age, Austen and her sister were expected to find suitors. So , for Austen, the idea of marriage was closely related to gaining financial stability and not solely as a luxury or a romantic relationship. Austen was aware how money was an important factor in deciding the success or failure of love/marital relationships. Though Austen never married , this awareness of how marriage became a ticket to survival for many , is reflected in her works. In her works, she doesn’t lose sight of these money matters even in novels about love and romances.

The novel Sense and Sensibility begins at a note where after the death of Mr. Henry Dashwood , his wife and three daughters are in desperate need of financial help since the house in which they live and all of Mr. Dashwood’s property now goes to his son from his former wife, that is, John Dashwood. Though Mrs. Dashwood and her daughters look up to John Dashwood for some help, his petty nature supported by the greedy nature of his wife Fanny, soon comes to fore front in his reluctance to help them.

However, the much needed help comes from a relative of Mrs. Dashwood, that is, Sir John Middleton, who offers them a place at Barton Cottage at a reasonable price. Though the generosity of Sir Middleton helps the family out of their present condition, it becomes important for the two elder daughters to find suitable and well-to –do husbands in order to bring themselves out of their present situation.

Elinor, being the eldest daughter is prudent and very much in control of her feelings and emotions. Also, she takes great care of what she is saying and how she is expressing herself. However, the younger sister, Marianne is very different from Elinor. She is passionate, out-going, out-spoken and driven by feelings and emotions. Her speeches are often marked by outbursts of overwhelming emotions.

Marianne finds a lover in Mr. Willoughby, whom she meets by a chance encounter while returning home on a rainy day. Willoughby greatly impresses Marianne by his passion for art, music and dance. Mr. Willoughby appears as someone too good to be true. And due to the rather childish and out-going nature of Marianne and indiscretion on the part of Mr. Willoughby , the rumour of their engagement spreads far and wide. However, the reader is kept in suspense about the reality of it.

Here, the author brings the theme of appearance versus reality as the reader gets to know about the true nature of Mr. Wlloughby and how he first abandoned Marianne and later abandons the ward of Colonel Brandon, Miss Williams, after impregnating her to finally marry Lady Grey in order to meet his monetary needs.

Elinor, on the other hand develops a liking for Mr. Edward , brother of Fanny Dashwood but isn’t sure if it is mutual. The author brings in a period of strained relationship between them where it seems that Edward is betrothed to Lucy , who though is pretty , but is equally annoying as a company.

Things go well till the latter half of the novel. However, it is towards the end that some abruptness is found when things start taking the right turns and falling in place in a rather surprising way, with no foreshadowing. Marianne becomes more mature, discreet and sensible which allows her to fall for the rather simple gentleman and bachelor, Colonel Brandon , who acts as  a  foil to Willoughby. Also the curtain over the Edward and Lucy affair is lifted as Lucy gets married to Edward’s younger brother,  Robert. Edward after being aware of Elinor’s regard for himself, proposes marriage to her.

Even Mrs. Ferrars, Edward’s mother, who wanted Edward to marry a rich woman at first and was against the match,experiences a change of heart and agrees to the marriage of Edward and Elinor. She also gives them a sum of ten thousand pounds, the interest of which will allow them to live safely along with the money that they already have and the small amount of money that he’ll get from the parsonage.

Thus, even though Austen deals with the issue of love, marriage and romance,she never loses sight of the money matters involved. The critic Allen Moers in ‘Literary Women’ says that :

“From her earliest years, Austen had the kind of mind that enquired where the money came from, on which young women were to live and exactly how much of it there was.”

Many critics criticize Austen for not dealing with the social and political issues of the time in her novels. As George Steiner remarks :

“At the height of political and industrial revolution ina a decade of formidable philosophical activity, Ms. Austen composes novels which seem to be almost extra-territorial to history.”

But, this criticism is countered by others such as Raymond Williams, who argue, “Austen’s novels provide an accurate record of that moment in English history in which high bourgeoise society was most evidently interlocked with agrarian capitalism. It’s an openly acquisitive society which is very concerned with the transmission of wealth and is trying to judge itself at once by an inherited code and the morality of improvement.”

The novel Sense and Sensibility raises issues that are raised in Austen’s other novels too but have a darker tinge to it. Here, all the obstacles are removed in the latter part of the novel by the entry of Colonel Brandon, maturation of Marianne to make her fall for Colonel Brandon and the marriage of Robert and Lucy. The potentially grim issues aren’t allowed to shadow the happy ending, where both the sisters marry the men they love,  at the same time leading to all the financial problems being resolved.

Austen avoids questions such as what would happen had Marianne not met Colonel Brandon? How Edward and Elinor would have managed had Mrs. Ferrars not have had a rather sudden ‘cahnge of heart’ for them both and not have offered them ten thousand pounds? What would have Edward done , had Lucy , out of her greed, not decided to marry Robert?

Austen sidelines all these questions and obstacles to bring about the happy –ending in a rather hurried up sequence of events. The reader is left wondering as to what brought Lucy and Robert so close as to get married. The news comes as a shock to both the reader and the characters in the novel. Similarly, Marianne after getting betrayed by Willoughby is shown to develop a liking for Colonel Brandon later in the text. But what makes Colonel Brandon fall for Marianne is a theme rather weakly developed by the author (except the weak justification that she resembled his former love interest).

Thus, though Austen raises a lot of issues in the novel and even highlights how women in the nineteenth century had limited choices and had to depend on marriage for financial stability; she pushes all these issues under the carpet towards the end of the novel to achieve the happy-ending resulting in two love marriages , therefore making the reader question the possibility of such ‘happy-endings’ in both the real life and the novel.