Critical Approaches

in Writing a
Critique
Prepared by: Ms. Gissell S. Baring
Recapitulation
• Learning Bibliographies is …
 Say Something Activity
• Directions: Take a look at this picture.
Process Questions:
• 1. Was the response of the student appropriate?
• 2. What kind of language should the student use?
• 3. What are the things to consider when you want to express
your thoughts?
After this lesson, you will be able to:
• define critique;
• identify the various approaches in writing a
critique thru the different literary texts with the
use of the guide questions;
• criticize a campaign poster using a critical
approach; and
• apply the appropriate critical approaches in
writing your critique.
LET’S BEGIN!
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
• What recurring patterns (repeated or related words, images,
etc.) can you find?
• What is the effect of these patterns or motifs?
• How does the writer’s diction reveal or reflect the work’s
meaning?
• What figures of speech are used? (metaphors, similes, etc.)
• How do the various elements interact to create a unified
whole?
In an Artist’s Studio by Christina
Rossetti
• How are women’s lives portrayed in the work?
• Is the form and content of the work influenced by the writer’s
gender?
• Does the work challenge or affirm traditional views of women?
• How do the images of women in the poem reflect patriarchal
social forces that have impeded women’s efforts to achieve full
equality with men?
Noli Me Tangere by Jose Rizal
• How does it reflect the time in which it was written?
• What historical events or movements might have influenced
this writer?
• How important is it the historical context (the work’s and the
reader’s) to interpreting the work?
Romeo and Juliet by William
Shakespeare
• Who is the reader? Who is the implied reader?
• What experiences, thoughts, or knowledge does the text evoke?
• What aspects or characters of the text do you identify or
disidentify with, and how does this process of identification
affect your response to the text?
The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
• What patterns in the text reveal its similarities to other texts?
• What binary oppositions (e.g., light/dark, good/evil, old/young,
masculine/feminine, and natural/artificial, etc.) operate in the
text?
• How is each part of the binary valued? Does the binary imply a
hierarchy (e.g., is light better than dark, is an old age more
valuable than a young age, etc.)?
The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
• What is the relationship between the characters and their
society?
• Does the story address societal issues, such as race, gender, and
class?
• How do social forces shape the power relationships between
groups or classes of people in the story? Who has the power,
and who doesn’t? Why?
What is a CRITIQUE?
A critique is a careful analysis of an argument to
determine what is said, how well the points are made,
what assumptions underlie the argument, what issues
are overlooked, and what implications are drawn from
such observations. It is a systematic, yet personal
response and evaluation of what you read.
It is a genre of academic writing that briefly summarizes
and critically evaluates a work or concept.
Critiques can be used to carefully analyze a variety
of works such as:
• Creative works – novels, exhibits, film, images,
poetry
• Research – monographs, journal articles, systematic
reviews, theories
• Media – news reports, feature articles
Writing a critique on a work helps us to develop:
• A knowledge of the work’s subject area or related
works
• An understanding of the work’s purpose, intended
audience, development of argument, structure of
evidence or creative style
• A recognition of the strengths and weaknesses of the
work
Before Writing A Critique
• Before you start writing, it is important to have a
thorough understanding of the work that will be
critiqued.
• Study the work under discussion.
• Make notes on key parts of the work.
• Develop an understanding of the main argument or
purpose being expressed in the work.
• Consider how the work relates to a broader issue or
context.
CRITICAL APPROACHES
 This approach regards literature as “a
unique form of human knowledge
that needs to be examined on its own
terms.” All the elements necessary
for understanding the work are
contained within the work itself. The
Formalist formalist critic are the elements of
form, style, structure, tone, imagery,
etc. that are found within the text. A
primary goal for formalist critics is
to determine how such elements
work together with the text’s content
to shape its effects upon readers.
Questions to be asked for Formalistic Approach
• How is the work’s structure unified?
• How do various elements of the work reinforce its
meaning?
• What recurring patterns (repeated or related words,
images, etc.) can you find?
• What is the effect of these patterns or motifs?
• How does repetition reinforce the theme(s)?
• How does the writer’s diction reveal or reflect the work’s
meaning?
• What is the effect of the plot, and what parts specifically produce
that effect?
• What figures of speech are used? (metaphors, similes, etc.)
• Note the writer’s use of paradox, irony, symbol, plot,
characterization, and style of narration.
• What effects are produced? Do any of these relate to one another
or to the theme?
• Is there a relationship between the beginning and the end of the
story?
• What tone and mood are created at various parts of the work?
• How does the author create tone and mood? What relationship is
there between tone and mood and the effect of the story?
• How do the various elements interact to create a unified whole?
 This approach attempts to correct this
imbalance by analyzing and combatting
such attitudes—by questioning, for
example, why none of the characters in
Shakespeare’s play Othello ever
challenge the right of a husband to
Feminist
murder a wife accused of adultery.
Criticism Feminist Criticism examines images of
women and concepts of the feminine in
myth and literature; uses the
psychological, archetypal, and
sociological approaches; often focuses
on female characters who have been
neglected in previous criticism.
Questions to be asked for Feministic Approach
• How are women’s lives portrayed in the work?
• Is the form and content of the work influenced by the
writer’s gender?
• How do male and female characters relate to one
another? Are these relationships sources of conflict?
Are these conflicts resolved?
• Does the work challenge or affirm traditional views of
women?
• How do the images of women in the story reflect
patriarchal social forces that have impeded women’s
efforts to achieve full equality with men?
• What marital expectations are imposed on the
characters? What effect do these expectations have?
• What behavioral expectations are imposed on the
characters? What effect do these expectations have?
• If a female character were male, how would the story
be different (and vice versa)?
• How does the marital status of a character affect her
decisions or happiness?
 This approach “seeks to
understand a literary work by
investigating the social,
cultural, and intellectual context
that produced it—a context that
Historical necessarily includes the artist’s
Criticism biography and milieu.” A key
goal for historical critics is to
understand the effect of a
literary work upon its original
readers.
Questions to be asked for Historical Approach
• How does it reflect the time in which it was written?
• How accurately does the story depict the time in
which it is set?
• What literary or historical influences helped to shape
the form and content of the work?
• How does the story reflect the attitudes and beliefs of
the time in which it was written or set? (Consider
beliefs and attitudes related to race, religion, politics,
gender, society, philosophy, etc.)
• What other literary works may have influenced the
writer?
• What historical events or movements might have
influenced this writer?
• How would characters and events in this story have
been viewed by the writer’s contemporaries?
• Does the story reveal or contradict the prevailing
values of the time in which it was written? Does it
provide an opposing view of the period’s prevailing
values?
• How important is it the historical context (the work’s
and the reader’s) to interpreting the work?
 This approach takes as a
fundamental tenet that
“literature” exists not as an
artifact upon a printed page but
Reader- as a transaction between the
Response physical text and the mind of a
Criticism reader. It attempts “to describe
what happens in the reader’s
mind while interpreting a text”
and reflects that reading, like
writing, is a creative process.
Questions to be asked for Reader-Response
Approach
• Who is the reader? Who is the implied reader?
• What experiences, thoughts, or knowledge does the
text evoke?
• What aspects or characters of the text do you identify
or disidentify with, and how does this process of
identification affect your response to the text?
 In literary theory, structuralism
challenged the belief that a work of
literature reflected a given reality;
instead, a text was constituted of
linguistic conventions and situated
among other texts. Structuralist critics
analyzed material by examining
Structuralism underlying structures, such as
characterization or plot, and attempted
to show how these patterns were
universal and could thus be used to
develop general conclusions about
both individual works and the systems
from which they emerged.
Questions to be asked for Structuralist Approach
• What patterns in the text reveal its similarities to other
texts?
• What binary oppositions (e.g., light/dark, good/evil,
old/young, masculine/feminine, and natural/artificial,
etc.) operate in the text?
• How is each part of the binary valued? Does the
binary imply a hierarchy (e.g., is light better than
dark, is an old age more valuable than a young age,
etc.)?
Sociological This approach focuses on man’s
relationship to others in society,
politics, religion, and business.
Questions to be asked for Sociological Approach
• What is the relationship between the characters and their
society?
• Does the story address societal issues, such as race, gender,
and class?
• How do social forces shape the power relationships
between groups or classes of people in the story? Who has
the power, and who doesn’t? Why?
• How does the story reflect something?
• How does the story reflect urban, rural, or suburban values?
• What does the work say about economic or social power?
Who has it and who doesn’t? Any Marxist leanings evident?
• Does the story address issues of economic exploitation? What
role does money play?
• How do economic conditions determine the direction of the
characters’ lives?
• Does the work challenge or affirm the social order it depicts?
• Can the protagonist’s struggle be seen as symbolic of a larger
class struggle?
• How does the microcosm (small world) of the story reflect
the macrocosm (large world) of the society in which it was
composed?
• Do any of the characters correspond to types of government,
such as a dictatorship, democracy, communism, socialism,
fascism, etc.? What attitudes toward these political
structures/systems are expressed in the work?
How to write a critique

• Introduction
Typically, the introduction is short (less than 10% of the word length) Also,
this…
• describes the main argument or purpose of the work
• explains the context in which the work was created - this could
include the social or political context, the place of the work in a
creative or academic tradition, or the relationship between the work
and the creator’s life experience

• Summary
Briefly summarize the main points and objectively describe how the
creator portrays these by using techniques, styles, media, characters or
symbols.
• Critical Evaluation
• This section should give a systematic and detailed assessment of the
different elements of the work, evaluating how well the creator was able to
achieve the purpose.
• A critical evaluation does not simply highlight negative impressions. It
should deconstruct the work and identify both strengths and weaknesses.
It should examine the work and evaluate its success, in light of its
purpose.
• This evaluation is written in formal academic style and logically
presented. Group and order your ideas into paragraphs. Start with the
broad impressions first and then move into the details of the technical
elements. For shorter critiques, you may discuss the strengths of the
works, and then the weaknesses. In longer critiques, you may wish to
discuss the positive and negative of each key critical question in
individual paragraphs.
• To support the evaluation, provide evidence from the work itself, such as a
quote or example, and you should also cite evidence from related sources.
Explain how this evidence supports your evaluation of the work.
• Conclusion

This is usually a very brief paragraph, which includes:

• a statement indicating the overall evaluation of
the work
• a summary of the key reasons, identified during
the critical evaluation, why this evaluation was
formed
• in some circumstances, recommendations for
improvement on the work may be appropriate.
Example
Example Critique
How can you differentiate the formalist approach
to feminist approach from the given example?
Performance Task
Write a short critique using the formalist approach on the given essay below. Be
sure to answer the guide questions as you write your critique.

MENTAL HEALTH
Mental health is not just a concept that refers to an individual’s psychological and
emotional well-being. Rather it’s a state of psychological and emotional well-
being where an individual is able to use their cognitive and emotional capabilities,
meet the ordinary demand and functions in the society. According to WHO, there
is no single “official” definition of mental health. Thus, there are many factors like
cultural differences, competing professional theories, and subjective assessments
that affect how mental health is defined. Also, there are many experts that agree
that mental illness and mental health are not antonyms. So, in other words, when
the recognized mental disorder is absent, it is not necessarily a sign of mental
health. One way to think about mental health is to look at how effectively and
successfully does a person acts. So, there are factors such as feeling competent,
capable, able to handle the normal stress levels, maintaining satisfying
relationships and also leading an independent life. Also, this includes recovering
from difficult situations and being able to bounce back.
Assessment
Take a look at the campaign poster below and evaluate it using
any of the critical approaches discussed.
  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/146804/in-an-artist39s-st
udio
 https://www.supersummary.com/noli-me-tangere/summary/#:~:text
=Noli%20Me%20T%C3%A1ngere%20(1887)%E2%80%94,seven
%2Dyear%20trip%20to%20Europe
.
 
 https://writingcommons.org/section/research/research-methods/tex
tual-methods/literary-criticism/reader-response-criticism/#:~:text=F
oundational%20Questions%20of%20Reader%2DResponse,your%
20response%20to%20the%20text%3F
 
References  https://prezi.com/ztnf2rebt3t9/structuralist-criticism-of-the-story-of-
an-hour/
 
 https://www.studysmarter.us/explanations/english-literature/literary
-criticism-and-theory/structuralism-literary-theory/
 
 https://writingcommons.org/section/research/research-methods/tex
tual-methods/literary-criticism/structuralist-criticism/
 https://bippermedia.com/kate-chopic-story-of-an-hour/
 https://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/write/writing-well/critique.html
 https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken
 http://thinkingaboutliterature.blogspot.com/2016/10/a-formalist-
approach-to-robert-frosts.html