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Historical & New Historical Criticism. Historical Criticism.
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Historical Criticism A branch of history which looked at literature for evidence about the economic and political events going on at the time at which the works were produced, and that also looked at historical events to explain the content of literary works. This way of reading literature flourished in Anglo-American universities in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century. In addition to pursuing a work's connection to the well-known events of its era, like wars, plagues, revolutions, etc., the historical critics did much to produce more accurate pictures of the cultures which produced and consumed literature.
Historical Criticism...cont’d Thus, historical criticism looks at texts in the same way as a historian looks at historical documents: in order to learn what they reveal about the historical and socio-cultural circumstances in which they were produced. This is in contrast to other types of criticism, such as textual and formal, in which emphasis is placed on examining the text itself while outside influences on the text are disregarded.
Questions to ask from the historical approach: 1. Who is the author, where did he or she come from, and what was his/her object in writing the work? 2. How did the political events of the time influence what the writer wrote? 3. How did the predominant social customs of the time influence the writer’s outlook? 4. What is the predominant philosophy that influenced the work? 5. Were there any special circumstances under which the work was written? Strength: It enriches our understanding of the literature from the historical and societal perspective. Limitation: It often overlooks the literary elements and structure as well as the author’s individual contributions.
Hamlet as an Example One might want to focus on the style of rule in Denmark during Shakespeare's time. It would also be helpful to note the way revenge was viewed by the people in England (The people for whom these plays were written) during this time. Revenge was viewed as a sin against both God and the State. When one kills as an act of revenge it was thought that God would be offended because he was the one that was supposed to control human life. When someone was killed un-naturally it was perceived as a great violation of what was accepted as right. How does this change the meaning of Prince Hamlet's choices in the play?
Hamlet as an Example...cont’d Also, one could examine the Catholic notion of Purgatory, and examine what role Purgatory played in the newly Protestant England. Catholics viewed Purgatory as a middle ground between Heaven and Hell where people could go to work off venial sins (or non-mortal sins, murder was a mortal sin). There was no such thing as Purgatory in the Protestant religion. Audience members would have had to decide whether to view the ghost of King Hamlet, who appears in Act I of the play, as a ghost sent from a Purgatory they did not believe in to seek vengeance for his murder or whether they should adhere to what their faith dictated and see the ghost as a demon sent from Hell to insight murder.
New Historicism New Historicism seeks to find meaning in a text by considering the work within the framework of the prevailing ideas and assumptions of its historical era. In other words, history here is not a mere chronicle of facts and events, but rather a complex description of human reality and evolution of preconceived notions. Literary works may or may not tell us about various factual aspects of the world from which they emerge, but they will tell us about prevailing ways of thinking at the time: ideas of social organization, prejudices, taboos, etc. They raise questions of interest to anthropologists and sociologists. New Historicism is more "sociohistorical" than it is a delving into facts: concerned with ideological products or cultural constructs which are formations of any era. (It's not just where would Keats have seen a Grecian urn in England, but from where he may have absorbed the definitions of art and beauty.)
Works Cited • Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 7th ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999. • Chen, Chi-Fen Emily. Children’s Literature: The Study of Literature. Web. 30 Aug 2011. <http://www2.nkfust.edu.tw/~emchen/CLit/study_criticism.htm> • http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/267358/historical-criticism
