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Modern Literary Theory Essay

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Modern Literary Theory The way to interpret text is wildly determined by different aspects. With time, people have used different forms of understanding text and delving deeper into what it truly is saying and meaning. In the case if new criticism, the intentions are to take the text for what it is for. The whole bases being that outside sources alter the way the text is viewed. Usually when reading text one incorporates how the text inspires feeling within to criticize the text but new criticism explains that this alter our perception of the literature. This also expands to the authors intentions, the text should not be based on the author and what he intended. Text can be self-relying and self-referential according to the technique of …show more content…

The theory is all based on human psyche. It analyzes the writers psyche, how the creative process was involved, psychological principals within the work, and the effects of the literature on the reader. Freud’s method when applied within psychoanalytical criticism includes many of his basic theories. The idea of id is the unconscious part of a person’s brain that stores desires, wishes, and fear. The id is also the source of libido and sexual energy. These wants and desires can influence the reader subconsciously on the interpretation of the text. The ego is the second part of Freud’s theory that is applied in psychoanalytical criticism; it serves as the intermediary between the id and super ego and a mediator. This part make sure that there is a balance of both sections of the human psyche while analyzing a piece of work. Lastly the superego is the conscious part of us that makes decisions based on social clues. When the superego is used when reading text the person applies social cues to interpret what the reading is about. On the other hand Lancan’s theory argues that the stages we pass in life with language and sensory input changes how the reader interprets the text. It contradicts the idea of an unconscious sense that grounds us even with outside stimuli. The theory shows us that once outside stimuli is brought into question it is impossible to truly see the text objectively. Together these two theories allow us to explore text for more than the face value but how we see things based on our own sense and outside stimuli we are exposed to throughout our

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