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    Marxist criticism views literary works as reflections of the social institutions and ideology of their time. It analyzes how works present society and the ideological functions they serve based on the writer's background. Marxist criticism, developed by Karl Marx, focuses on divisions of class, class struggle, oppression, and politics to understand a work's social and political elements rather than its aesthetic value.

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    Marxist criticism views literary works as reflections of the social institutions and ideology of their time. It analyzes how works present society and the ideological functions they serve based on the writer's background. Marxist criticism, developed by Karl Marx, focuses on divisions of class, class struggle, oppression, and politics to understand a work's social and political elements rather than its aesthetic value.

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    Marxist criticism views literary works as reflections of the social institutions and ideology of their time. It analyzes how works present society and the ideological functions they serve based on the writer's background. Marxist criticism, developed by Karl Marx, focuses on divisions of class, class struggle, oppression, and politics to understand a work's social and political elements rather than its aesthetic value.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    55 views14 pages

    Untitled

    Uploaded by

    Chloe Bautista
    Marxist criticism views literary works as reflections of the social institutions and ideology of their time. It analyzes how works present society and the ideological functions they serve based on the writer's background. Marxist criticism, developed by Karl Marx, focuses on divisions of class, class struggle, oppression, and politics to understand a work's social and political elements rather than its aesthetic value.

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    In this kind of literary criticism, works are viewed as a

    reflection of the social institutions from which they


    originate.
    It reviews the work of literature in terms of the society it
    presents.
    The work itself is considered as a social institution that has
    a specific ideological function based on the ideology and
    the background of the writer.
    An ideology is a belief system
    that underpins a political or
    economic theory. Ideologies
    form the operating principles for
    running a society.
    Examples:
    liberalism, conservatism, socialism,
    communism, theocracy, agrarianism,
    totalitarianism, democracy, colonialism, and
    globalism.
    WHO IS THE
    MAN BEHIND
    THE MARXIST
    CRITICISM?
    A German philosopher and economist who
    criticized the inherent injustice in the
    European class/capitalist system of
    economics operating in the 19th Century.

    Since Karl Marx is a philosopher and also an economist, he tries


    to apply political science and economics to the study of
    literature. That’s why on his book entitled The Communist
    Manifesto, Marx and co-author Friedrich Engels argue that all of
    history is about the struggle between the haves and the have -
    nots.
    Marx viewed
    history as a
    series of struggles
    between classes,
    in other words,
    the oppressed
    and the
    oppressors.
    • Class
    • Oppression
    • Power
    • Economy
    • Politics
    3 CLASSES OF PEOPLE
    IN THE SOCIETY
    • Land owners- owns a huge part of the
    land (whose income is rent)

    • Bourgeoisie- who owns the means of


    production such as factories, machinery,
    and buildings ( whose source of income
    is profit)

    • Proletariat- they are the working class


    who works for the bourgeoisie (whose
    source of income comes from the
    salary)
    The basic goal of this literary criticism is to assess the
    political tendency of a literary work and determine
    whether its social content or literary forms are
    progressive. Marxist criticism pays special attention to the
    division of class, class struggle, oppression, and political
    background of the story. In other words, this criticism
    focuses more on the social and political elements of a
    work than its aesthetic (artistic and visual) value.
    HOW TO APPLY MARXIST THEORY TO
    LITERATURE
    As explained above, class, oppression, power, economy and
    politics are some of the main elements that should be
    considered in a Marxist literary criticism.

    • What role does class play in the literary work?


    • How does the author analyze class relations?
    • What does the author say about oppression?
    • Are class conflicts ignored or blamed?
    • How do characters overcome oppression?
    • Does the work support the economic and
    social status quo, or does it advocate change?
    • Does the work serve as propaganda for the
    status quo? If so, in what way does it attempt
    to serve as propaganda?
    • Does the work propose some form of utopian
    vision as a solution to the problems
    encountered in the work?
    • How has the author’s ideologies and
    background affect the way he views the
    economy, politics or society?
    • How do the time period, social background and
    culture in which the work was written affect
    the portrayal of the political, economic, and
    social forces?

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