Literary Criticism: A Literary Analysis

When the name “Case Western Reserve University” is mentioned, a myriad of subjects come to mind: research, science, engineering, breakthroughs, and technology, to name a few. In our great university, there seems to be a wider appreciation among students for the sciences than for the humanities -- this does not come as a surprise considering that CWRU is primarily a research university, and faculty and students have been conducting magnificent and ground-breaking scientific research for decades. The science, technology, engineering, and mathematics departments are so nationally recognized and prominently discussed that they often overshadow the humanities departments. However, if I could recommend an elective course to my brilliant science and technology driven peers, it would be a course on literary criticism. Surely, science helps us understand the world we live in. In biology, we learn about life -- how it is created, how it is sustained, how it is distributed. In physics, we learn about the forces that guide our lives, and we make sense of the world that exist around us. In chemistry, we study the structures and properties of life. The sciences exist to shed light on the world around us and help us understand how the world works. One can use biology, physics, and chemistry to explain the functions and processes of the human, but when does the brilliant science student learn how to live? The truth is this: Literature is powerful enough to evoke sensations, consciousness, and awareness that are difficult to find elsewhere while explaining and preserving the human condition in a way no other subject can. Further, literary criticism interprets and analyzes literature so that we may better understand literature, and better understand ourselves. Take Shakespeare for example: in “Hamlet,” we learn about the worst aspects of humanity -- what greed, jealousy, rage, and selfishness in human beings looks like. The story shows us the worst versions of ourselves. It teaches us that our human nature can truly be evil, and it gives examples of what can happen when that human nature within us is brought to the surface. In “Romeo and Juliet,” we learn about passion and love. We learn that intense emotions can lead us to be irrational beings, and that our emotions are forces to be reckoned with. In “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar,” we ask ourselves the age-old question, “Is the fault really in our stars, or are we masters of our own fate?” We also revisit the consequences of irrational human behavior, and we learn about our tendencies to succumb to mob mentality. Shakespeare summarizes a range of human emotions, desires, and actions in expressive verse and he makes it easy for us to understand ourselves. If one cannot find the words to express that he or she is heartbroken, one can perhaps say, “The course of true love never did run smooth.” When hoping to express feelings of utter betrayal between friends, the line “Et tu, Brute?” sums up feelings of utmost disgust. When it is hard to put into words just how strong one’s feelings of love are, it is much easier to simply say, “Shall I compare thee to a summer's …show more content…
Although criticism must be pure and honest, like Arnold suggests, his model of literary criticism is far too ideal to be realistic. Every person sees the object differently, and truly, there is no error in that. The greatest aspect of literature is its subjectivity. The most effective model of literary criticism does not simply describe the object, it encourages others to explore the object for …show more content…
Given this maxim, Wilde’s philosophy applies to literary criticism. Art is raw -- it is real, it is unfiltered, and it reveals its own perfection. So, when we perform literary criticism, we are taking the purest form of human emotion and consciousness, and making sense of it to ourselves. Oscar Wilde, in his work The Decay of Lying: An Observation, points out four main doctrines of aesthetics: Firstly, “Art never expresses anything but itself,” secondly, “All bad art comes from returning to Life and Nature, and elevating them into ideals,” thirdly, “Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life,” and finally, “ Lying, the telling of beautiful untrue things, is the proper aim of Art (Leitch