A Marxist Reading of Native Son In the Communist Manifesto Karl Marx states clearly that history is a series of class struggles over the means of production. Whoever controls the means of production also controls society and is able to force their set of ideas and beliefs onto the lower class. The present dominant class ideology is, as it has been since the writing of the United States Constitution, the ideology of the upper-class, Anglo-Saxon male. Obviously, when the framers spoke of equality
A Marxist Reading of Coriolanus One popular dissecting instrument of any Shakespearean character is the modern tool of psychoanalysis. Many of Shakespeare's great tragic heroes-Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, and Othello, to name a few-have all been understood by this method of plying back and interpreting the layers of motivation and desire that constitute every individual. Add to this list Shakespeare's Roman warrior Coriolanus. His strong maternal ties coupled with his aggressive and intractable
then back to issues such as conflicts between social classes, the oppression of working classes, and the support for those in positions of power. A Marxist approach to Act Two Scene Two of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ may involve taking the ‘overt’ action of Juliet rebelling against her father to marry Romeo and investigating the ‘covert’ content. Thus, a Marxist critic may find Juliet represents the working classes of Verona, while her father represents the ruling class. In that case, Juliet’s rebellion would
Marxist views can be frequently spotted within William Blake’s works. The argument that “human interactions are economically driven and are based on a struggle for power between different social classes” is deeply rooted within the lines of Blake’s work. (Gardner, Pg. 146). In fact, “The Chimney Sweeper,” which was first published in 1789, a full half a century before Karl Marx first publicized his Marxist theory in 1848, has several instances of Marxist tones. Critic, Janet E. Gardner, argues that
Marxism is a system of economic, social, and political philosophy based on ideas that view social change in terms of economic factors. It is an awareness that money is what governs most people’s ambitions, which is believed by the Marx theory, is detrimental to society because we seek progress over order. The literary analysis views work as reflections of the society it comes from. The socialist idea based criticism focuses on class structure, race and equality, straying away from the hidden meaning
are many cues that blair in the face of a marxist critique. Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry based upon a materialist interpretation of historical development, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis of class-relations within society and their application in the analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Those who belong to the highest class are wealthy. They have a lot of power and are in control over everyone else
of capital. Wealth. Fortune. Greed and the prosperity for one’s self. It is what every human desires. Many critics have read Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet, and can see the various Marxist ideologies when analyzing the play through the perspective of the antagonist, King Claudius. When studying Claudius through a Marxist lens, it becomes clear that his treatment of the working class, his illegitimate legal system, and
Marxist in The Princess and the Frog When applying Marxist Criticism it is important to understand that all aspects of humanity are based on the struggle for economic power and drives the basic endeavor between the “haves” and the “haves nots” (Springboard). In The Princess and the Frog, every character strives for power or the money to achieve said power. Tiana wants nothing more than to work hard enough to be able to buy her restaurant. Prince Naveen has been cut off and is now desperately searching
From Mao’s three essays, namely In Memory of Norman Bethune, Serve the People, and The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains, we can see that the two defining themes of Mao’s rendition of Marxist philosophy towards life are altruism and pragmatism, both of which are in line with Marxist theories. However, considering the historical context of the three essays, Mao’s philosophy of life as shown in the aforementioned essays can be seen as propagandistic and does not necessarily reflect Mao’s true
Feminine Representation in Shakespeare's Hamlet Abstract: This essay employs Feminist Criticism, New Historicism, and Marxist Criticism, to analyze the portrayal of Queen Gertrude and Ophelia. Because Shakespeare's Hamlet centers on the internal struggle of the Prince of Denmark, the reader focuses primarily on his words and actions. An often overlooked or under appreciated aspect of the play is the portrayal of the female characters, particularly Queen Gertrude and Ophelia. There are
Marxist Criticism Introduction Marxist literary criticism is based upon the political and economic theories of the German philosopher Karl Marx. In works like The German Ideology and The Communist Manifesto, written with Frederick Engels , Marx proposes a model of history in which economic and political conditions determine social conditions. Marx and Engels were responding to social hardships stemming from the rise of capitalism. Appropriately, their theories are formulated specifically
Marxist Theory and Oedipus the King "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles" (Marx and Engels 2). This excerpt, taken from Karl Marx's and Friedrich Engels' The Communist Manifesto, explains the two primary classes found throughout most of Europe during the era of the Industrial Revolution. These classes were the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The former were known as the "exploiters" and the latter as the "exploited". The wealth, power, and prestige
affected our societal systems themselves, but also have changed the way we view our class systems, gender roles, and sexual choices. Viewing society from a Marxist perspective can also help us decipher the unspoken rules that govern us. “Not only do Marxist critics want criticism to be constantly aware of history—both present and past history—in reading and literature, they also demand that the criticism become more overtly political or… ‘politically informed,’ so that it attempts, as Marx said, not simply
The Marxist Hamlet In his article "'Funeral Bak'd Meats:' Carnival and the Carnivalesque in Hamlet," Michael D. Bristol mingles Marxism and Bakhtin's notion of double discoursed textuality into an unique reading of Shakespeare's drama as a struggle between opposing economic classes. Bristol opens with a two paragraph preface on Marxism, highlighting Marx's own abnegation of Marxism: "Marx is famous for the paradoxical claim that he was not a Marxist" (Bristol 348). While he acknowledges
separated numbers connected by spoken (not sung) words of the text, [...] to avoid the customary operatic recitative" (Griffiths 10). Brecht's libretto reads like a Marxist manifesto, and although The Rake's Progress is by no means overtly Marxist, Auden's "most serious objection to Hogarth's Rake's Progress was based on his reading it as 'a bourgeois parable' [...] he approached Hogarth's pr... ... middle of paper ... .... Eighteenth-Centruy Plays. Ed. Ricardo Quintana. New York: McGraw-Hill
Marxist Perspective on Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis On the surface, Franz Kafka's 1916 novella, The Metamorphosis, seems to be just a tale of a man who woke up one morning to find himself transformed into an insect. But, a closer reading with Marx and Engel's economic theories in mind reveals an overarching metaphor that gives the improbable story a great deal of relevance to the structure of society. Gregor Samsa, the protagonist, signifies the proletariat, or the working class, and his
This essay will be an attempt to bring together the ideas from our class readings about the Marxist sociological perspective as well as insight from other readings to further my understanding of Marxism and its applications to sport. I will lay the groundwork for the theory then proceed with how his theory is applied to accessibility issues in sport, distribution of power in sport and commercialization of sport. Basics of Marxist Theory The most widely used political and ideological system of thought
have relied on Adrienne Rich's book Of Woman Born, as well as Cathy Griggers' essay "Lesbian Bodies in the Age of (Post)mechanical Reproduction." Rich discusses the cultural institutionalization of motherhood, while Griggers brings a Feminist and Marxist perspective to the topic of lesbian body image in a capitalist, market-driven society. Both consider the effects of patriarchy and heterosexism in their treatment of the experience of lesbians in society. I found these texts to be very helpful in
A Marxist reading of Orwell's 1984. From the standpoint of Luckàcs Marxism accepts a virtually axiomatic dialectical materialism, the labor theory of value and the economic determination of all human actions and institutions. It is characterized by a belief in the class struggle as a fundamental force in history. Bennett, (1965, p. 643) It is noteworthy to be stated clearly at the outset of the present paper that literary theories are composed of a mere plethora of highly debatable ideas
other things, to illustrate concepts fundamental to Lacanian psychoanalysis – an intention which will serve to further his more ambitious goal “to reactualize Hegelian dialectics by giving it a new reading” in the light of Lacanian psychoanalysis – and “to contribute to the theory of ideology via a new reading of some well-known classical motifs” (7). In this broad category of classical motifs associated with the theory of ideology, I have isolated both fetishism and the commodity-form and intend to