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The rise and sophistication of biographical criticism promoted close reading and New criticism.
Euripides was one of the great Athenian playwrights and poets of ancient Greece. In his life he was an outsider to society, but then found a wife and had several children. Soon after his wedding, his wife cheated on him multiple times. Because of this, he went back to his old ways as a hermit from his birthplace, Salamis. In Medea, her husband betrays her and marries a new woman. Through spite, Medea kills her children and her husband’s new wife. Euripides implements his hostility towards love into his novel to portray the emotions he feels while capturing Medea’s feelings as well.
“She might as well be a rock or a wave of the sea. Sometimes she turns that beautiful face away and speaks to herself alone” (12).
This description is the ultimate definition of the common man. There is nothing more arbitrary than a wave or a rock; there is an abundance of them. Euripides is known for his common, simplistic characters, rather than the heroic protagonist that was commonly used at that time.
“‘Pride is common enough everywhere. But sometimes people are accused of being arrogant simply because they live a quiet life. The world is quick to blame. Truth means nothing. People have no patience. They will not wait to find out a man’s true character’” (18).
Euripides is conveying his opinion about the common man, who is normally excluded from the role of the hero because of their simple qualities.
“‘Women are weak--we are not brave. When we hear the roar of battle, see the flash of steel, we cringe’” (19).
Heroes are generally classified as brave, strong, and impenetrable. However, Medea's description of women, which includes herself, is just the opposite. This statement reveals how Medea cannot be a true hero because she possesses the qualities described above.
Although there is no specific origin of biographical criticism, we can easily trace it back to the aspect of perceiving divine messages:
Prophecy, prophets, and those who could hear the word of the divine all initiated the belief that those who had the ability to write from such “visions” should be revered and held at a status above all others.
Historical criticism focuses on how the social, cultural, and intellectual context influences the message of the work. Biographical criticism focuses more on how the author’s personal life influenes the story.
For example:
If Beloved was looked through a historical lens:
Beloved is intended to address the unspoken stories of many generation of oppressed blacks by bringing to light the story of Margaret Garner, a slave woman who chose to kill her own child in order to protect them from slavery.
If Beloved was looked through a biographical lens:
Due to Morrison’s personal attachment to slavery, she implements into her novel the impact slavery has on a black individual. However, instead of focusing Beloved on slavery, she focuses more on the black community and its dynamic qualities. Her grandfather had moved his family from Kentucky to Ohio after realizing that there was no possible chance of improving the racism and poverty there. Because of her love and admiration for black people, she works to portray them as more than simply victims of slavery.
JANE EYRE by Charlotte Bronte
Later in her life, Charlotte Bronte married a man named Revered A. B. Nicholls, whom she did not truly love. It is inferred that Bronte’s regrets over this marriage are reflected in Jane Eyre, except unlike Bronte, Jane is able to leave a doomed relationship to return to Rochester, the man she really loves. The heroine Jane goes on a journey to find her true being. Along the way, she finds herself at the edge of agreeing to travel across the world with St. John. If she were to go on this mission with him, she would be forced to become his wife. While Jane admires St. John, she does not really love him. Jane overcomes the odds of being neglected and becomes her own individual. In addition, Charlotte Bronte attended Roe Head School and later attempted to create a school. Similarly, Jane attended a school similar to that of the author, and unlike the author, successfully created her own school.
WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys
Jean Rhys’ life consisted of prostitution, divorces, alcoholism and an abortion. She found herself relying on the men that contributed to the destruction of her life. This is prominent in her novel Wide Sargasso Sea, in which the main female character, Antoinette, finds herself desperately reliant on her new husband. Their relationship, similar to what Rhys experienced in her life, created an unhealthy dependence that contributed to the downfall of both characters.
http://symbiosiscollege.edu.in/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/critisicm.pdf
http://home.olemiss.edu/~egjbp/spring97/litcrit.html
http://parkrose.orvsd.org/mod/resource/view.php?id=8862
http://writingcommons.org/index.php/open-text/genres/academic-writing/literary-criticism/1242-section-2-biographical-criticism-psychological-criticism
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bronte/cbronte/brontbio.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/jean-rhys-prostitution-alcoholism-and-the-mad-woman-in-the-attic-1676252.html
https://sites.google.com/site/gmosleybpcenglish/home/english-200/literary-theory/biographical-criticism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biographical_criticism
Biographical criticism focuses on “the effect and influence of the writer’s life on his or her work”. This assumption is based on the idea that an author’s life is consistently embedded within his or her work, consciously or subconsciously. One cannot fully understand or analyze an author’s work without knowing the events that led them to tell the story in the first place. It is important to note that this lens is meant to enhance the author’s meaning, not overwhelm the analysis with content that is irrelevant.
https://play.kahoot.it/#/?quizId=a6996e2a-d06a-4a62-8787-d46f7588f202