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Evaluation and criticism
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Aristotelian and platonic
Relativistic and absolutist
Theoretical and practical
What kind of play is it supposed to be?
Criticism
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It is the term we use to designate the
description, analysis, and judgment of literary
works of art.
It covers all of the activities with which we
have been concerned, however, our attention
is now mores specifically directed toward
total evaluation
Aristotelian and Platonic
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These are two basic kinds of criticism.
We associate Aristotle with formal, logical
analysis of works of art: the standards are
severe and exceptions to rules are not
treated lightly
Platonic criticism, on contrast, suggests a
utilitarian attitude toward works of art
Aristotelian and Platonic
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In platonic criticism, a play’s value is the
practical good it brings to people; art, in this
perspective, is less formal, but morally
stimulating; the value of the play is seen
more in the effect it has on the audience than
in its artistic value.
The basic dichotomy between Aristotelian
and Platonic criticism is that one is innerdirected and the other is outer-directed.
Relativistic and Absolutist
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The relativistic critic feels strongly that any
and all standards of evaluation may logically
be applied to a play as a work of art; the goal
of understanding is placed significantly
above the formality of the means
Relativistic and Absolutist
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The absolutist critic, in contradiction, holds to
one system of analysis with dogmatic rigidity.
The absolutist feels equally strongly that
there is only one established critical
procedure to works of art and he adheres to
that procedure with admirable tenacity
Theoretical and Practical
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Another useful distinction is that between
theoretical criticism and practical criticism. In
effect, the former kind of criticism moves
from the particular to the general by moving
from the individual play to theories about the
plays.
Theoretical and Practical
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Practical criticism moves from the general to
the particular by moving from theories about
plays in general to the way in which these
theories are seen operative in particular
plays
The Critic’s purpose
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Make an evaluation of a play by asking
questions:
-What kind of play is it supposed to be?
It is obvious that our very first question
should direct our attention to the intentions of
the playwright: how futile and even infantile it
would be to interpret a comedy by the
systems of analysis we might use in
discussing tragedy.