Three Types of Critical Philosophy in The Theory of Literature

The prospect of considering the connections between Gender Criticism, Psychoanalytic Criticism, and Feminist Criticism is a tough puzzle to unpack because, among other things, they illustrate not only the progression of literary criticism, but also the progression of gender studies and queer studies. So while all three of these critical philosophies strive to explain the behavior and nature of literary characters, as well as their authors, each criticism goes about this task from a different angle, focusing on different ideas than the other two.

The ideas that Psychoanalytic Criticism rests on are the oldest of the three (which makes sense as it is the oldest of the three criticisms), Freudian theory. And so to be human, according to Psychoanalytic criticism, is to behave in the confines of what Freudian theory deems as human behavior. In Frankenstein, for example, Victor fails to complete the Oedipal drama because instead of replacing his mother as the object of his sexual desires with Elizabeth, a woman identical in many ways to Victor’s mother, Victor instead settles into a distorted maternal role as he gives his monster life. So once Victor abandons his role in the Oedipal drama, he fails to behave as humans behave according to Freudian theory, and so as a result, his humanity is forfeited, and Victor becomes a monster.

The most glaring differences between this criticism and its two counterparts lies in its conception of men and women. Freudian theory often defines women in terms of men, for instance defines women’s genitalia not as something with substance or particular qualities, but instead as the lack of male genitalia. Feminist criticism, on the other hand, does not define women in relation to men, but instead as a separate idea from men. And so feminist criticism of Victor’s failure to complete the Oedipal drama and instead create life himself does not result in Victor losing his humanity and becoming a monster, but instead enters a new sort of sexual existence, one in which he embodies the feminine instead of the masculine. Because of this, the novel can instead be viewed as a look into the very nature of the complex relationship between society and the feminine.

The differences that stand out particularly between Feminist criticism and Gender criticism lie in the definition of what it means to be feminine. Gender criticism creates a distinction not found in Feminist criticism, a distinction between sex and gender. Sex is defined as the sexual characteristics one is assigned at birth, while Gender, which is not natural but constructed by society, is defined as the characteristics that what one most identifies with in the context of operating in society. And so Victor’s creation of the monster can be thought of not as a change in essence to the feminine, but instead an action indicative of a change of gender within Victor. The rest of the novel can then be considered a look into how society interacts with the gender of its members, and how society punishes what it considers discrepancies.