Critical Theory Vocabulary

Mimesis (Moral Criticism/Dramatic Construction)

The idea that art is an imitation or copy of nature and reality, rather than something original in itself.

Catharsis (Moral Criticism/Dramatic Construction)

The emotional release (specifically of pity and fear) that an audience experiences through drama.

Dramatic construction (Moral Criticism/Dramatic Construction)

Aristotle’s principles for organizing a work (plot, character, thought, diction, song, spectacle) to achieve its intended effect on an audience.

Organic Unity (Formalism)

The idea that all parts of a work function together to create an inseparable, unified whole.

Ambiguity (Formalism)

Multiple possible meanings coexisting within a text, treated as a source of richness rather than a flaw.

Tension (Formalism)

The productive friction between opposing elements (ideas, images, tones) within a text.

Close reading (Formalism)

The practice of analyzing a text’s language, structure, and form in isolation, without reference to author or historical context.

The unconscious (Psychoanalytic Criticism)

The part of the mind holding desires, fears, and conflicts a person isn’t consciously aware of, but which still drives behavior.

Repression (Psychoanalytic Criticism)

The unconscious suppression of painful experiences or unacceptable desires.

Id, ego, superego (Psychoanalytic Criticism)

Freud’s three-part model of the psyche: the id houses raw drives, the ego mediates and defends against them, and the superego houses internalized judgment and morality.

Oedipus complex (Psychoanalytic Criticism)

A child’s unconscious rivalry with the same-sex parent for the attention of the opposite-sex parent, occurring roughly between ages three and six.

Collective unconscious (Archetypal/Jungian Criticism)

Jung’s concept of a shared reservoir of memory and symbol inherited by all humans, beneath individual experience.

Archetype (Archetypal/Jungian Criticism)

A recurring symbolic figure or pattern (e.g., the Shadow, the Hero) that appears across cultures and eras.

Syzygy (Archetypal/Jungian Criticism)

Jung’s term for the paired archetypes (Anima/Animus, Shadow/Self) that together compose the unified self.

Material dialect (Marxist Criticism)

The belief that economic and material conditions, not ideas or ideology, are the true drivers of historical change.

Base and superstructure (Marxist Criticism)

The economic “base” of a society (production, labor, class relations) versus its “superstructure” (law, politics, religion, art) built upon it.

Class consciousness (Marxist Criticism)

An awareness among members of a social class of their shared economic position and interests.

Hegemony (Marxist Criticism)

The dominance of one class’s ideology or worldview over society, often so pervasive it seems like common sense rather than a construct.

Patriarchy (Feminist Criticism)

A social system in which men hold primary power and women are structurally subordinated.

The “other” (Feminist Criticism)

The marginalized position assigned to women (or any group) when defined only in relation to, and as different form, a dominant norm.

Gender vs. sex (Feminist Criticism)

The distinction between biological sex (determined by biology) and gender (a culturally constructed set of roles and expectations).

Sisterhood (Feminist Criticism)

Solidarity among women as a mode of resisting patriarchal oppression.

Episteme (New Historicism)

Michel Foucault’s term for the underlying framework of assumptions and knowledge that shapes what can be thought or said in a given historical period.

Interpretation vs. fact (New Historicism)

The New Historicist claim that we never have neutral access to historical “facts,” only culturally situated interpretations of them.

Cultural text (New Historicism)

The idea that literary works exist on a continuum with other cultural products of their era (laws, sermons, pamphlets, etc.), all worth reading together.

Hegemony (Post-Colonial Criticism)

The dominance of colonial powers over colonized peoples, culturally and politically.

The “other” (Post-Colonial Criticism)

The colonized or foreign group defined by a colonizing culture as different from, and inferior to, itself.

Hybridity (Post-Colonial Criticism)

The blended cultural identity that emerges when colonizer and colonized cultures intermix.

Double consciousness (Post-Colonial Criticism)

The experience of holding two, often conflicting, cultural or racial identities/awareness simultaneously.

Intersectionality (Critical Race Theory)

Kimberle Crenshaw’s concept that race, gender, sexuality, and class overlap and compound one another in shaping a person’s experience of discrimination.

Interest convergence (Critical Race Theory)

Derrick Bell’s thesis that racial progress tends to occur only when it also serves the interests of the dominant group.

Systemic racism (Critical Race Theory)

Racism embedded in laws, institutions, and structures, rather than limited to individual prejudice or bias.