Structuralism

Structuralist Theory

Background

  • Structuralism started in the 1950s.

  • It challenged New Criticism by looking at how different structures, like culture and society, shape human behavior.

  • Structuralism applies to many different fields.

Key Figures:

  • Roland Barthes: Used structuralist ideas to study literature.

  • Jacques Derrida: Important in literary theory, known for his method called deconstruction.

  • Jacques Lacan: Looked at the human mind using structuralist ideas, combining Freud's and Saussure's thoughts.

  • Michel Foucault: Studied Western ways of thinking in his book "The Order of Things."

  • Louis Althusser: Combined Marxism with structuralism to offer a new view of society.

Structuralism

  • Structuralism studies culture and meaning by connecting individual works to a bigger picture.

  • Individual works can’t be understood alone; they are influenced by larger ideas.

  • It believes that these ideas come from how we see the world.

  • All human activities build on these ideas, helping create meaning.

  • Simplifies the complexity of human experience into common structures.

A Structure

A structure has three main features:

  1. Wholeness: The system works as a single unit made of separate parts.

  2. Transformation: The system can change; for example, language changes over time.

  3. Self-regulation: Changes happen while following the system’s rules.

Structural Linguistics

  • Structuralism helps us understand how systems shape our experiences in different fields like language, culture, and psychology.

  • Ferdinand de Saussure developed structural linguistics, which:

    • Shifted focus from historical language studies to relationships in language.

    • Introduced synchronic analysis: studying language at a specific time instead of over its history.

Linguistic Sign: Signifier and Signified

  • Language is more than just names; it’s a mix of sounds and meanings.

  • Signifier: The sound or image of a word.

  • Signified: The meaning it represents.

  • Saussure stated that there isn’t always a clear link between a word and what it means, so meaning comes from its difference from other words.

  • Example: A color (like red) is understood by comparing it to others (such as blue or green).

Structural Linguistics (continued)

  • Objects like houses get their meanings by what they are not (like not being a shed).

  • Understanding relies on contrasting pairs (like male and female).

  • Language helps create our understanding of the world, rather than just describing it.

  • Saussure divided language into Langue (the system) and Parole (individual speech).

Structuralism and Literature

  • The ideas of Langue and Parole helped create literary structuralism, where Langue is the language system and Parole is its various uses.

  • Narratology: A field within structuralism that studies how a story’s meaning comes from its structure, not just its themes.

  • Structural criticism looks at individual texts to find deeper structural ideas.

Narratology

  • Narratologists use ideas from structural linguistics and semiotics, focusing on:

    • How a word's meaning comes from its differences.

    • All signs are shaped by culture and shared experiences.

Semiotics

  • Semiotics studies how literary elements are structured:

    • Looks at the rules and devices that create literature.

    • Addresses how texts show meaning rather than just stating what they mean.

Orders of Signification in Semiotics

  • Denotation: The literal meaning of a word.

  • Connotation: The associated meanings influenced by context.

Structure of Literary Genres

  • Literary genres generally follow a structure:

    • Beginning: Introduces characters and setting (Exposition).

    • Middle: Develops events (Rising Action, Climax).

    • End: Resolves conflicts.

Types of Characters

  • Round Characters: Develop over the story and are complex.

  • Flat Characters: Unchanged throughout the story.

  • Static Characters: Do not change.

  • Dynamic Characters: Undergo significant change during the story.

The Changeling in "A Midsummer Night’s Dream"

  • Titania looks after an Indian boy, which causes conflict with Oberon.

  • Oberon wants control over the boy, upsetting Titania.

  • The boy represents hidden tensions and conflicts in the play.

The American Protagonist Goes to India

  • Examines what is known about stories featuring American characters in India.

Structural Anthropology

  • Claude Lévi-Strauss studied cultural structures like myths and relationships.

  • He used Saussure's ideas to examine the patterns in human thinking.

  • He found that even with differences, myths share basic similarities, suggesting universal rules of myth-making.

  • Broke down myths into "mythemes" to uncover structural oppositions and solutions.