Notes

Feminist Theory:
-western culture is fundamentally patriarchal (i.e.- created by men, viewed through the eyes of men, and evaluated by men)
-"modern women"
-differences between men and women
-women in positions of power and power dynamics between men and women
-the female experience
Marxist Theory:
-whoever controlled the means of production (the factories) in a society controlled the society
-economic power
-materialism versus spirituality
-class conflict
-art, literature, and ideologies
Psychoanalytic or Freudian Theory:
-1st theory: focuses on the text itself, with no regard to outside influences
-2nd theory: focuses on the author of the text
-Emphasis on the meaning of dreams
-Oedipal connotations: the son's desire for his mother/ the father's envy of the son and rivalry for the mother's attention/ the daughther's desire for her father/ the mother's envy of the daughter and rivalry for the father's attention
-3 parts to the subconscious: The id-the basic desire/ the superego-the opposite of the id/the ego-reality
Archeypal or Mythological Theory:
-Cross-cultural philosophy
-Archetypal characters
-Archetypal images
-Archetypal situations
-I.e. the hero, the scapegoat, the loner or outcast, the villian, the temptress, the Earth mother or goddess, the spirit or intellect, and the sage
-I.e. colors, numbers, water, fire, the four ancient elements, gardens, geometric shapes, celestial bodies, masculine images/ symbols, feminine images or symbols, caves, yin and yang
etc.
New Historicism:
-Written in, and/or set in, a past or foreign culture is to assume a direct comparision between the culture as presented in the text and as it really was.
-"The truth" and reflecting the culture in which it was written

THE ONE I WOULD CHOOSE WOULD BE FEMINIST THEORY TO ANAYLZE THE MALTESE FALCON