This document discusses Marxist literary criticism and concepts relevant to analyzing works through that lens. It defines Marxism as focusing on socio-economic relationships and class struggles. Marxist criticism examines how a literary work relates to class and can be ideological, fitting into the base/superstructure model of economic base determining superstructure elements like art. Key concepts discussed include ideology, hegemony, reification, and ways Marxist criticism can explain literature's role in society and interaction with ideologies. Guiding questions are provided to analyze class relations and social conflicts in a work. An example analyzes how Romeo and Juliet touches on class associations and conflicts between the feudal Montagues and bourgeois Capulets during Renaissance transition.

1. Discussant
Kathleen Espinosa Bardenas
MARXISM

2. ● Uncovering of relationship of domination and
exploitation, even when they are disguised in
idealistic terms.
● Focuses on socio-economic relationships.
● It is an approach to diagnosting political and
social problems in terms of struggles between
members of different socio economic classes.
MARXIST CRITICISM

3. Places a literary work within the context
of class and assumptions about class. A
premise of Marxist criticism is that
literature can be viewed as ideological,
and that can be analyzed in terms of a
Base/Superstructure model.

4. Base vs.
Superstructure
Base in Marxism refers to
economic base.
Superstructure (Marx and
Eagles) emerges from this base
and consists of law, politics,
philosophy, religion, and art.

5. Ideology
Shared beliefs and values held
in an unquestioning manner by
culture. For Marxists, ideology
is determined by economics. A
rough approximation, “tell me
how much money you have and
I tell you how you think.

6. Hegenomy
Refers to the pervasive system
of assumptions, meaning, and
values that shapes the way
things look, what they mean,
and therefore what reality is for
the majority of people within a
given culture.

7. Reification
Often used to describe the way
in which people are turned into
commodities useful in market
exchange.
Media expresses sympathy but
economically thrives on these
on these events through ratings
boost.

8. PROPONENTS:
Karl Marx Bertolt Bretcht

9. PROPONENTS:
George Lukacs Louis Althusser

10. Ways of Explaining
the Role of Marxism
in Literature and
Literary Theory
How literature is part of the
superstructure and can never
fully escape the influence of its
social and economic contexts.
How literature may sometimes,
consciously or unconsciously,
become a channel to articulate
certain ideologies.
How the economic mode of production,
say capitalism in most societies today,
determine, control, or influence the
creation of a text, either in content or
form.
How literary works interact with the ideologies
around them.
How literature reflects
the world around in its
portrayal of characters
and their lives, with an
emphasis on class.
The extent to which
the social and
economic
background of the
author informs the
literary text.

11. GUIDE QUESTIONS:
1. What role does class play in the work; what is the
author’s analysis of class relations?
2. How do characters overcome appreciation?
3. In what ways does the work serve as propaganda
for the status quo; or does it try to undermine it?
4. What does the work say about oppression; or are
social conflicts ignored or blamed elsewhere?
5. Does the work propose some form of utopian
vision as a solution to the problems encountered
in the work?

12. 03
04
02
Section
Section
06
05

13. The social background behind the love story in Romeo and
Juliet is more broadly developed than in any other
Shakespeare play. Romeo and Juliet are caught in the
crossfire of a hereditary family feud between the Montagues
and Capulets that dates back to feudal times. It is noteworthy
that both families belong to a bourgeois social class with
long-standing wealth. Shakespeare also introduces elements
in the plot that highlight the class associations and conflicts
of the main characters.The lovers' struggle symbolises the
conflict between the rising bourgeois values against feudalism
during the transition from the middleages towards
Renaissance. This struggle is also palpable in the language
Shakespeare uses in the play.

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