The Literary Theory Of Structuralism

The rendering of light and darkness associate perfectly with the play’s emphasis on the contrasts between love and hate, passion and death. The direct comparisons of similes and metaphors do not remain exclusive as Shalespeare begins to incorporate the hidden utilization of clever puns within his masterpiece.

The system of structuralism proposed by Sassure involves examining language as a system of individually interconnected units, the construction of meaning as a product of shared systems of signification (Seiler n.d.).

Ever since slavery was abolished, there has been a continuous struggle in the United States between African Americans and Caucasians involving social class, poverty and equality. Although blacks have suffered terribly in the past, they are still commonly looked down upon and even placed in a lower class category. The struggle over slavery opened to flood gates to the Civil War, Reconstruction, segregation, Jim Crow laws, the Civil Rights Movement and is still something we are overcoming as a Nation.

In this class, we covered many theories. One theory is called “Structural Functionalism” and it focus centers on reducing the chance of riots or revolution. This theory works well in modern society but it did not work well in the 17 century when it was invented. Then, there were few people who believed that this is true because they were mostly living in cities and the plague was the top priority. For these reasons, I won’t be covering this theory in my paper. Another theory is “Interactionism” and they oppose the structure theories because they say that “reality is constructed” so they do not work in the confines of structures at all. “What men believe is true, becomes true in the consequences.” (Miller).

This theory focuses, primarily, on the creation of the ego through objectification where the ego is the conclusion of a conflict between a person’s actual self and their projected self (Lacan). “As a child is lured by its mirror-image (Lacan’s Imaginary order), which seems to promise it a completeness it does not have, so the reader is lured by the text through the force of its representation” (Wright). Meanwhile, Jacques Derrida questioned the assumptions made regarding a piece of literature and in doing so developed the method of analysis known as deconstruction. He strove to deconstruct the language used to expose the underlying meaning not expressed directly through the words. This theory operates on a concept known as binary opposition. Binary opposition is, simply, two concepts or ideas strictly opposite each other in meaning and interpretation. It states elements within

In society today, structural functionalism can be defined as looking at society as a whole with all the small parts working together to make things run smoothly. For example, these smaller parts are known as institutions. These may include: inequality, education, religion, sports, politics etc. We as the people of tomorrow live in a very controversial society where there are a lot of factors that restricts us from these types of institutions that may very well have us depending on the government in the long run. One of the institutions that we are restricted from on a daily basis is, education. The educational system is viewed as an important factor to maintain social order and stability, and most of the

This essay is an attempt to discuss the problems political parties in Zambia are facing by using structural-functionalist and their contributions to liberal democracy. The academic piece shall begin by defining the key terms; those being, structural-functionalist, political parties and liberal democracy. This will be followed by a comprehensive discussion of political parties, focused on, with examples, the Zambian scene. Lastly, a brief conclusion based on the discussion will be outlined.

In the above statement, Grugeon and Gardner criticise those who ‘view language as though it were an object’. By describing language as an object, it gives the impression of something static; incapable of growth or adaptation. In the author’s view, to think of language in this way disregards the different meanings that words can have in different social contexts. Language is a constantly evolving tool for communication and while many view it as though it is a constant framework, static and unchanging, the truth is that language is always developing and changing. To get the most out of language we must view it not as a strict set of rules; rather we should view it as the socio-cultural construct that it is. Language and culture are closely

According to Halliday systemic functional linguistics (SFL) considers a language as a system of expressing meaning within context. Generally it is applied in understanding the quality of texts, the most authentic products of human interaction. Halliday (1985) considers a text as a semantic phenomenon but not as a grammatical one. However, as he notes semantics is interrelated to grammar as meaning is conveyed through wording that is with the help of grammar. In order to trace the meaning of a text discursive grammar should be functional and semantic at the same time, to be precise, grammatical categories must be interpreted as an expression of semantic models. Thus, according to Fontaine

Griemas’ work Structural Semantic (1966) is an important work of structuralist narratology. He develops structural semantics based on Saussaure’s notion of binary opposition which he has called structural semiotics. For Griemas there always exists opposition to generate meaning. He declares that there are various sematic units that work in opposition. He called these as seme. And meaning comes out in the opposition between semes, for example, old/young; black/white; boy/girl etc. These semes function as actants (structural unit, neither a character nor a specific narrative event) to produce narrative. Griemas’ semes are based on Saussurean notion that form the basic formula, the rules and the underlying structure of language (langue). The semes express themselves as narrative and plots and stories in contexts (parole). Thus the semes in different combinations are stated in particular contexts to generate stories in particular contexts. In literary theory, the basic structure of the production of meaning through binary opposition is called signification. We often find the dual opposition or semes in a text or any piece of

Poststructuralism mainly criticizes the dependence of structuralism on tradition and opposes traditional structuralism to focus research on objectivity and rationality. It attempts to restore irrational tendencies, pursue from the logic, but produce non-logical results. There is seldom a coherent theory in the field of poststructuralism, but each theory begins with a critique of Structuralism. Take the documentary as an example, in the view of the poststructuralist theorists, there is nothing else other than ideology, and any objective and true claim is doubtful in the documentary expression. For many people, such a poststructuralist approach is disappointing. If the documentary cannot get any form of objectivity or authenticity, even full of "fiction" like other feature film, then, how does documentary confirm its identity and value? For the moment, the response of the theorists to this issue is not sufficient, but I am in favor of Carl's point of view. Carl (1996) argues that the theory of poststructuralism and postmodernism is untenable as a philosophy. Also, as a basis for political analysis and political action, it is a failure. The research on poststructuralism is political, because many poststructuralists believe that the world which people living now is just a social construct, and there are many different ideology promoters who want to be hegemonic. This is obviously not acceptable.

‘….to view language as though it were an object, devoid of the social context of its creation and use, is to dislocate it from the field of human interaction within which language derives the full quality of its meanings…’ Grugeon and Gardner, (2000) make a bold statement. However, once the individual investigates the origins of English and how it has adapted, not only through time but how much the same language has changed from one place to the next. The constant adaption of English through social context has been prevalent since its rocky beginnings around the fifth century (Crystal, 2003). It also becomes clear to teachers that having a

Despite the recent surge in the ecosystem strategies of firms in both the practitioners and academics sphere, our understanding of why some ecosystem orchestrators create and capture more value than others still remain incomplete (Adner, 2017). Prior studies have traditionally explained the performance of focal firms from either the structural properties of the ecosystem (structuralist perspective) or from the network/relational embeddedness of partners within the ecosystem (actor centric perspective). In this study, we provide an alternative explanation for the heterogeneity in the performance of focal firms by focusing on the architectural features of the ecosystem, which constitutes of technologies and actors interacting within the

Prior to the work of Saussure, the study of language basically consisted of a track changes in the mode of using words. According to Saussure, this procedure ignores the central feature of the language.

Structural linguistics is a method of analyzing languages, broken down into signs, both syntactically and lexically. Signs, in a structural context, are associations between concepts and means of expressing those concepts. Comparing opposed syntagma and signs in this exploded arrangement permits understanding of linguistic associations (syntax, etc.). By examining the paradigmatic relations between signs, and diachronic syntagmatic configurations (something Lévi-Strauss applied heavily in his theories about structural mythology), a basic objective understanding of the langue in question can be gleaned from examples of its verbiage.