Lecture on Structuralism in critical theory:

 

"The idea behind Structuralism is that, There are things we may not know but we can learn how they are related to each other. This has been used by science since it existed and can be extended to a few other studies like linguistics and mythology but certainly not to everything. The great speculative structures are made to be broken. There is not one of them that can hope to last more than a few decades or at most a century or two"- Claude Levi Strauss. 

Introduction:

For today we are going to see a concept called Structuralism instead of facts. And this information was given by my friend K C Prakalya in the class as a lecture to us. I took the summary of her lecture, and these are the points we have regarding the concept of Structuralism on the subject of Critical theory. 

Structuralism:

Have you ever tried solving a jigsaw puzzle without knowing the final picture? How do you know where each piece fits? Or just think about your favorite dish, It can be biryani/pasta/cake or anything. What makes it taste the way it does? It's not just about the ingredients but the way they are put together. Its recipe that matters isn't it? 

That's exactly how structuralism works. It believes that, to understand any story to look at the bigger picture; Just like we need a system or a structure. A puzzle or story makes sense only when we see how its parts fit into the larger pattern or structure. 

So, basically structuralism is about looking for the underlying structures or conceptual frameworks in a Literary text. It is an approach which comes from linguistics and Semiology.

Structuralism, as the word suggests is the study of structures in language. The main idea of structuralism is that“ Art has a unifying structure”.

Structuralism looks for patterns, One of the most Important pattern is Binary Opposition, which is like opposites - [male/female, good/evil, light/dark, order/chaos, etc.,)

For example, consider the play 'Romeo and Juliet' by William Shakespeare. The story is simple :A boy meets a girl - they fall in love - And at last they kill themselves as a result of their love. There is also a parallel plot, a conflict between two families.

So, Structuralists interpretation focuses on the overall plot and the main binary opposition of the play. In Romeo and Juliet, the main binary opposition is Love/Hate, It is found throughout the play the opposition between Romeo and Juliet's love for each other compared to the hatred of that two families have for each other.

Structuralism was marked and bloomed in 1950s and 1960s. It became more and more important and influential in the 1960s.

Edward Bradford Titchener coined the term 'Structuralism' in psychology.

As structuralism is a Criss cross of Psychology, Linguistics, Sociology, Anthropology, etc. We have many thinkers in Structuralism across disciplines.

Examples of some notable structuralists:

Some of the main thinkers of structuralism are,

1. Ferdinand de Saussure
2. Claude Levi Strauss
3. Jacques Lacan
4. Emile Durkheim
5. Roland Barthes, etc.

Notably, Ferdinand de Saussure is considered as the 'Father of Structuralism' in Literary Theory.

He is a Swiss Linguist whose work laid foundation for structuralism by analysing language system of signs.

Conclusion:

By this the lecture given by K C Prakalya we come to a conclusion and fetched an insightful information given by her in the field of critical theory with a good body language, eye contact and fluent speech. I hope I wove the concept of structuralism in a more simpler way from her lecture.

"Knowledge is love and light and vision. Wisdom is knowing what to do next".

 So..meet you next with new facts ✌