The Formalist Approach to Literature

THE FORMALISTIC APPROACH TO LITERATURE …and to Young Goodman Brown

What is the Formalistic Approach?

…what

is formalism?

Formalism The term formalism describes an emphasis on form over content or meaning in the arts, literature, or  philosophy.

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A practitioner of formalism is called a formalist. ...

Formalism/New Criticism The formalist movement began in England with the publication of I.A. Richards’ Practical Criticism (1929). 

American critics (such as John Crowe Ransom, Robert Penn Warren, Warren, and Cleanth Brooks) adapted formalism and termed their adaptation “New Criticism.”

So the Formalistic Approach is… 

A critical approach that analyzes, interprets, or  evaluates the inherent features of a text. These features include not only grammar and syntax but also literary devices such as meter and tropes.

Formalism Has the advantage of forcing writers to evaluate a work on its own terms rather than to rely on “accepted” notions of the writer’s writer ’s work 

Works best when applied to poetry and short fiction.

Formalism Attempts to discover meaning by close reading of a work of  literature. Focus is on:

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Form, organization, and structure

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Word choice and language

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Multiple meanings

Considers the work in isolation, disregarding author’s intent, author’s background, context, and anything else outside of  the work itself.

 The Formalistic Approach look at…

DOES NOT

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The name of the author.

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The nationality or era of the composition.

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The speakers background, or biographical information.

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Whether or not the author the had adapted this work from a past experience.

A formalist does not look at the

who, what, when, where or

why…

They look at the

how 

Formalistic Approach Summary 

The object of formalistic criticism is to find the key to the structure and meaning of the literary work

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We search for form which is necessary for real understanding

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A unifying pattern is the pattern that as modern critics say, say, informs or shapes the work inwardly and gives its parts a relevance to the whole

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We must narrow our attention to what the t he literary work says but we must first consider how it is said 

Formalistic Approach Summary Suggests that the reader see what is in the poem, novel, or  the play rather than to consider what is outside it. 

First step in explaining the literary work is to discover  what the words actually mean in their full denotative and connotative value.

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Principle by which content and form inseparable— i nseparable— ○ Imagery, tone, meters, rhymes, etc 

Formalism/New Criticism 

New Criticism varied from formalism in that New Criticism focuses on image, symbol, symbol, and meaning. Tradit Traditional ional formalists often attacked New Critics for their lack of  attention to the form of the work.

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Seminal works on New Criticism include John Crowe Ransom’s The New Criticism (1941) and Cleanth Brooks’ The Well Wrought Urn (1947).

Impact of Formalism Formalism Today oday,, few critics adhere only to the th e formalist or New Criticism theory.

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However, its back-to-the-basics approach pervades many other critical theories.

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 Young Goodman Brown 

…and how to view it via the formalistic f ormalistic approach…

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In Nathaniel Nathanie l Hawthorne's Young Young Goodman Brown, there are numerous formalistic approach concepts. This method to reading, which is one of the most common, has three main points: symbolism, allegory allegory,, and allusion. allusion. Even though these main points are most prominent, there are other points such as, ambiguity, and organic form. form.

Ambiguity in YGB 

Ambiguity Allows for two or more simultaneous interpretations interpretations of a word, phrase, action, or situation, all of which can be supported by the context of a work.

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Ambiguity in YGB Deliberate ambiguity can contribute to the effectiveness effect iveness and richness of a work, for  example, in the open-ended conclusion to Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown." However,, unintentional ambiguity obscures However meaning and can confuse readers.

What is the meaning behind the pink ribbons? Are they emblematic of love, of  innocence, of good?  Conversely, do they suggest evil or  hypocrisy, or the ambiguous and puzzling blend of good and evil? 

Faith vs. faith 

Does Goodman Brown lose Faith or  faith?

Allegory in Young Goodman Brown 

The story Young Goodman is allegorical, meaning that the characters and objects in the story represent abstract ideas.

Allegory and Faith 

In Young Goodman Brown, we have Brown’s Brown’ s wife Faith and the spiritual faith which contribute to the ambiguity of the short story.

Allegory and faith If the tale is allegorical, for example, it may be that Goodman Brown gained his faith three months before the action of the story, when he and Faith were married. The allegory may further suggest that Goodman Brown shortly loses his new faith, for “he shrank from the bosom of Faith”

Allegory in YGB 

Allegory is difficult to maintain, often requiring a rigid one-to-one equivalence between the surface meaning and a “higher” meaning. Thus if Faith is faith, and Goodman Brown loses the latter, latter, how do we explain that faith remains with him and even outlives him?

Allegory in YGB 

Strict allegory would require that she disappear, perhaps even vanish in that dark cloud from which the pink ribbon apparently falls. On the other hand, a pattern of symbolism centering on Faith is easier  to handle, and may help by offering more pervasive, and more subtle interweaving ideas.

Symbolism - Faith Goodman Brown's wife, Faith, symbolizes Brown's spiritual faith. When he sees her  in the forest at the witches' sabbath, he realizes he is in danger of losing not only his wife but also his spiritual faith.

Symbolism and The Forest as Eden

Symbolism – The Forest as Eden 

Goodman Brown appears to represent human beings confronted with temptation–that is, he wishes to enter the dark forest of sin, so to speak, to satisfy his curiosity about the happenings there and perhaps even to take part in them.

Symbolism – The Forest as Eden The man who meets Brown in the forest appears to represent the devil; his staff is a symbol of the devil as a serpent. Thus, we have Adam (Brown, curious to learn forbidden knowledge) facing the serpent in the Garden of Eden. It was, of course, a tree—the Tree of Knowledge—that enticed Adam. Goodman Brown is enticed by an entire forest. Like Adam, Adam, he suffers a great fall from innocence.

Symbolism – The Forest as Eden Faith appears to represent Brown’s religious faith and his faith in others; her pink ribbons stand for innocence. But when she also appears at the witches' sabbath —apparently, like Eve, desiring forbidden knowledge—she too loses her  innocence. At the last moment before his and his wife's baptism into the evil society gathered in the forest, Brown urges his wife: "Look up to Heaven, and resist the Wicked One." He then finds himself alone in the forest, wondering whether he has awakened from a dream or really did attend the witches' sabbath. But the damage is done, and he becomes "a stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man."

Allusions within  Young Goodman Brown 

Goodman: Husband or master of a household.

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Goody: (1) Housewife, especially an elderly one, of a lower class; (2) any lower-class woman; (3) housewife or mistress of a household. King William (Paragraph 13): William III, king of England from 1689 to 1702.

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Wot'st: (Paragraph 15): Know Know..

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King Philip (Paragraph 18): Nickname of the Wampanoag Indian chief Metacom (or Metacomet). Maltreatment of Indians by whites provoked him into waging what came to be known as King Philip's War against New Englanders in 1675-1676. His defiance instilled fear in the white inhabitants of New England.

Allusions within  Young Goodman Brown 

Lecture-Day (Paragraph 21): Weekday on which a sermon was given.

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E'en Go Thy Ways (Paragraph 25): Just (righteous) be thy ways.

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Cinquefoil (Paragraph 32): Flowering plant of the rose family that has white, red, or yellow petals.

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Wolf's Bane (Paragraph 32): Wolfsbane, a poisonous plant.

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Devil's Staff (Paragraph 36): The narrator says, "So saying, he threw it [the staff] down at her feet, where, perhaps, it assumed life, being one of the rods which its owner had formerly lent to the Egyptian magi." This passage alludes to verses 8-12 in Chapter 7 of the Bible's Book of Exodus. According to these verses, God directs Moses to tell Aaron, his brother, to cast down his staff before the throne of the pharaoh of Egypt. When he does so, it transforms itself  into a serpent. The pharaoh's magicians (magi) then cast down their  staffs, which in like manner turned into serpents. However, Aaron's staff consumes the staffs of the magicians.

One characteristic we must look at when analyzing  Young Goodman Brown is form; the structure or style of a text.

 Young Goodman Brown - Form 

A short story like YGB, as opposed to a long novel, is structured in such a way that there are a few notable characters and only one major situation.

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As a result, a short story like YGB reaches its climax and solution and thus quickly comes to an end.

 Young Goodman Brown - Form A short story is restricted in scope, like a news story, story, but unlike the news story, the short story possess the balance and design-the polish and finish, the completeness which we associate with the work of art. 

In brief, like any other imaginative literary work, the short story possesses form.

Organic Form 

The organic form has two parts: The

local texture The logical structure.

Local Texture 

The local texture is the comparison that is made between things. A comparison comparison in this story would be the description of red fire and a man who is mean and controlling. A comparison can be made to the devil and hell.

Logical Structure 

The logical structure of this story is a young man that has a wife, who ironically is named Faith, goes out one night on a journey. His wife begs him not to go but he does anyway. On his journey he encounters the devil, and because of this devil he loses his wife Faith, and his own faith. When he comes back from his journey he is a changed man for the worst, in a sense that he treats everyone as a sinner, and forever treats people with disgust.

Virtues and Vices 

If you use your prior knowledge of Puritans you would or  should have come to the conclusion that this would be a stereotypical story where the protagonist (Goodman) would be tempted by the devil or some evil creature that somehow makes the faithful protagonist lose their faith and then somehow regain it. However as this story progresses it is shown that this was not the case.