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Genre criticism analyzes literary works based on their genre conventions, rather than treating them as independent pieces. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is an example of a tragedy, while John Milton’s Paradise Lost could be classified as an epic poem, satire, or comedy. Genre criticism also considers whether new genres are emerging, such as internet blogs.
Genre criticism is a type of literary criticism in which the literary work is analyzed to see where it ranks in terms of genre instead of considering it a totally independent work. According to genre criticism, which falls under the broad category of rhetorical criticism, works should be interpreted according to the characteristics of the genre they fall under and how they fit into or break with that genre’s conventions. This is in contrast to other types of literary analysis, such as new criticism, in which works of literature are perused and treated as self-contained, independent pieces. Rather than looking at the individual structure and words of each literary work, genre criticism seeks to analyze a literary work by determining which genre it falls under based on genre conventions.
William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, viewed under genre criticism, would fall within the genre of tragedy, because it satisfies the conventions of that type of literature. Most tragedies begin with characters having high social standing of some sort, such as being royalty or wealthy nobles. In this play, the two protagonists, Juliet and Romeo, both come from wealthy families who rank high in the community. The protagonists of tragedies usually have a character flaw that causes them a big problem; for Romeo and Juliet, it’s their impulsiveness and desire to be together despite their families’ feud. The protagonists of tragedies usually either fall from grace and learn from their mistakes or die, as is the case in this play.
Genre criticism also focuses on deciding whether a given work qualifies, under the formal conventions associated with genres, as belonging to that genre, another genre, or two or more simultaneous genres. John Milton’s Paradise Lost, for example, could be classified as an epic poem due to its focus on the struggle between good and evil and its characters, which fit the archetypes of heroes and villains. While this is not the standard interpretation, it could also be classified as satire or comedy due to its exaggerated characters, humorous dialogue, and absurd situations. God’s character, for example, often finds humor in some of the ridiculous errors of Satan’s character in this play.
With the changing times and means of communication and writing, the various genres in which works can be classified also change. A person using gender critique, for example, might analyze internet blogs in a couple of different ways. Some blogs are personal observations or stories, while others are about factual information. Genre criticism would consider whether these blogs fit the conventions of memoirs or non-fiction articles or whether blogs, taken together, constitute an entirely new genre.
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