MORAL CRITICISM:
The
moral/intellectual critical approach is concerned with content and values. The approach is as old as literature itself,
for literature is a traditional mode of imparting morality, philosophy, and
religion. The concern in moral/intellectual
criticism is not only to discover meaning but also to determine whether works
of literature are both true and significant.
To study
literature from the moral/intellectual perspective is therefore to determine
whether a work conveys a lesson or message and whether it can help readers lead
better lives and improve their understanding of the world: What ideas does the
work contain? How strongly does the work
bring forth its ideas? What application
do the ideas have to the work’s characters and situations? How may the ideas be evaluated
intellectually? Morally? Discussions based on such questions do not
imply that literature is primarily a medium of moral and intellectual
exhortation. Ideally, moral/intellectual
criticism should differ from sermonizing to the degree that readers should
always be left with their own decisions about whether to assimilate the ideas
of a work and about whether the ideas—and values—are personally or morally
acceptable.
Sophisticated
critics have sometimes demeaned the moral/intellectual approach on the grounds
that “message hunting” reduces a work’s artistic value by treating it like a
sermon or political speech; but the approach will be valuable as long as
readers expect literature to be applicable to their own lives.
SYNOPSIS:
Once upon a time there lived three fishes in a big pond.
They were all friendly and happy. Each fish was different from the other is
character. The first fish was very wise, the second fish was very clever and
the third fish always believed in destiny. The third fish believed that what
was meant to happen would happen. One day some fishermen were passing by, they
saw the big pond and said to each other, “there seems to be a lot of fishes in
this pond, since we already have a good catch today we will come back tomorrow”.
The wise fish overheard the fishermen and was dumbfounded. The wise fish rushed
to her friends. She was breathless and terrified. She quickly informed them of
the fishermen’s plans. The clever fish immediately told the wise fish that they
should go somewhere else. The wise fish thought for some time and came up with
a plan. She told her friends that they should leave that place immediately, by
swimming fast we could reach another pond where they would be safe. The clever
fish was not ready to leave immediately. She was confident of her ability to
escape. She wanted to wait till the fishermen arrived. The third fish who
believed in destiny was not ready to leave the pond. She said that the pond
belonged to her fore fathers and she had lived in that pond all her life so she
would not go anywhere. The wise fish left the pond at once, she swam and swam
away from the pond and through a canal reached another pond. She heaved a sigh
of relief that she was finally safe. Early next morning the fishermen returned
to the pond. They had come prepared with a net. The clever fish saw them coming
from a distance and she too left the pond at once and swam away to safety. The
fishermen spread their net and caught many fishes. The third fish was caught
too. It struggled helplessly. The fishermen grabbed it and killed it.
MORAL: BE CLEVER AND SOLVE YOUR PROBLEM DO NOT DEPEND ON LUCK.
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