Ideology
Eagleton explicates, "It follows from such a rough definition of ideology that not all of our underlying judgments and categories can usefully be said to be ideological…I mean more particularly those modes of feeling, valuing, perceiving and believing which have some kind of relation to maintenance and reproduction of social power. The fact that such beliefs are by no means merely private quirks.” Ideology is a predominant motif in literary work, and ideologies themselves influence readers’ comprehension of the messages which authors really to readers through their writings. Factors beyond an individual unconscious indicate the moulding of ideology.
Feminist
Eagleton elucidates, "The feminist critic is not studying representation of gender simply because she believes that this will further her political ends. She also believes that gender and sexuality are central theses in literature and other sorts of discourse, and that any critical account which suppresses them is seriously defective." Feminist critiques dwell exclusively on the dynamics of 'gender and sexuality'; such a critic would not focus on other issues such as social class and significant focal points of other popular literary theories.
Imagination
Engels reports, “But by the time of the Romantic period, literature was becoming virtually synonymous with the 'imaginative': to write about what did not exist was somehow more soul-stirring and valuable than to pen an account of Birmingham or the circulation of the blood.” Literature does not have to be utterly factual. The Romantic epoch encourages writers’ creativity. Accordingly, inventiveness characterizes the works of Romantic authors.
“Signifiers and Signifieds”
Engels expounds, “there is no harmonious one-to-one set of correspondences between the level of the signifiers and the level of the signifieds in language. To complicate matters even further, there is no fixed distinction between signifiers and signifieds either.” The relationship between the ‘signifiers and signifieds’ is predominantly circular. The complicated relationship underscores the main drawback of ‘post-structuralism’ which makes it difficult to establish whether a term is a ‘signifier or a signified.’
Writing
Engels elucidates, “Writing seems to rob me of my being: it is a second-hand mode of communication, a pallid, mechanical transcript of speech, and so always at one remove from my consciousness. It is for this reason that the Western philosophical tradition, all the way from Plato to Levi-Strauss, has consistently vilified writing as a mere lifeless, alienated form of expression, and consistently celebrated the living voice.” Written ideas do not necessarily mirror one’s ideal voice and feelings. One could write unconsciously for the sake of doing so. Hence, the language employed in the writing is not a perfect mirror of the writer’s innermost feelings. Accordingly, celebration of writing is superfluous.
