在本雅明的批评理论的概念发展中，辩证意象是核心方法论和理论使命。本雅明指出，要将忧郁的寓言意象和非忧郁的辩证意象二者区分清楚，他借助于《拱廊街计划》的笔记，分析了辩证意象。此外，苏珊·巴克-莫斯对本雅明的作品进行了分析，她正确地看到，本雅明作品中的辩证意象是“多元决定论”的，辩证意象的非武断性问题是关键点。“真理时代”即标志着“世俗时代”的连续性的瞬间破裂。商品的突然出现，不再作为古老的愿望意象，而是作为惊人的辩证意象。对于批评家来说，世界是由物质材料的碎片组成的。对于忧郁症患者来说，“世界”理应被贬值。贬值的世界转换成了碎片化的世界。就本雅明的辩证意象而言，毁灭是一个必要条件。破坏不仅将客体从嵌入的历史连续性中抽离出来，而且也毁坏了这种连续性。大量的碎片是历史重建的物质资料。辩证的意象并不是简单地出现，而是完全作为破坏的结果形成的。历史通过“破坏”进行重建，碎片化的材料构成了世界。
The dialectical image is the central methodological and theoretical undertaking of Benjamin’s mature criticism. Benjamin indicated that we must distinguish clearly between allegorical image，which is melancholic，and dialectical image，which cannot be. The author analysed the dialectical image by the notes for the Passagenwerk. In addition，Buck-Morss analysed Benjamin’s work. she said the dialectical image is “over determined” in Benjamin’s work，the question of the nonarbitrariness of the dialectical image is of principal interest. This “time of truth” marks a momentary rupture in the continuum of “profane” time. The sudden appearance of the commodity，no longer as archaic wish image，but as startling dialectical image. For the critic，the world must transform itself into fragments as the provision of material. For the melancholic，the world deserves to be devalued. The transformation of a devalued world into a world of fragments. For Benjamin’s dialectical image as well，destruction is a necessary condition. Destruction not only removes the object from its embeddedness in the historical continuum，but also it demolishes this continuum. The wealth of fragments is the material for historical reconstruction. The dialectical image does mot simply appear，fully formed，as the result of destruction. The history “reconstructed” by destruction，the world must transform itself into fragments as the provision of material.
