AQA GCSE English Literature key terms

The money or property a woman brings to marriage. Collins describes Elizabeth’s small marriage fortune as her ‘portion’.

A person who suffers or dies for their religious faith or principles.

The qualities a society associates with being a man. In Much Ado About Nothing, characters debate whether manhood means military courage, clever speech or responsible action.

An elaborate entertainment combining poetry, music, costume and dance, often associated with royal courts. Prospero’s spirits perform one to celebrate Miranda and Ferdinand’s betrothal.

An approach that explains phenomena through physical matter and processes. In the novella, Lanyon’s material outlook contrasts with Jekyll’s investigation of the spirit and identity.

A short, memorable statement expressing a principle or rule of conduct.

A persistent sadness or tendency towards sorrow; Antonio’s melancholy shapes his presentation from the opening scene.

Motivated chiefly by financial gain rather than affection or principle.

A trader who buys and sells goods. Antonio’s wealth depends on goods transported by sea.

Compassion shown towards someone whom one has the power to punish.

A comparison that presents one thing as another, encouraging the reader to understand it through the qualities of that other thing.

A play’s attention to its own theatrical nature, for example through a performance within the play or references to actors and staging.

A deliberate choice a writer makes to communicate meaning, such as a word, image, repeated phrase, speaking voice or arrangement of ideas.

The patterned arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in verse.

A reserve military force raised for service within Britain, including defence against invasion.

A person who hoards money and is reluctant to spend it, even for their own comfort.

Prejudice against women, expressed through hostility, contempt or generalised assumptions about them.

A mistaken understanding or judgement; the Friar uses this word to describe the princes' belief that Hero is guilty.

A person who works to spread their religious faith, often in another country.

A circumstance that makes wrongdoing more understandable or may reduce blame, without necessarily excusing the action.

The exercise of power by a disorderly crowd through intimidation or violence rather than lawful judgement.

The comic treatment of an ordinary or small-scale subject as though it were grand or heroic.

A verb expressing possibility, certainty, permission or obligation. “Could” and “might” help make the imagined changes in “Tissue” tentative.

A large single block of stone, often used as a monument; it can also suggest a powerful, inflexible institution.

The presence of competing moral qualities or interpretations, making a person or action difficult to judge as entirely good or entirely bad.

An individual’s principles about right and wrong, which may differ from the law or from other people’s principles.

A story that teaches a moral lesson through its characters and events.