AQA GCSE English Literature key terms

A narrator who participates in the story and tells it using pronouns such as ‘I’ and ‘me’.

The informal political alliance formed by Caesar, Pompey and Crassus in 60 BC.

An interruption of the present sequence of events to recount earlier events. Small’s retrospective story explains the origins of the London mystery.

The perspective through which events are presented, which may follow a particular character’s perceptions without making that character the narrator.

A character whose contrasting qualities help reveal another character’s qualities.

A change of religion imposed through threats or pressure rather than freely chosen.

An early detail that prepares readers for a later development. Napoleon’s secret education of the puppies anticipates his use of force.

A penalty incurred when someone fails to fulfil an agreement.

The loss of property as a legal penalty. Magwitch’s conviction means that his wealth is forfeited to the Crown rather than inherited by Pip.

A willingness to release resentment towards someone who has caused harm, without necessarily denying the harm or removing its consequences.

The overall type or shape of a text, such as a sonnet, including its organising conventions.

A person who seeks marriage chiefly to gain another person’s money or property.

A structure in which one story contains another: Walton records Victor’s account, which contains the creature’s account.

A narrative placed inside another narrative. In Chapter 12, Jonathan Small tells his life story within Watson’s account of the investigation.

A narrator who provides the surrounding account within which other characters tell their stories.

A narrative method that expresses a character’s thoughts or idiom within third-person narration, without directly introducing them as speech or thought.

Third-person narration that adopts a character’s vocabulary, tone or thoughts without directly quoting them or repeatedly announcing ‘she thought’.

Poetry without a regular metre or fixed rhyme scheme; it can still contain patterns of rhythm, sound and stanza organisation.

A person's ability to choose and act, rather than simply having events imposed upon them.

A member of a religious order who serves God through religious duties and work within the community. Friar Laurence belongs to the Franciscan order.

Pointlessness or ineffectiveness: effort and suffering fail to achieve a meaningful result.

The electrical stimulation of muscles, associated with experiments that made animal tissue and parts of human corpses move.

A geographical reference book containing information about places and their inhabitants.

An expectation about how someone should behave because they are male or female.

The expectations a society attaches to being a man or a woman, including how people should behave and what authority they should have.

A difference in attitudes and values between people belonging to different age groups.

The type or category of a literary work, such as comedy, tragedy or romance.

Genteel social status, refined manners or the quality of being gentlemanly. Dickens questions whether outward refinement is accompanied by genuine kindness, honesty and consideration for others.