Edexcel GCSE English Literature key terms

A long-running conflict between families or groups, involving repeated hostility or violence.

A novel presented as an invented person’s account of their own life. In Jane Eyre, Jane tells her story; Charlotte Brontë is the author.

Faithfulness to a person or promise; in marriage, this includes keeping the commitments made to a spouse.

A duty owed by a child to a parent, including the expectation of respect and obedience.

Loyalty owed by a child to a parent.

The collected volume of Shakespeare’s plays published in 1623, which grouped them as comedies, histories and tragedies.

A narrative in which a character tells the story using ‘I’, presenting events through their own experience and understanding.

A narrative told by a speaker who refers to themselves as ‘I’, giving readers access to that speaker’s experiences and perceptions.

A character who tells events using ‘I’, giving readers access to that character’s experience but also filtering events through their judgements.

A Soviet programme setting economic production targets over five years. Stalin’s first five-year plan, launched in 1928, concentrated on rapidly expanding heavy industry.

A passage that returns to events before the narrative’s current moment.

The perspective through which events are presented. Although Austen uses a third-person narrator, much of the novel follows Elizabeth’s knowledge and judgements.

A character whose contrasting qualities help reveal another character’s values or weaknesses. Clerval’s practical care contrasts with Victor’s abandonment of his creation.

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

A marriage imposed without the free consent of one or both people marrying.

A hint or warning that prepares the reader for an event later in a text.

A penalty or something surrendered for breaking an agreement; the bond’s proposed forfeit is a pound of Antonio’s flesh.

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

An imitation of someone else’s writing or document intended to deceive. Utterson suspects that Jekyll has produced a letter pretending to be from Hyde.

A willingness to give up bitterness or revenge towards someone who has done wrong, without necessarily denying the harm.

A poem’s overall type or pattern, such as a sonnet, including conventions of length, rhyme and rhythm.

A person who pursues a wealthy partner primarily to obtain money or social advantage.

A story that surrounds and contains another story. In Frankenstein, Walton’s letters contain Victor’s account.

The selection of what appears within a photograph’s boundaries; more broadly, the way information is presented to shape its interpretation.

The presentation of a character’s thoughts within third-person narration, without always introducing them with a phrase such as ‘he thought’.

Third-person narration that takes on a character’s thoughts, vocabulary or tone without directly quoting their thoughts or repeatedly introducing them with ‘she thought’.

Poetry without a regular metre or fixed rhyme scheme; its line breaks, pauses and rhythms still shape meaning.