Edexcel GCSE English Literature key terms

A gap between appearances and reality, or between an intended meaning and what readers understand.

Separation from other people, physically or through an inability to share feelings and experiences.

Relating to the reign of James I of England; in literary study, the period and culture in which plays such as The Tempest were written and performed.

A professional entertainer who amuses a ruler or household through jokes and fooling; Trinculo is the King of Naples’s jester.

Fair treatment and proportionate accountability for wrongdoing, rather than punishment driven chiefly by personal hatred.

Placing contrasting things close together so that their differences become striking.

The position and responsibilities of a king, including governing, protecting subjects and maintaining justice.

A person who buys worn-out or injured animals for slaughter and the sale of their remains.

Understanding or information gained through learning, investigation or experience.

A Luvale coming-of-age initiation, also called mukanda, in which boys spend time apart from their community before returning with adult status.

An expression of grief, sorrow or regret.

Landowning families of high social standing who ranked below the titled nobility and drew much of their income from rents.

The words, images and verbal techniques a writer uses to create meanings and effects.

A category applied to several plays from the later part of Shakespeare's career, combining separation, suffering and extraordinary events with reunion and renewal.

An addictive preparation of opium dissolved in alcohol, widely used as a medicine in the nineteenth century.

A system of rules enforced by an authority. In The Merchant of Venice, characters appeal to law both for protection and to pursue punishment.

The historical status of being born to legally married parents, which affected rights of inheritance. Don John's birth outside marriage makes his position different from his brother's.

A group of words connected by meaning, such as words associated with sadness.

Temporary, permitted disruption of ordinary rules, especially during a festival; it does not necessarily mean permanent freedom from those rules.

A professional entertainer permitted to mock social superiors within the conventions of their role, although still dependent on their employers.

The ability to read and write. In Animal Farm, different levels of literacy affect the animals’ ability to check laws and political claims.

Applying a rule or agreement according to its exact words rather than its broader purpose.

A form of understatement that expresses an idea by denying its opposite, such as describing a misleading claim as not entirely untrue.

A clergyman’s position with an income attached to it, which could be awarded through a patron’s influence.

The painful feeling of lacking wanted friendship, affection or understanding; someone can feel lonely even when surrounded by people.

A temporary leader of Christmas revels who presided over entertainment and festive disorder, sometimes reversing normal relationships of authority.

Emotional suffering caused by love that is frustrated, uncertain or unreturned.