Edexcel GCSE English Literature key terms

A contradiction between someone’s claimed religious principles and their behaviour, especially when religious authority is used to justify mistreating others.

Deep regret and guilt about harm one has caused, rather than simply distress about one's own suffering.

Recognition of wrongdoing accompanied by a sincere intention to change.

The restraint or suppression of desires, feelings or behaviour.

A person’s standing in the judgement of others. In Austen’s novel, a woman’s reputation depends heavily on expectations about sexual conduct and family respectability.

A character’s tendency to avoid openly expressing feelings or discussing private matters.

The final part of a narrative, in which conflicts are settled or their lasting consequences become clear.

A reputation for acceptable conduct and social standing. In Silas Marner, it can reflect class privilege rather than genuine moral worth.

The obligation to care for others and answer for the consequences of one’s actions.

A narrative method that limits readers to a particular character’s knowledge or perceptions. Much of Jekyll and Hyde follows Utterson’s incomplete understanding.

Punishment or suffering understood as a consequence of wrongdoing. Godfrey sees his childless home as retribution for abandoning Eppie.

Narration in which a storyteller looks back on earlier events, allowing their later understanding to shape the account.

An account told by a narrator looking back on events that happened earlier in their life.

A narrator who recounts events after they have happened, with knowledge of their consequences.

Retaliation intended to make someone suffer for a real or perceived injury.

A major reversal in a character’s situation or fortunes. The trial reverses Shylock’s position from claimant to someone facing punishment.

A fundamental change in political power or the organisation of society, often involving the overthrow of an existing ruler.

The use of speech or writing to persuade an audience.

A question used to provoke thought or express a feeling rather than obtain a straightforward answer.

Two successive lines of poetry linked by rhyme.

The commercial and financial district of Venice, where merchants exchange business information in the play.

A change in the usual relationship between characters, such as children becoming the moral teachers of their parents.

A dramatic form in which obstacles to love, often involving disguise and mistaken identity, move towards reconciliation and marriage.

A literary movement that placed particular value on imagination, emotion, nature and individual experience.

A character whose exceptional ambition drives them beyond human, natural or moral limits, with destructive consequences. Victor’s pursuit of creative power makes him a Romantic overreacher.

A ceremony in which a monarch touched sufferers in the belief that royal power could heal disease, especially scrofula, known as the king's evil.

A group that controls a society’s decisions and resources, often protecting its own advantages.