Edexcel GCSE English Literature key terms

An Italian comic theatre tradition featuring recognisable character types, including clownish servants. Stephano and Trinculo resemble its comic pairings.

A rhythm used in many hymns, alternating iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter: lines with four and three pairs of unstressed and stressed syllables.

A political community or state, considered in terms of how its people live and are governed.

A group connected by shared place, relationships, customs or responsibilities.

A relationship that offers shared experience, affection and support.

An argument explaining a meaningful similarity or difference between texts, supported by evidence from both.

An argument explaining how texts are similar and different, supported by evidence from each.

Keeping different parts of life separate, as Wemmick separates his professional behaviour from his affectionate home life.

Involvement in wrongdoing carried out with others, even without being its main instigator.

A narrative in which a speaker admits and explains wrongdoing. It may reveal guilt while also attempting to justify it.

A priest who hears someone confess their sins and offers spiritual guidance.

A trusted person with whom someone shares private feelings or secrets.

A trusted person to whom another character reveals private thoughts and feelings.

A conclusion based on incomplete evidence rather than established knowledge.

A person with expert knowledge and judgement in a particular area, such as wine.

An association or suggestion carried by a word beyond its literal meaning.

An inner sense of right and wrong that can prompt someone to feel guilty or change their behaviour.

Comfort that eases suffering without necessarily removing its cause.

An official responsible for keeping the peace. In Elizabethan England, local constables were ordinary citizens undertaking policing duties rather than members of a modern professional police force.

The historical name for tuberculosis, the illness from which Helen Burns dies; it is distinct from Lowood’s typhus epidemic.

The circumstances and literary, historical, social or cultural influences relevant to the writing and interpretation of a text.

A statement that contradicts itself. The final Commandment claims equality while declaring that some animals have a superior status.

The presentation of differences between characters, settings or events so that their meanings become clearer.

Insulting or contemptuous treatment.

A change from one religious faith to another.

A person found guilty of a criminal offence.

The misuse of authority for personal or group advantage, often involving the abandonment of professed principles.