Eduqas GCSE English Literature key terms

The process by which someone takes prejudiced assumptions about their own racial identity into their view of themselves.

Rhyme involving words within a line rather than only at line endings.

An explanation of a text's meaning supported by its words and patterns.

Fiction imagining an invasion, often exploring fears about a country's military weakness and vulnerability to a foreign power.

A difference between an expectation or apparent meaning and what actually happens or is understood.

Separation from other people or from meaningful relationships; it can be physical, emotional or social.

Relating to the reign of James I of England, from 1603 to 1625.

Fear or suspicion that someone else threatens a valued relationship; the word can also describe resentment of another person's advantages.

An arrangement providing property or income for a wife, especially after her husband's death.

Fair treatment and the giving of what is rightfully due. In the play, characters disagree about whether enforcing a legal entitlement necessarily produces justice.

Placing characters, events or ideas close together so that their similarities and differences become significant.

A Japanese military pilot sent to crash an aircraft into an enemy target in a suicide attack during the closing stages of the Second World War.

A broad, dry region of southern Africa.

Qualities suitable for a king, including justice, truthfulness, self-control, generosity, mercy and courage.

A historical name for scrofula, a disease associated with swollen lymph nodes in the neck, which monarchs were believed to heal through the royal touch.

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

A small hill; a ‘kopje-crest’ is its summit.

A social class of country landowners below the peerage, whose income commonly came from their estates, including rents paid by tenant farmers.

An addictive preparation made by dissolving opium extracts in alcohol, widely used in nineteenth-century medicines for pain relief and other purposes.

A system of enforceable rules. Venetian law provides the authority through which Shylock pursues his bond and Portia defeats his claim.

Temporary, accepted freedom to overturn ordinary rules and social roles during a festive occasion.

A professional entertainer permitted to mock and criticise social superiors within the accepted role of a fool.

An army officer who acts as a commander’s deputy; Cassio initially holds this position under Othello.

An interpretation that follows the exact words of an agreement rather than its broader purpose.

A literary work or story that a writer draws on and adapts when creating a new work.

A Church appointment carrying an income and usually a home for the clergyman. Mr Collins holds the living at Hunsford.

A temporary leader of Christmas festivities whose mock authority allowed ordinary rules and hierarchies to be overturned.