OCR GCSE English Literature key terms

An explanation of similarities and differences between texts, supported by evidence about how each writer presents an idea.

Self-satisfaction that prevents someone from recognising danger, suffering or the need to act.

The term used in Never Let Me Go for a donor’s death during the donation process. Its apparently neutral wording conceals the violence of that death.

Involvement in wrongdoing, including helping it continue through insufficient resistance or accepting its benefits.

An imagined premise that a reader is invited to accept so that a work can explore its ideas.

A grammatical construction that makes an action or outcome depend on a condition, often introduced by ‘if’.

The process through which repeated teaching and experience shape a person’s expectations and behaviour.

A narrative in which a person reveals their own actions, motives or wrongdoing, potentially combining honesty with attempts at self-justification.

A trusted person with whom someone shares private thoughts and feelings.

A struggle or clash between opposing forces, people, values or feelings. It can occur within one person as well as between groups.

Happiness within marriage.

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

A person’s sense of right and wrong, which can warn against an action or trouble them afterwards.

Comfort that helps someone cope with suffering or loss.

An officer responsible for maintaining order. In Much Ado About Nothing, Dogberry directs the watch and helps bring prisoners before the authorities.

Faithfulness or dependability that continues over time.

An older name for tuberculosis, the illness from which Helen Burns dies in Jane Eyre.

Relevant social, historical or cultural circumstances and attitudes that help explain a text’s meanings.

The act of adopting a different religious faith.

The abuse of authority or abandonment of principles for personal advantage.

An alternative argument or interpretation that tests or qualifies your main view.

A pair of consecutive lines of poetry, which need not rhyme.

A literary tradition in which a lover praises an idealised lady, often through elaborate language and images of perfection.

The process of seeking and developing a romantic relationship, often with marriage as its intended outcome.

The legal principle under which a married woman’s independent legal identity was largely absorbed into her husband’s, restricting her control over property and financial affairs.

A person’s financial reputation and ability to borrow money on the expectation that it will be repaid.

A person or organisation to whom money is owed.

A historically variable term associated with birth or ancestry in a colony. In Jane Eyre, Bertha’s mother is identified as a Creole; this should not be treated as a precise modern racial category.