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GCSE English Literature · key term
Deliberately causing someone to believe something untrue through words, actions or concealment.
Used by AQA, Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas
Paper 1
A deliberate attempt to make someone believe something false, through words, behaviour or misleading evidence.
Revise: Appearance and realityDeception helps Macbeth gain power, but misleading appearances also prevent him from judging his own safety accurately.
Deliberately making someone believe something false, through words, appearances or staged events.
Build an argument about what deception achieves and what it costs, rather than listing characters who lie.
Build an argument about what deception achieves, rather than listing tricks in plot order.
For an extract question, analyse the extract closely and connect its presentation of deception to relevant moments elsewhere in the play.
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Paper 1
Revise: Appearance and realityAmbition helps explain why Macbeth wants power; deception explains how he gains and protects it. Guilt later makes the concealed truth harder to contain. Shakespeare also explores unreliable perception: what a character sees or believes is not always a dependable guide to reality.
Deliberately making someone believe something that is untrue.
Deliberately misleading someone into believing something untrue.
Paper 2
Deliberately causing someone to believe something untrue, through words, actions or a misleading appearance.
Revise: Deception and appearancesIn Much Ado About Nothing, deception can bring people together, tear them apart or repair the damage caused by another deception. Shakespeare repeatedly separates appearance from reality: what characters think they see or hear is not necessarily the truth. The important question is therefore not simply whether someone lies, but why they do it, how others respond and what follows.
Component 1
The deliberate concealment or distortion of truth to mislead someone.
Revise: Appearance and realityIn Act 1 Scene 5, Lady Macbeth notices that Macbeth's face risks revealing his thoughts. Her instruction “Look like the time;” means that he should match the occasion, appearing welcoming when Duncan visits. Her references to his eye, hand and tongue make deception a performance involving expression, gesture and speech.
Deliberately causing someone to believe something that is untrue, through lies, concealment or manipulation.
An act intended to make someone believe something false.
Deliberately causing someone to believe something false, through words, actions or appearances.
