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GCSE English Literature · key term
Respectful submission to someone regarded as superior in rank or authority.
Used by AQA, Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas
Paper 1
Respectful submission to someone regarded as socially superior or more authoritative.
Respectful submission to someone considered superior in rank, age or authority.
Use context to explain a specific detail, such as Mr Collins’s deference or Colonel Fitzwilliam’s financial expectations, rather than adding a separate historical paragraph.
Connect context to a particular choice: refusing Collins risks financial security, while resisting Lady Catherine challenges deference to rank.
Integrate context into analysis: explain how landownership, rent or social deference gives a particular word or action its significance. AO1, AO2 and AO3 are equally weighted in this 40-mark essay.
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Paper 2
Respectful submission to another person’s authority or social position.
Respectful submission to another person’s wishes or judgement, often because of their age, authority or social rank.
Behaviour that shows submission or respect towards someone regarded as superior in rank or authority.
Paper 1
Respectful submission to someone regarded as superior in status or authority.
Revise: Chapters 24 to 35As his patroness, Lady Catherine has influence over his livelihood, helping explain his deference. His delight in displaying her favour also reveals self-importance.
Respectful submission to another person’s judgement or authority, often because of their age or social rank.
Respectful submission to another person’s authority or status.
Respectful submission to another person, often because of their rank or authority.
Component 2
Respectful submission to someone regarded as having greater authority or higher social standing.
Revise: Social classWhen the offer is made in Chapter 19, the narrator describes Silas as “always ill at ease when he was being spoken to by” people labelled “betters”. His discomfort shows the power of habitual deference. The narrator’s ironic inverted commas around “betters” hold the label at a distance: Godfrey’s higher social position does not establish that he is a better person than Silas.
Respectful submission to another person’s authority or social position.
Respectful submission to someone regarded as having greater authority or social standing.
