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GCSE English Literature · key term
Social refinement or the status associated with being a gentleman or lady. Dickens questions whether gentility in appearance proves moral worth.
Used by AQA, Edexcel and OCR
Paper 1
Genteel social status, refined manners or the quality of being gentlemanly. Dickens questions whether outward refinement is accompanied by genuine kindness, honesty and consideration for others.
The appearance or condition of belonging to polite, socially respectable society, often shown through speech, clothing and manners.
Part (a): analyse the printed extract closely. Explain how particular words, narrative voice, contrasts and the ordering of details work together to shape the presentation of class or gentility. This part assesses AO2 only, for 20 marks.
Question about gentility or injustice: connect Compeyson’s appearance, education and character witnesses to the unequal sentences. Explain the significance of these details rather than adding an unrelated paragraph about Victorian society.
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Paper 2
The appearance or condition of belonging to polite, socially respectable society.
Revise: Social class and the gentlemanBoth are productive trades, yet society treats one as compatible with gentility and the other as disqualifying. Herbert’s confident phrasing imitates a rule everyone supposedly knows without supplying a convincing moral reason for it. Dickens uses conversational comedy to expose the arbitrary nature of class prejudice.
Paper 1
The appearance or manners associated with being a gentleman or lady. Dickens questions whether gentility necessarily includes kindness and moral worth.
Revise: Chapters 20 to 29Drummle’s behaviour supplies another example of high social standing without moral gentility.
Social refinement or respectability, often expressed through manners, speech, clothes and lifestyle.
