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GCSE English Literature · key term
A state of sadness or thoughtful gloom. In Shakespeare's England, melancholy could also be a fashionable sign of intellectual or emotional depth.
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Paper 1
A persistent sadness or tendency towards sorrow; Antonio’s melancholy shapes his presentation from the opening scene.
Revise: AntonioShakespeare begins a comedy with melancholy, establishing an emotional uneasiness beneath its courtships and celebrations.
Paper 1, Paper 2
A sorrowful or reflective state of mind, associated in Shakespeare’s period with lovesickness, grief and sometimes intellectual distinction.
Part (b): link context to your argument, for example fashionable melancholy to Orsino's opening behaviour or household authority to his treatment of Cesario. Language analysis is not assessed in this part.
Part (b): connect context directly to your argument: festive misrule helps explain Toby’s defence of pleasure, while fashionable melancholy helps explain Orsino’s self-presentation.
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Melancholy was fashionable in late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century England. A sorrowful, contemplative mood could suggest emotional depth or intellectual distinction. This helps us recognise Orsino’s lovesickness as a familiar cultural pose as well as a personal feeling.
A sorrowful, reflective state of mind. In late-sixteenth- and early-seventeenth-century England, melancholy could also be a fashionable pose associated with sensitivity and intellectual distinction.
A mood of sustained sadness or thoughtful dejection. In Shakespeare’s England, melancholy could also be cultivated as a sign of intellectual or emotional depth.
A persistent mood of sadness or thoughtful gloom.
A thoughtful or lingering sadness that can shape the mood of a poem.
Paper 2
A persistent sadness or pensiveness. Antonio’s melancholy shapes his presentation from the opening scene.
Component 1
A state of sadness or brooding reflection, which could also be cultivated as a fashionable sign of sensitivity or intellectual depth in Shakespeare’s time.
Revise: ContextMelancholy was fashionable in late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century England. Brooding sadness could suggest artistic sensitivity or intellectual depth. Orsino’s lovesickness and Olivia’s mourning would therefore have been recognisable kinds of behaviour to Shakespeare’s audience.
A state of sadness or deep contemplation. In late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century England, melancholy could also be cultivated as a fashionable sign of sensitivity or intellectual distinction.
A lasting state of sadness or thoughtful gloom. Antonio’s melancholy shapes the opening of The Merchant of Venice.
