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GCSE English Literature · key term
The belief that God guides events and human lives. Nancy interprets her childlessness as an expression of Providence.
Used by AQA, Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas
Paper 1
God's guidance or governing purpose in the world.
Revise: Fate and free willChristian belief in providence offers a different framework from astrology: divine guidance rather than control by stars. Christian ideas of moral responsibility also leave room for people to choose between right and wrong. Shakespeare brings these ideas into contact without making them identical.
Paper 2
Connect context to a particular detail: for example, Godfrey’s assumptions about Silas reveal class prejudice, while Nancy’s refusal to adopt reveals her understanding of Providence.
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A belief that events are guided by God. Rochester interprets his suffering and reunion with Jane as divine judgment followed by mercy.
Divine guidance or care. Dolly understands Eppie’s arrival as an act of providence.
The belief that God guides events and human lives. Nancy interprets her childlessness as a decision of Providence that she should not resist.
The belief that God guides events. Silas interprets Eppie’s arrival as a blessing that rescued him from misery.
God’s guidance of events and human lives. Nancy believes that accepting Providence means submitting to the circumstances God has given her.
God’s guidance or care for human lives. Silas comes to interpret Eppie’s arrival as evidence of a goodness working beyond his understanding.
God’s guidance or ordering of events. Characters interpret Providence differently when deciding what their responsibilities are.
God’s guidance or ordering of events; characters may interpret what happens to them as an expression of divine purpose.
The belief that divine power guides events in human lives.
Paper 1
The belief that God guides events and cares for creation.
Revise: Religion and faithReaders may understand the natural process as providence, or see thanksgiving as an emotional response to a rescue that science explains. The novel strongly challenges guaranteed divine protection, but it leaves more space for gratitude, humility and compassionate faith.
An interpretation of events as directed by God. Rochester understands his suffering and reunion with Jane through divine judgement and mercy.
Component 2
God’s guidance or ordering of events in human life. In Silas Marner, characters interpret this guidance in different ways.
Revise: Chapters 16 to 18: sixteen years laterNancy believes that adopting a child when they have been denied children of their own would oppose Providence. She distinguishes their situation from Silas’s because Eppie came to him without his seeking her. Her refusal is not caused by dislike of children; it comes from a rigid religious principle and very limited experience of adoption.
The belief that events are guided by God’s care or purpose. Silas interprets Eppie’s arrival as a blessing that saved him.
The belief that God guides events and determines people’s circumstances. Nancy interprets her childlessness as a lot she should accept rather than try to change through adoption.
The belief that God guides events and cares for human beings.
God’s guidance or ordering of events in human life.
The belief that divine power guides events in human life.
God’s guidance or care for the world; a providential reading interprets events as part of a divine purpose.
