English Literature key terms

The informal political alliance formed by Caesar, Pompey and Crassus in 60 BC.

A Soviet programme setting economic targets over five years, especially for rapid industrial development.

A scene that returns to an earlier time in the story, revealing information about a character’s past.

The perspective through which events are presented. Much of the third-person narration in Jekyll and Hyde is focalised through Utterson: readers follow his observations, thoughts and incomplete understanding.

A character through whose perceptions events are presented. Utterson is the main focaliser for much of the novel, although a third-person narrator tells these chapters.

A character whose differences from another character help reveal important qualities or ideas.

A professional entertainer whose jokes and apparent foolishness can expose uncomfortable truths about other people.

The compulsory grouping of individual farms into large farms under state control, carried out under Stalin with devastating consequences for many peasants.

A change of religion imposed through threats or pressure rather than freely chosen.

A marriage imposed without the free consent of one or both people marrying.

A detail that anticipates a later event in a text.

A penalty incurred when someone fails to fulfil an agreement.

The loss of property as a legal penalty. Magwitch’s conviction means that his wealth is forfeited to the Crown rather than inherited by Pip.

An imitation of someone else’s writing or document intended to deceive. Utterson suspects that Jekyll has produced a letter pretending to be from Hyde.

A decision to pardon someone for wrongdoing and relinquish revenge; it does not necessarily restore affection or trust.

The overall type and conventions of a work, such as a play’s use of romantic comedy.

Chance or luck, often imagined as a power that changes people's circumstances unpredictably.

A person who seeks marriage chiefly to gain another person’s money or property.

To make an innocent person appear guilty by creating misleading evidence or accusations against them.

A structure in which one story contains another: Walton records Victor’s account, which contains the creature’s account.

A story that surrounds and contains another narrative. In Frankenstein, Walton’s letters contain Victor’s account and return at the novel’s end.

A narrator who provides the surrounding account within which other characters tell their stories.

The selection of what appears within a photograph’s boundaries; more broadly, the way information is presented to shape its interpretation.

Third-person narration that incorporates a character’s thoughts or manner of expression without directly introducing them as spoken words.

Third-person narration that adopts a character’s vocabulary, tone or thoughts without directly quoting them or repeatedly announcing ‘she thought’.

Poetry without a regular metre or fixed rhyme scheme.

The ability to make choices rather than having every action determined by an external power.