English Literature key terms

A literary genre associated with terror, mystery, threatening or supernatural events, gloomy settings and the crossing of forbidden boundaries.

A woman employed to educate children in their own home, often living with the family that employs her.

A belief in a God-ordered hierarchy connecting creation, with each being occupying its proper position.

The prospect of receiving substantial wealth or property. Pip’s expectations also include money immediately available for his education and maintenance.

Stalin’s campaign of repression, especially in 1936–1938, involving mass arrests, imprisonment and executions of supposed enemies.

An excessive desire to acquire or keep wealth or possessions, especially at the expense of other people.

The sense of who someone is that comes from membership of a group, including its shared loyalties, expectations and behaviour.

A person who promises to take responsibility for another person’s debt or obligation.

A person responsible for caring for a child in place of their parents.

Responsibility for wrongdoing, or the distress someone feels because they believe they have done wrong. In Macbeth, these meanings do not always coincide.

A feeling of responsibility for wrongdoing. Pip sometimes feels guilty even when he has not committed the act he fears.

A gold coin worth one pound and one shilling in the novel’s historical setting.

An easily deceived person; as a verb, to gull means to trick someone.

A trick that makes someone believe something false. In the play, staged conversations persuade Beatrice and Benedick that each is loved by the other.

A scene in which a character is deliberately deceived or tricked.

A North-of-England spirit in the stories Jane remembers, which appears as a horse, mule or large dog and haunts lonely roads.

An Arabic word meaning ‘beloved woman’, used in Sudan to refer to a grandmother.

An imperfect rhyme in which words share some sounds but do not rhyme fully, such as “hat” and “light”.

A tragic error or flaw contributing to a character’s downfall. Macbeth’s unchecked ambition can be read as his hamartia.

A loom operated by a person rather than powered machinery, used to weave thread into cloth.

A worker who makes cloth on a manually operated loom, often in a home or small workshop.

A flourishing of Black literature, music and art centred on Harlem, New York, particularly during the 1920s. Langston Hughes was a leading figure.

A historical term for a prostitute or sex worker.

A winged creature from classical mythology, commonly represented as part woman and part bird; Ariel appears in this form at the banquet.

Acting too quickly, without allowing enough time for thought or preparation.

Information accepted from what other people say rather than from direct knowledge.

A vehicle used to carry a coffin to a funeral.