English Literature key terms

The emotional release or clarification experienced by an audience through a tragedy, especially through pity and fear.

Care taken to avoid danger or mistakes by considering possible consequences.

The suppression of speech, writing or other expression by those in authority.

An unpredictable or accidental occurrence, which need not be part of a predetermined plan.

A chapel associated with prayers for the dead; Olivia takes Sebastian to a nearby chantry to pledge his faith before a priest.

A character’s development across a text, including changes in behaviour, understanding or values.

The way a character changes during a text as events alter their understanding, attitudes or behaviour.

The ways a writer creates and develops a character through speech, actions, relationships and other characters’ responses.

Generous help for people in need; in Christian teaching, also love and care for others.

A school partly supported by donations to educate children whose families cannot afford the full cost of their education and upkeep.

An object believed to have magical powers.

Authorised or regulated by a legal charter. In Blake’s poem, the word suggests that public space and even nature are subject to ownership and control.

Abstaining from sexual activity; in Prospero’s instructions to Ferdinand, it means not having sex before marriage.

A rhetorical pattern in which the order of ideas or words in one phrase is reversed in the next.

The employment of children, often in demanding or dangerous work that limits their opportunities for education.

An accepted code of honourable behaviour; in the brother’s fight, ‘pugilistic chivalry’ means the fair conduct associated with boxing.

A speaker or group of speakers who addresses the audience and comments on a play's action.

The Christian ceremony of baptism, often involving the naming of a child and welcoming them into the Church.

A Christian approach to interpretation that reads people or events associated with the Old Testament as anticipating or contrasting with those of the New Testament.

The order in which events happen in time, which may differ from the order in which an audience learns about them.

England’s established Christian church, whose parish worship contrasts with the independent chapel community in Lantern Yard.

An arrangement in which an ending returns to important features of the beginning, often revealing what has changed or failed to change.

Evidence that suggests a conclusion indirectly rather than directly proving it, such as finding a stolen object in someone’s clothing.

The organised life of a society, including its institutions, shared knowledge, culture and ways of living together.

A struggle between armies belonging to the same country or political community. At Philippi, Romans fight other Romans.

A social grouping distinguished by its access to wealth, power and status. Animal Farm develops a division between privileged rulers and animals whose labour supports them.

A difference in social standing that shapes relationships and expectations, such as the relationship between a wealthy employer and a household servant.