Power and corruption
What Power and corruption means in English Literature GCSE, as defined for AQA, Pearson Edexcel.
Definitions of Power and corruption
Exam boards and our study guides word this term in slightly different ways. Learn the version your board uses.
Check what you remember
Read the wording for your board, then hide it and explain Power and corruption in your own words. Rough notes are fine. This is a self-check, with no mark or grade.
Reference: AQA
Shelley systematically condemns the ruling classes, criticising the army as a tool of oppression, the law as unjust, and the Church as godless.
The novella's themes include power and corruption, shown through the pigs' growing privileges and the moral decline of the animal leadership.
A central concern of Orwell's allegorical novella, explored through a farmyard rebellion and the pigs gradually seizing control.
Topics that use Power and corruption
- Modern texts (AQA GCSE)
- Poetry anthology: Worlds and Lives (AQA GCSE)
- Component 1: Shakespeare and Post-1914 Literature - Set Texts: Post-1914 British play or novel (Pearson Edexcel GCSE)
Related terms
- Class and social inequality
- Nature versus nurture
- Propaganda and language
- Allegory
- Belonging and displacement
- Belonging and independence
- Bildungsroman
- Capitalism
Using Power and corruption in the exam
Check the command word and mark scheme for your exact question. After comparing your explanation with the reference, use the term in an answer on the linked topic. This practice does not predict an exam mark.
Practise English Literature questions
Create a free account to answer exam-style questions on this topic and get feedback on your answers.
A week of Premium from your first lesson · Then the free plan continues · No card, no charge