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Test your English skills in this enjoyable quiz.

Theme

Themes are the big ideas running through a text. Learn how writers develop them through characters, settings, and patterns of language and events.

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Fascinating Fact:

Do not confuse theme with moral. A theme explores. A moral instructs. Many modern texts avoid simple lessons.

In GCSE English, a theme is an idea a text explores across its whole structure. Writers develop themes through plot choices, recurring images, viewpoint, and language patterns. Your job is to track evidence and explain how techniques build meaning for the reader.

Key Terms

Theme: A central idea or issue explored throughout a text, such as power, identity, or justice.
Motif: A repeated image, phrase, or detail that helps develop a theme.
Interpretation: A well-evidenced explanation of what a theme suggests and how the writer presents it.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

What is theme in English literature at GCSE level?

Theme is the main idea a text explores, such as love or conflict. It is developed across the whole work using character, setting, structure, and language.

How is a theme different from a moral?

A theme invites exploration and multiple views. A moral gives a clear lesson or instruction. Many modern texts explore themes without stating a single moral.

How can I identify a theme in a poem or novel?

Look for repeated ideas, patterns, and symbols. Track how characters change, how conflicts are resolved, and which images or phrases keep returning.

Try These Related Quizzes

1 .

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

-- Which theme, or themes, are evident in these lines from Wilfred Owen's poem, 'Dulce et Decorum Est'?

War and suffering

The meaning of patriotism

The glorious nature of battle

All of the above

2 .

'SHEILA: So nothing really happened. So there's nothing to be sorry for, nothing to learn. We can all go on behaving just as we did.
MRS. BIRLING: Well, why shouldn't we?
SHEILA: I tell you -- whoever that Inspector was, it was anything but a joke. You knew it then. You began to learn something. And now you've stopped. You're ready to go on in the same old way.'
-- Which theme, or themes, are evident in this dialogue between mother and daughter from J.B. Priestley's play, An Inspector Calls?

Class

Gender Conflict

Age and the ability to change

Socialism

Mrs. Birling is happy to go back to her 'same old way', while her daughter is willing to change

3 .

'"Why's he sittin' with the coloured folks?"
"Always does. He likes 'em better'n he likes us, I reckon. Lives by himself way down near the county line. He's got a coloured woman and all sorts of mixed chillun. Show you some of 'em if we see 'em."
"He doesn't look like trash," said Dill.
"He's not, he owns all one side of the river bank down there, and he's from a real old family to boot."'
-- Which theme, or themes, from Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, are evident in this dialogue between Jem and Dill?

Courage

Justice

Youth and age

Race and class prejudice

The class prejudice is evident in the reference to 'trash' and 'a real old family'

4 .

'"I wanted you to see something about her -- I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what."' -- Which theme, or themes, from Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, are evident in Atticus's speech?

Race and class prejudice

Justice

Courage

Good v. evil

Much of the violence in the novel comes from cowardice, rather than courage

5 .

'"But mercy is above this sceptred sway, it is enthroned in the hearts of kings, it is an attribute to God himself, and earthly power doth then show likest God's, when mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, though justice be thy plea, consider this -- that in the course of justice none of us should see salvation."' -- Which theme, or themes, from William Shakespeare's play, The Merchant of Venice, are evident in Portia's speech?

Nobility

Mercy and justice

Love and friendship

True wealth

Is justice found in following the letter of the law, or does mercy produce true justice?

6 .

"'Well, I ain't giving you no trouble. Think I don't like to talk to somebody ever' once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?'" -- Which theme, or themes, from John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men, are reinforced by Curley's wife's complaint?

Dreams

Freedom and self-determination

Loneliness

The futility of war

7 .

'"Antonio, I am married to a wife, which is as dear to me as life itself; but life itself, my wife, and all the world, are not with me esteem'd above thy life: I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all, here to this devil, to deliver you."' -- Which theme, or themes, from William Shakespeare's play, The Merchant of Venice, is evident in Bassanio's speech?

Nobility

Mercy and justice

Love and friendship

True wealth

8 .

'Lennie said, "Tell about that place, George."
"I jus' tol' you, jus' las' night."
"Go on -- tell again, George."
"Well, it's ten acres," said George. "got a little win'mill. Got a little shack on it, an' a chicken run. Got a kitchen, orchard, cherries, apples, peaches, 'cots, nuts, got a few berries. They's a place for alfalfa and plenty water to flood it. They's a pig pen---"
"An' rabbits, George."'
-- Which theme, or themes, from John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men, are reinforced by this dialogue between Lennie and George?

Dreams

Freedom and self-determination

Friendship

All of the above

9 .

'MR. BIRLING: By the way, there's something I'd like to mention -- in strict confidence -- while we're by ourselves. I have an idea that your mother -- Lady Croft -- while she doesn't object to my girl -- feels you might have done better for yourself socially --
GERALD, rather embarrassed, begins to murmur some dissent, but BIRLING checks him.
MR. BIRLING: No, Gerald, that's all right. Don't blame her. She comes from an old country family -- landed people and so forth -- and so it's only natural. But what I wanted to say is -- there's a fair chance that I might find my way into the next Honours List. Just a knighthood, of course.'
-- Which theme, or themes, are evident in this passage from J.B. Priestley's play, An Inspector Calls?

Class

Gender conflict

Social responsibility

Age conflict

10 .

Glory be to God for dappled things –
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;

-- Which theme is NOT evident in these lines from Gerard Manley Hopkin's poem, 'Pied Beauty'

The natural world

Religion

Beauty in imperfection

Urban v. rural life

You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - Themes

Author: Sheri Smith (PhD English Literature, English Teacher & Quiz Writer)