1. King Lear is much pre-occupied with issues of social injustice, inequality, and poverty. Make a list of three passages in the play that are explicitly concerned with these issues. Make a precise paraphrase of what each character is actually saying about social injustice.

2. What does Lear want from the so-called "love-auction" in Act I, Scene 1? What does Cordelia want? (Think about unconscious as well as conscious motives.) What do you think of Cordelia's response to her father's request? What has been their relationship until now? To what extent might Cordelia be "her father's daughter"?

3. Whose judgment of Lear's behaviour do you find most reliable or convincing: Goneril and Regan's? The Fool's? Edgar's?

4. Look for beast and animal imagery. List examples. How does this imagery "work" in terms of the themes of the play?

5. What is the source of the charisma that leads both Goneril and Regan to fall in love with Edmund? Do you find him attractive or unattractive? Why?

6. What kind of language is given to the Fool? What is his function?

7. King Lear is one of the most "metaphysical" or "philosophical" of Shakespeare's plays. Characters ask questions about humanity and human life, and whether our universe is divinely governed. Make a list of places in the play where such questions seem to be raised. Does the play deliver a final judgment on any of these questions?

8. "Nature" is an extremely important word in Lear. What different meanings are attached to this word? Find passages in the play to support your interpretations.

9. Is there a real villain in the text?

10. What do we mean if we call the play a tragedy?

11. Two plots exist in parallel. How do they relate to each other?

Writing and Expression:

Re-write the following examples of poorly constructed and/or incorrect sentences. Be prepared to discuss the changes you've made.

1. While walking across the lawn, my eye was caught by a brightly coloured bee.

2. Shakespeares way of approaching the sonnet is a new innovation.

3. A knowledge of past history can help us interpret historic literature.

4. The reader finds himself swept away by Lady Mary Wrath's usage of the trope of the storm tossed ship, which is utterly unique. Mary likens the lover to a ship in a storm.

5. I'm not watching The Forsyte Saga, its boring.

6. There are a set of issues to be addressed which relate to sixteenth century lyric poetry.

7. While sipping a vodka martini, a sole goose made it's way across an autumnal sky.