1. "Kings are justly called gods, for that they exercise a manner or resemblance of divine power upon earth": discuss Shakespeare's critique of the absolutist monarch in King Lear.
2. In Shakespeare's time an uncertain balance had been struck in the transition from the feudal-aristocratic society of medieval England to the emergent bourgeois state. The aristocracy and the emerging bourgeoisie were a rough match in power; each had its characteristic moral values and style of life, and each claimed that its own way constituted human nature: the personality typical of a particular class was elevated to a norm that all mankind should recognize. King Lear pits these rival concepts of human nature against each other. Discuss.
3. Discuss the relationship between female power and sexual transgression in Goneril and Regan.
10. Discuss the theme of service in King Lear.
