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King Lear and you...

So, being Level 3, its important that youre able to

establish arguments about what the play is trying to do.

One way of being able to do that is to be able to discusshow the play either challenges or reinforces your world

view.

So, for the rest of the session, I want to discuss/debatewhere you stand on some of the important issues that

the play will concern itself with. This should hopefully

help us to appreciate the universal nature of the play.

7/31/2019 Intro to Big Ideas

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Family

- Is there a situation where you would feel justified

betraying a family member? if its too emotive to think

about your own family, think about families in general.

- Society sees the child of an affair differently to how they

see the child of a married couple. To what extent do you

agree?

- Parents are owed respect by their children by right. To

what extent do you agree?

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Power

- Power is arbitrary. Take the title of queen away from

the queen of England and her authority suddenly

means nothing. To what extent do you agree?

- It is human nature to seek power. To what extent do

you agree?

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Language andCommunication

- As proof of love, commitment, loyalty, etc. words are

essentially meaningless, only actions matter. To what

extent do you agree?

- Language as a means of communication is

fundamentally broken, but its all weve got so we have

to have faith in it. To what extent do you agree?

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Fate and Purpose

- What is your attitude towards fate?

- Must a belief in fate imply a belief in a god?

- What is your attitude towards the idea of purpose in

existence?

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Class

- Class continues to play a fundamental role in peoples

social relations in the modern world. To what extent do

you agree?

- A world without classes would be a much improved

world. To what extent do you agree?

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Loyalty and Commitment

- Loyalty is always its own reward. To what extent do

you agree?

- Giving up your principles is justifiable in order to gain

the power to make positive change. To what extent do

you agree?

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Gender

- When a woman takes power from a man, this is often

interpreted as emasculating - the idea that somehow a

man loses his manhood if undermined by a woman.Why do you think this idea exists?