King Lear book club questions

The reading plan

Meeting 1: Act 1

1. What does Lear's rejection of honesty suggest about how he wants power to work?
2. Why might Gloucester and Edgar trust Edmund's warnings, and how much blame should they bear for being deceived?
3. How far does Lear's violence justify Goneril's decision to provoke a confrontation?

Meeting 2: Act 2

4. What does Edmund's success suggest about the kinds of evidence people find convincing?
5. What might Edgar gain and lose by abandoning his identity to survive?
6. What does the dispute over followers suggest about the limits of Lear's daughters' responsibility toward him?

Meeting 3: Act 3

7. How does Lear's concern for his companion change your view of him?
8. Why might a disguised beggar draw Lear's attention when food and shelter are being offered?
9. What can Lear's imagined trial offer him that an escape cannot?

Meeting 4: Act 4

10. How does Gloucester's charity complicate the relationship between needing help and giving it?
11. When does shame protect a relationship, and when does it become another obstacle, as Lear avoids Cordelia?
12. What does the reward for Gloucester's death suggest about how cruelty gains willing helpers?

Meeting 5: Act 5

13. What contrast emerges between Edgar's warning and Edmund's deadly intentions as the armies prepare to fight?
14. How should we judge Edgar's insistence that Gloucester keep moving after news of defeat and capture?
15. What value does exposing treason have when the attempt to save the prisoners comes too late?

Themes to talk about

Tips for the host

1. Open each meeting with one question everyone can answer, then go deeper.
2. Anyone who fell behind can catch up with the 15-minute summary.