Inversion of gender and class roles in King Lear
Among the central themes of Shakespeare’s play King Lear is the inversion of both gender and class roles. That is, men and women often appear in contexts that would seem to violate eary modern expectations both in terms of personal and political behavior. Moreover, class hierarchy also tends to be blurred in the play. How does gender and class inversion influence one’s interpretation of the play? Which characters and scenes are most significant in this respect? What might such transgressions suggest about Shakespeare’s views of his own society in terms of gender, class, or both?