Beaumarchais originally set The Marriage of Figaro in France in the 1780s. Do you think changing the setting to Spain lessens any of the issues he raises about social classes and rebellion against it? Write a paper comparing the social and political environments of these two countries.

Critics disagree as to whether Figaro's monologue in act 5, in which he chronicles the abuses of the nobility against the lower classes, forecasts the French Revolution and the end of the French aristocracy. Write a persuasive essay supporting this belief or attacking it.

Read The Barber of Seville. Compare Beaumarchais's characterizations of the Count, the Countess (Rosine), and Figaro in the two works.

Conduct research to find out more about the social abuses of the aristocracy in the years prior to the French Revolution. Does Beaumarchais do a good job of presenting these issues? Explain...