King Lear and a Thousand Acres
King Lear and A thousand acres comparison
The one social issue that hasn’t evolved since the 17th century is the ever present schisms between families. People have always cheated, parents have always chosen favorites, and the struggles for wealth and power have always torn families apart. Most notably, these conflicts have been portrayed in Shakespeare’s King Lear and Romeo and Juliet, but the theater of family argument has also shone through in modern works such as Jane Smiley’s A Thousand Acres. Both King Lear and A Thousand Acres are enduring pieces of literature that have redefined the family complex, portrayed the death of families through jealousy and greed, and examined the reoccurring theme of fate versus free will.
Both King Lear and A Thousand Acres focus on the patriarch of a family and how he decides to distribute his assets. King Lear focuses on how Lear, the King of England, will distribute his kingdom amongst his three daughters, Cordelia, Regan, and Goneril. A Thousand Acres, on the other hand, takes a much more modern approach by detailing the life of Larry Cook, a successful Iowan farmer, and how he attempts to evade inheritance taxes by dividing his farm amongst his daughters, Caroline, Rose, and Ginny. In both literary works, the father distributes his holdings before his death, which, while at the time seems like a savvy tactic, ends up having detrimental repercussions for both men. To highlight the actions undertaken by the main characters, both authors also develop a subplot focusing on a friend of the respective fathers and how he deals with his two sons. In King Lear, Lear’s friend, Gloucester, debates upon the merits of his two sons, Edmund and Edgar, wavering in his decision on which of his sons is loyal and which son will inevitably betray him. Similarly, in A Thousand Acres, Smiley develops the subplot of the tensions between Harold and his two sons, Loren and Jess.
A major theme in both pieces is the issues of love, family
The one social issue that hasn’t evolved since the 17th century is the ever present schisms between families. People have always cheated, parents have always chosen favorites, and the struggles for wealth and power have always torn families apart. Most notably, these conflicts have been portrayed in Shakespeare’s King Lear and Romeo and Juliet, but the theater of family argument has also shone through in modern works such as Jane Smiley’s A Thousand Acres. Both King Lear and A Thousand Acres are enduring pieces of literature that have redefined the family complex, portrayed the death of families through jealousy and greed, and examined the reoccurring theme of fate versus free will.
Both King Lear and A Thousand Acres focus on the patriarch of a family and how he decides to distribute his assets. King Lear focuses on how Lear, the King of England, will distribute his kingdom amongst his three daughters, Cordelia, Regan, and Goneril. A Thousand Acres, on the other hand, takes a much more modern approach by detailing the life of Larry Cook, a successful Iowan farmer, and how he attempts to evade inheritance taxes by dividing his farm amongst his daughters, Caroline, Rose, and Ginny. In both literary works, the father distributes his holdings before his death, which, while at the time seems like a savvy tactic, ends up having detrimental repercussions for both men. To highlight the actions undertaken by the main characters, both authors also develop a subplot focusing on a friend of the respective fathers and how he deals with his two sons. In King Lear, Lear’s friend, Gloucester, debates upon the merits of his two sons, Edmund and Edgar, wavering in his decision on which of his sons is loyal and which son will inevitably betray him. Similarly, in A Thousand Acres, Smiley develops the subplot of the tensions between Harold and his two sons, Loren and Jess.
A major theme in both pieces is the issues of love, family