Similarities Between King Lear And A Thousand Acres

This paper will be a unique interpretation coupled with an analysis of rhetoric in A Thousand Acre’s by Jane Smiley. This non-fiction novel is told in third person omniscient and is focused on the point of view of one of the main characters, Ginny Cook. A Thousand Acres was a modern-day retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear; set on a large farm and small town in Iowa. This setting is important to the plot because it is more realistic compared to a far away mystical land that is detached from its audience. Smiley uses various rhetorical and literary techniques within her book to engage readers while still keeping to the basic storyline previously written by Shakespeare. Smiley’s use of language positively aids the imagery and emotions seen

One’s downfall may be caused by many factors, such as an individual’s traits. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden’s cynical behaviour towards those around him causes him to see his classmates around him in a negative perspective. Similarly, in King Lear, King Lear’s attitude towards his honest daughter, Cordelia causes him to banish his most-loving and caring daughter away from England. Then, both protagonists are prompted to a punishment of physical humiliation. Likewise, both protagonists are mentally ill and have reached a breaking point, causing psychological problems. In The Catcher in the Rye and King Lear, Holden and King Lear are led to an eventual downfall due to their behaviour towards those around them, physical humiliation, and

     Shakespeare uses subplots to dramatize the action of the play and give spark on the contrast for the themes in King Lear. Sub plots usually improve the effect of dramatic irony and suspense. The latter, which is used in King Lear, gives us the understanding of the emotions of the characters in the play. This follows the parallelism between Gloucester and King Lear.

In King Lear and A Thousand Acres, the characters of Goneril, Regan, Ginny and Rose had the reflection of women in a patriarchal society. The role of Goneril and Regan are recognized as disloyal and selfish towards their father, King Lear. However, from A Thousand Acres, Smiley put stories of Ginny and Rose's childhood life with their father, how Larry have treated them growing up. Smiley had brought and filled up some parts of King Lear, trying to give readers different perspectives of women in the patriarchal society. How women who are dependent on men in a patriarchal society are weak and obedient rather than destructive.

Jane Smiley writes from a new female perspective and gives leniency to the actions of Goneril and Regan by introducing a line of reason for them. By filling in the gaps and creating a backstory for the characters that are bypassed in King Lear, Smiley advocates through her novel that women have inherent value, a kind of value separate of their usefulness to man. And thus, they have their own ambitions, flaws, opinions, and emotions like every other man. Both works portray how women are suppressed in a patriarchal society, but Smiley develops the characters with more depth to furnish rationale for their seemingly motiveless and cruel actions. Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres is a feminist refutation of the wicked roles of Goneril and Regan in King Lear with her reinterpretation of them as

Human nature is a concept that has interested scholars throughout history and brought debate over what human nature truly is. Shakespeare explores the issue of human nature in his tragedy King Lear by attempting to portray human nature as entirely good or evil. He seems to suggest, however, that it is not impossible for one to move from one end of the spectrum of human nature to the other, as multiple characters go through somewhat of a metamorphosis where their nature is changed. Shakespeare present an account of human nature in King Lear as the foundation of the tragedy King Lear.

King Lear, a tragedy by William Shakespeare, is about the delegation of power from the old generation to the young, new generation. Furthermore, the play demonstrates problems that can arise from a transfer made too early, from one generation to the next. A Thousand Acres is a modern retelling of King Lear, that is similar to King Lear, but it is not an exact word for word copy. The overall plot has been retained from King Lear, but some of the minor details have been changed to provide an intriguing new take on the same story. One such change is the fact the story goes from a third person view in King Lear, mostly following King Lear, to a first person narrative from the perspective of Ginny in A Thousand Acres. Ginny is the modern day version for Goneril’s character. King Lear and A Thousand Acres may take place in two different time periods; they both offer comments on the status of women, family relationships, and the natural order of things. The two time periods may be different, one modern day and the other set in the past, however the ideas presented are not that different on a whole. Both works presented share the same common thematic and universal elements throughout.

McDermott says that Shakespeare made his readers sympathetic to the family feud’s in the play rather than one specific person, although for the most part the readers felt sorrow for Lear (395). When Smiley wrote A Thousand Acres it was taken as a feminist work because instead of focusing the emotional appeal to the feud’s, Smiley focuses it towards Ginny and what has happened to her and Rose. Brauner states that Cordelia was damned if she speaks and damned if she does not, similar to in A Thousand Acres silence is sometimes just as frightening as speaking (659). The men in both novels are often free to speak their mind while the women are punished for saying what they feel. There are many examples of the wrongful treatment of women that these novels bring to

Living almost a century apart, Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy each explore similar themes of love through strong female characters. While society strove to keep women’s value directly tied to their marital status, Austen and Hardy wrote the stories of characters who defied these expectations. Bathsheba Everdene of Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd is a fiery young woman who inherits a farm, and Elizabeth Bennet of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is an educated woman who prides herself on speaking her mind regardless of the consequences. Both women are of marrying age, and both novels feature their romantic exploits. Besides their differing socio-economic and temporal settings, Bathsheba’s and Elizabeth’s behaviors indicate that they are facing similar feelings and conflicts when it comes to issues of love and marriage. Bathsheba goes to greater lengths to defy societal pressures than Elizabeth does, but Bathsheba’s circumstances warrant the effort. The real difference between these characters is the way in which they are written. One could not know how similar Bathsheba’s thoughts and feelings are to Elizabeth’s, because the reader rarely sees through Ms. Everdene’s eyes. Bathsheba Everdene is the greater feminist heroine when taken alongside Elizabeth Bennet; however, Hardy writes her story almost exclusively from the perspective of his male characters, leaving her represented as two-dimensional in comparison to

Gap of contexts allows us to compare the texts. Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola’s 1486 essay Oration on the dignity of man, William Shakespeare’s 1605 compelling play King Lear, and Jane Smiley’s 1991 fictional novel A Thousand Acres all explore the notion of free will through both implicit and explicit values they share. It is through comparative study of texts how one can gain a deeper understanding of those texts.

Ran (乱) is a movie directed by Akira Kurosawa, and it was inspired by one of Shakespeare’s famous plays, King Lear. The movie resolves around the emperor, Hidetora Ichimonji, who decides to retire and announces to divide his kingdom among his three sons. In exchange for the kingdom, the emperor expects to retain his title as a Great Lord and spend the rest of his life visiting his sons. The youngest son, Saburo, calls the emperor a foolish man for dividing his kingdom because there will be unity between the brothers. Infuriated by Saburo’s frankness for expressing his thoughts, Emperor Hidetora banishes both Saburo and Lord Fujimaki for attempting to defend Saburo. When Emperor Hidetora visits his two “faithful” sons, Taro and Jiro, they both

King Lear by William Shakespeare tells the tragedy of Lear, King of England, who slowly, throughout the course of the play becomes mad and eventually dies. There have been many film adaptations of the play all of which try and remain as close to the original play; however, none appear to keep the same meaning of Shakespeare’s text more than director Richard Eyre’s film version of King Lear (1997). Shakespeare focuses in on each character’s flaws and their contributions to the consequences at the end of the play and although Eyre does the same in his film, he adds minor actions and scenes to the play to give characters of the play a light

The women in both novels endure a loss of personal freedom, both mental, and physical. Jane Eyre, in her blind infatuation with Mr. Rochester, allows her emotions to enslave her. She realizes her obsession when she states, "My future husband was becoming to me my whole world; and

Despite contrasting contexts, a well-developed understanding of the shared ideas between two texts has been achieved through comparative study. The play King Lear (1606) but William Shakespeare and the Japanese film adaptation Ran (1985) by Akira Kurosawa share similar values despite coming from different parts of the world, and being written in different time periods. The concept of Chaos highlights the need to respect the values of society, and Justice is used throughout both texts to explore morality and the consequences that one’s actions possess.

The most prevailing images in King Lear are the images (metaphoric and actual) of nature. The concept of nature seems to consume the dialogue, monologues, and setting.