Jane Smiley’s novel, A Thousand Acres, is a bold, modern day response paralleling William Shakespeare’s play, King Lear through both plot and characterization choices. King Lear is based on a King’s difficult decision of dividing his precious kingdom between his daughters, whose names are Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. Likewise, A Thousand Acres centres around Larry Cook regretfully signing his land to his daughters Ginny, Rose, and Caroline. Both fathers make the mistake of leaving their youngest daughters out of the division, and are ultimately driven into insanity because of the drama that unfolds as a result. Smiley attempts to recreate King Lear from the point of view of Ginny, the Goneril equivalent. She alters Ginny in making her far more compassionate and quiet than Goneril is portrayed by Shakespeare all while still maintaining some of her undesirable behaviours. Smiley creates both noticeable discrepancies and resemblances in the character’s traits and actions in juxtaposing the protagonist, Ginny, and her Shakespearean counterpart, Goneril, as she adapts this famed play into a modern day novel.
Smiley adds a whole new level of depth to the storyline by making Ginny the first-person narrator of the story and changing certain details, which result in character foiling Goneril. Ginny is generally a very agreeable person who wishes to please everyone around her. This is clearly depicted when she agrees to her father’s plan to sign over his farm because it is what he and the others want regardless of initial doubts. She posits, “In spite of that inner clang, I tried to sound agreeable” (Smiley, 19). Ginny believes that it is too rushed of a decision, but cares too much that everyone is happy, so she agrees with the plan. Cont...
... middle of paper ...
...er’s few remaining powers and do little to stop him from running away into a treacherous storm. Contrastingly, Ginny is a much more agreeable character in comparison to Goneril and is unsuccessful in her plot to murder her sister. Goneril is ruthless as she strives for ultimate power and kills countless characters, including herself, in the process. Her hate towards her father is unjust where as Ginny has a right to be angry with him because of his inadequate parenting and downright abuse. All in all, Smiley added new life to Shakespeare’s ancient storyline from his play, King Lear, in building upon his characters and their behaviours in her modern day novel, A Thousand Acres.
Works Cited
Smiley, Jane. A Thousand Acres.
New York, USA: Knopf, 1992. Print. 04/01/2014
Shakespeare, William. King Lear.
New York, USA: Signet Classic, 1998. Print. 04/01/2014
Goneril and Regan were only after their father’s land and power. Once Cordelia was disowned and they had an equal share of the inheritance, they desired to have it all. They wanted to share nothing with their father and watched as he slowly became “mad”. He was a tragic hero because he realized that he made a mistake in choosing his eldest two daughters over his youngest. Lear was treated atrociously by his daughters and their husbands. Lear died for his mistake, but the audience could tell that he was not evil or guilty. He was an innocent man who just made a wrong decision which resulted in a deadly
This strategy, ironically, turns her into what the patriarchy has accused hers and Ginny's intertextual counterparts -Regan and Goneril- of; an inhuman half-man. When she reigns supreme over the thousand acres, she has turned into her own worst nightmare: her father.
... her sister shows how ruthless she is, but also shows how desperate she is to feel loved by another man; this could reflect the neglect that she has gotten from her father or her husband – this again links to the character of Ammu who feels worthless in the eyes of her father. When Edmund is slained by Edgar in Act 5, Scene 3, Goneril goes into a state of despair and disbelief “thou art not vanquished.” This mirrors the reaction of Lear when he finds Cordelia dead so could be used by Shakespeare to show the similarities between Lear and Goneril who both crave power and love, but have ultimately been left with nothing. Her character is one that most people would not symphasise with; James W. Bell refers to her as a “devious little conspirator,” but there are many layers to her character that Shakespeare has added to show how no person is completely “good” or “evil.”
After the death of Jane’s parents, her uncle Mr. Reed has taken her in with his family to a mansion called Gateshead Hall. Nine years after Jane uncle has past she has been trapped in Gateshead Hall while suffering the bitter treatment of her aunt Mrs. Reed. Mrs. Reed was resentful of her husband’s favoritism toward Jane and takes every opportunity to neglect and punish her. When Jane is punished by Mrs. Reed she would be sent to the red room by two of Mrs. Reed servants, Bessie and Miss Abbot. The red-room was “a spare chamber, it was one of the largest and stateliest chambers in the mansion” and in this every same chamber is where Jane uncle past (8). Not only did Mrs. Reed treat disrespectfully but her own son, Jane’s older cousin John Reed. John Reed would abuse and punish Jane several times a day, in the words of Jane; “every nerve I had feared him, and every morsel of flesh on my bones shranked when he came near”(4). Everyone would ignore Jane’s plea for help especially Mrs. Reed who would act be blind and deaf on the subject. No one except for Mr. Reed show any love and care for Jane during her childhood in Gateshead Hall. Jane said “I was a discord in Gateshead Hall; I was like nobody there; I had nothing in harmony with Mrs. Reed or her children, or her chosen vassalage” (10). Jane continued by saying that they did not love her not if as little she loved them. Although the family mistreats her, Jane still wished for the atte...
King Lear by William Shakespeare, and A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley are both fantastic tragedies that follow a similar story arc. Although King Lear was written in 1606, and A Thousand Acres was written in 1999, they contain the same essential elements of a tragedy. Jane Smiley modeled her novel after King Lear, focusing less on Lear’s story, and more on the daughters’ stories. The story-line of both is extremely similar: a father chooses to divide his land amongst his daughters, and everything following that is a disaster. King Lear and A Thousand Acres utilize the elements of unexpected suffering, suffering that extends beyond the protagonist, and society/status to mold their stories into classic tragedies.
It all began with three beautiful daughters tested to the extent of how much they loved their father. Three beautiful daughters in competition with one another. Three beautiful daughters with no real winner. The novel, A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley, is an adaption of the play King Lear by William Shakespeare. These literary works differ greatly from each other. However, both establish a certain type of dynamic within the family. Smiley’s adaptation features a similar patriarchal household to the one that is present in Shakespeare’s when showcasing the relationship with a father and daughter, and by expanding on this idea, she creates a new, separate work.
Stillinger, Jack, Deidre Lynch, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume D. New York, N.Y: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
Jane Eyre has been acclaimed as one of the best gothic novels in the Victorian Era. With Bronte’s ability to make the pages come alive with mystery, tension, excitement, and a variety of other emotions. Readers are left with rich insight into the life of a strong female lead, Jane, who is obedient, impatient, and passionate as a child, but because of the emotional and physical abuse she endures, becomes brave, patient, and forgiving as an adult. She is a complex character overall but it is only because of the emotional and physical abuse she went through as a child that allowed her to become a dynamic character.
Margaret is an intelligent, articulate, and ambitious woman who desires to rise up in social status by marrying a man of higher social rank. She attends to those above her, in hopes of elevating her status as she becomes closer to the upper-class. As a minor character, she plays a small yet crucial role in advancing Don John’s plot to slander Hero and spoil her wedding. As a lower-class character, Margaret serves as a foil to the rich girls, particularly Hero, who embodies every attitude and mindset Margaret does not. But she also offers an alternative perspective on the upper-class characters in the play. Because Margaret is victimized because of her social ambitions, punished for wanting to rise above her ...
ane Eyre is a story filled with many forms of abuse and bad customs. In this essay I will bring you close to these. I will point out tyrants and abusers that Jane faces throughout her life. Jane Eyre Is also filled with hypocrisy and I will expose that. The suffering that Jane endures will be discussed. The book Jane Eyre starts out very powerful. Our first meeting of Jane is at Gateshead. Jane is an orphan who is being taken care of by Mrs. Reed her aunt by marriage. There is no love for Jane here; not only that the only thing here for Jane is abuse. “Why was I always suffering, always browbeaten, always accused, forever condemned?”(Pg.11) Keep in mind that this girl is only 10 years old. She is all alone. She is on her own. “I was a discord in Gateshead Hall; I was like nobody there”(Pg.12) Within the First ten pages we learn of the harshest abuse Jane has to face in the book. The infamous “Red Room.” Jane is sent to the “Red Room” after a dispute with John. John is Mrs. Reeds favorite, but he is a little tyrant. The foul part is that Jane was injured by him and she got punished. The reason the “Red Room” seems scary is that it is the room Mr. Reed passed away in. “ And I thought Mr. Reed’s spirt, harassed by the wrongs of his sister’s child, might quit its abode.” So Jane feels that his spirit is present and her harassment of him might keep him from showing himself.” As Jane sits in the “Red Room” a shadow of some kind begins to move about the wall like a dancer. Jane starts to worry to the point that her mind becomes overwhelmed and she passes out. When she wakes up, she begs Bessie and Miss Abbot the help to let her out. They run to Mrs. Reed to tell her of Jane’s high fever. As the sunsets a new found factor of worry is thrown at Jane. It becomes evident that she may not make it through the night. Mr. Lloyd the doctor arrives to tend to Jane, and he recommends that Jane attend a school called Lowwood. Jane makes it through the night but her abuse and torments have just begun. She will soon face a monster and a tyrant far worse than that of young John known as Mr.
There is such an incredible amount of killing, violence, and deceit in King Lear by many characters that it is difficult to choose the most evil character. The most evil character may deceive one into thinking she is less evil than she is, but upon closer inspection it is quite clear that the most evil character is Goneril. Nevertheless, some may think Edmund, Cromwell, or Regan are the worst, but for a variety of reasons Goneril surpasses their evil. First of all, how does one define evil? Anything highly immoral is evil. In terms of the play King Lear, the most common form of evil is deceit and cruelty.
...sed him, just like how she used everyone else. Since Regan was not around to hear these claims, she still believes that Goneril loves Edmund. When Goneril comes between Regan and the man Regan loves, it is only a matter of time before either sister does something drastic.
The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition Volume1. Ed. M.H.Abrams. New York: W.W.Norton and Company, Inc., 1993.
The plot of the novel follows traditional plot guidelines; although there are many small conflicts, there is one central conflict that sets the scene for the novel. The novel is about an embarrassing mismatched couple and their five daughters. The novel begins with Mrs. Bennet, telling her daughters of the importance of marrying well. During this time a wealthy man, Charles Bingley, moves close to Netherfield, where the Bennets’ reside. The Bennet girls struggle to capture his attention, and Jane, who judges no one, is the daughter who manages to win his heart, until Mr. Bingley abruptly leaves town.