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Similarities Between King Lear And A Thousand Acres

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A Thousand Acres, written by James Smiley, has a unique plot based off of William Shakespeare’s King Lear. Many authors have written books based off of Shakespeare’s plays but Smiley was able to win a Pulitzer Prize on her novel by capturing King Lear’s essence and molding it to her liking. There are many similarities and differences between A Thousand Acres and King Lear that give them there own unique story on a very similar overall plot. One scene that is superb to compare and contrast is the scene where Lear or Larry splits up his land between his three daughters. In this scene the reader is able to see the similarities and differences between the themes, characterization, and the context in the novel and play. In the opening of A Thousand …show more content…

In King Lear, Lear is depicted as a very foolish and arrogant man. This is evident when Lear eats up the words of Regan and Goneril, who are lying about how they feel, when he asks his daughters to show who loves him the most. However, when his daughter Cordelia, who is Lear’s favorite daughter, does not play a long with Lear’s games as she believes her actions show her feelings toward her father more then words, Lear quickly dismisses her and decides to only give land to Regan and Cordelia. This clearly shows Lear’s arrogance and foolishness as he falls for the sap of his detached daughters and turns away from the daughter that actually loves him. In a Thousand Acres Larry Cook is depicted as more of a monster instead of a fool. In a Thousand Acres Larry is more attached to Ginny and Rose not because they tell him what he wants to here but because he molested and abused them when they were children. Larry really shows no remorse for his actions when his daughters were younger and is a lot less evil and static character then Lear. Next, there is also a difference between how Cordelia and Caroline are portrayed. In King Lear Cordelia is characterized as the daughter

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