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Hatred In 'King Lear And A Thousand Acres'

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In Shakespeare 's play, King Lear, it is brutally obvious that Lear is strongly disliked, or even hated by his two older daughters, Goneril and Regan. In the novel A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley, Ginny’s and Rose’s hatred for their father doesn’t appear to be too over the top until the reasons they hate him so much are finally revealed. Both sets of sisters eventually end up retaliating against their fathers after they are given his land. Some may say that the daughters actions against their fathers was cruel, atrocious, and wrong; however, an argument could be made that their actions were justified by how their father had previously treated them. Perhaps Lear and Larry deserved to be treated as they were. Perhaps one of the sister duo 's …show more content…

The first reason being, that the only psychological or physical stress Goneril and Regan had to endure from King Lear, that we know of, was knowing that they weren’t loved by their father as much as their youngest sister Cordeilia; along with some humiliation caused by Lear’s constant need of an ego boost. For Ginny and Rose, they also had to deal with knowing that Caroline was their father’s favorite daughter and some public humiliation based on the claims of mistreatment of their father; however, the mental and physical stress they had gone through because of their father 's actions far exceed anything we know Goneril and Regan had to endure. For Rose specifically, when her father raped her she felt obligated to play along with his sick game. She grew up knowing that it was wrong but suppressed those emotions to protect Caroline. Then with Ginny acting like nothing was wrong, because she buried the memories away for good, Rose thought it was okay to just act like it was okay. Rose even admits that she didn’t think it was bad, because Larry said so and made her feel special compared to her sisters. After growing up, after knowing that was wrong and disgusting, the stress that must put on Ginny and Rose may have been soul crushing. Rose even deprived herself from seeing her daughters everyday and caring for them to keep them away from her father and his wicked ways. So yes, as far as we know, Ginny and Rose were more justified in their actions than Goneril and

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This is one of many impulsive acts Lear had done Perhaps a lack of mother, or feminine guide to teach them about kindness and loyalty, Goneril and Regan have no restraint Regan and Goneril are also both married, and yet both are terribly unfaithful to their husband, cheating with the same man. This in the end, has disastrous consequences. It is said by a gentleman in the fourth scene, that Cordelia is “Queen over passion” (4.3.13-14). She rules removes her emotions and rules through intellect and logic. Clearly, Regan and Goneril do not rule under the same ideals MIRROR

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The audience sympathise with King Lear’s redemption. Throughout the play, he gets a chance at redemption to make up for his mistake of having “thy truth being the dower:” for his daughter. He realises the folly of his actions and redeems himself stating “I am a very foolish fond old man”. This demonstrates King Lear's change in character as he learns that he is not as powerful as thinks he was and starts to become more humble. There is a lure of sympathy for King Lear because a story of redemption inspires people and catches their imagination, that anything is possible.

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It is a striking event how he treats his alleged favourite daughter and how easily he believes the lies he is being fed. Despite this, his quote holds a certain truth to it. As Lear has sinned against Cordelia, his other two daughters have sinned against him. He is right in his words for the reason that, although he was unjust and treated Cordelia disrespectfully, he did it because he felt betrayed.

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