King Lear And A Thousand Acres: Literary Analysis

In Shakespeare's “King Lear” and Jane Smiley’s modern rendition of the play, “A Thousand Acres”, the authors carefully blend their setting into the novels from the beginning. The setting of these novels are such that they seem to “live” as another entity of the works. While Shakespeare uses his setting as an enhancement of the characters mental stability, and Smiley’s setting is more easily seen as another character, both settings are dynamic and change constantly. The settings do not simply provide insight into the characters lives, they uniquely impact the characters in ways beyond the simple descriptions and integrate into every decision the characters of both works make.

In “King Lear”, the setting is in the kingdom of King Lear. While

When reading the play, these places affect the audience because they understand the sense of duty a king has to his kingdom. They setting is initially presented as an additional factor, almost just more background information; yet, as the play continues, the setting becomes more “responsive” and successful in enhancing Shakespeare's meaning. During the play, Shakespeare explores the descent of Lear, from sound mind, to madness. As the mental condition of Lear worsens, the setting and weather around him begins to decay as well. Lear is eventually stuck outside in a torrential downpour, yet he seems to not notice it. This is a direct correlation that Shakespeare decides to use to illustrate the mental condition of his characters. While that may seem to be a simple decision of setting and

There is a similar scene in this novel to the cottage scene in “King Lear.” Larry takes Pete’s truck and when Larry, Pete, and Ty return, it is the beginning of a torrential storm. As the weather declines, this starts the decline of Larry’s mind. In this scene of the novel, Larry demonstrates the first signs of mental decay as he fights with his daughters while standing out in the storm. His hurtful words cause the daughters to throw him out, and he wanders through the cornfields in the rain. Similar to Lear, Larry does not notice the weather around him, instead his mind is on his daughters and his anger and sadness towards his situation. The setting responds to the division of family, yet in this context of a more modern time, it is easier to recognize as a clear choice of the setting, reacting to the actions that just occurred. In this modern translation by Smiley, the setting becomes more than just inclement weather. The setting of the farm is bred into the daughters from the moment they could walk and talk. Ginny begins the novel by explaining that a man's worth in Zebulon County is measured by his acreage and mortgage. This understanding of the landscape is telling in why Ginny and Rose act the way they do. Both daughters grew up with stories of the land they lived on. The father instilled the spirit of the farm into his daughters while they grow up.