King Lear and A Thousand Acres

In King Lear, we read a classic Shakespeare tragedy. He presents a story of an old king, who in his later years, but not near death, decides to divide his land amongst his three daughters’. Lear decides to split the land between his two oldest daughters’, Goneril and Regan, and his youngest daughter Cordelia, who as his favorite daughter, was to receive the largest piece of land. Lear asked his daughters to express their love to him, or better yet, to express how much they loved him. Goneril and Regan were very quick to lay on extreme flattery, and untrue love. They expressed how their love for him was unmatched, and how they could love nothing or no one as they love him. In return they received their respective share of land and powe

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Their thoughts are very similar, although Rose has more firmness in speaking her mind. ” (343) Again showing that the appearance of what is or should be is not in the face of tragedy. This opened the door for Harold Clark to totally destroy any semblance of family in the Cooks’ as he started the argument at church dinner, which led to his seperation of his son Jess.

Much to the importance of comparisons to King Lear, there are the events that take place after the initial error, which utterly complete the character’s destruction. Regan and Goneril soon plot against him, and take over the palace, driving him not only out of his home, but eventually to his mental demise and his death, along with Cordelia’s. But, Larry Cook was unable to see anyone’s point of view, as he clearly express throughout the novel. He swears revenge for her, despite that she is standing next to him. They knew not to question him; substituting what is eventually best for all, for “saving-face”. Not long after his banishment of Caroline we begin to see his demise, a gradual one, and one much like Lear. This would ultimately cause Pete to lose all his sense of mental structure, and after sabotaging Harold Clark’s water basin causing his death, Pete eventually would drive himself to his own inevitable drunk driving death, leaving behind his wife and daughters. That’s how Jess got me to sleep with him. Caroline was highly educated, and not a farmer. Much like Cordelia, Caroline was banished in the eyes of her father, and had no right to any of the land. Cook, as he mumbles to himself, “I have nothing”.

Common topics in this essay:
Larry Cook, Rose Ginny, Goneril Regan, Des Moines, Ginny Rose, King Lear, Coast Ty, Cordelia Caroline, Rose Alzheimers, Jess Ginny, larry cook, demise destruction, rose ginny, king lear, family larry cook, rose ty, false appearance, demise farmer, daughters rose, bombarding ginny, story king, rose ty jess,

Approximate Word count = 2849
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)

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