Similarities Between Goneril in Shakespeare's King Lear and Ginny in Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres
It is amazing to me the extraordinary job that Jane Smiley has done with her book A Thousand Acres. The parallels that she draws with Shakespeare's classic story of King Lear are unsurpassed by any book to which I have had the pleasure of reading. These two works represent an excellent example of literature that is able to engage readers young and old.
In A Thousand Acres, I read Ginny as being the reserved quiet daughter who, up until the very end, bends to her father's tyranny. As a result of he fathers incestuous ways, and his constant verbal degradation and abuse of her and her sisters, Ginny bows to her father's every whim. It is only when she realizes the awful things he has done to her that she finally takes a stand.
Upon reading King Lear we see that Ginny's character is taken directly from that of Goneril in the story about the King who gives up his kingdom. Goneril has also been under the rule of her father for as long as she can remember and when the power becomes hers, she uses it to further her causes. Ultimately I see her as much more villainous than Ginny, only for the fact that situations were vastly different.
In comparing and contrasting the two Gemini-like characters I think you will see that, at least in my humble opinion (well, I must confess that I enjoyed reading A Thousand Acres much more than I did King Lear) you come away at the end hating the character of Goneril, while one is obliged to think that Ginny has suffered so much and that she finally has some good that she deserves. I feel that Ginny is not vindictive in the story, because we see that even up until the very end, she is attempting to be the peacemaker. She does try to do some good, at least in the light of the circumstances. If we were to apply the same lens to Goneril, I think you would find that she has her own best interests always close at hand, and the compassion in her body could be summed up by the size of her stirrup bone in her ear (coincidentally the smallest bone in the human body.
In a Thousand Acres, appearance versus reality is a recurrent conflict throughout the book. Caroline is disowned when she disrupts Larry’s pronouncement to split the farm amongst his daughters. Larry from is presented as a prosperous farmer and a respected man within his community. In reality he is deceiving and ill-advised person who sexually molested Ginny and Rose. Caroline is ignorant of her father’s sins and is not in favour of Ginny and Rose. Ginny says to Caroline: “We did everything for you! We saved you from Daddy” (Smiley, 245), Caroline replies with, “Did I really have to be saved from Daddy? From my own father?” (Smiley, 245). Obviously, Ginny and Rose retain the presence that everything is satisfactory to defend Caroline from the anonymous harms of Larry. Smiley progresses the conflict of appearance versus reality through Caroline’s character. In comparison to the book A Fine Balance. The Prime Minister is perceived as a holy and spiritual man whom wants the best for the people of his country. When in reality he has psychotic tendencies, similar to Larry from the book a thousand acres. “Perfection lacks here with these undesirables in our nation” (Mistry, 345) this signifies his discrimination amongst the ‘chamaar’ untouchable’s class and Muslims in a private conversation with the deputy chief Sanjot Premi. When for the media, the prime minister is quick to spread false remorse and guilt amongst the deaths that took place in Gujarat, India of his planned genocide. The Prime Minister is pathetically deceiving and disgusting, people in society are prone to the way he dictates because it is deemed as the norm. “To gain a successful nation, we must let the undesired ones roam off to hell”. No one is prone to the discrimination and the extreme mindset of the Prime Minister other than the people that are close to him. In
You can obviously see this in the way she addresses her husband Sir Percy Blakeney. She uses some obvious sarcasm when describing her husband’s “...witty sallies that would disarm even the Comtesse herself.” (Orczy 11), and she even describes her husband as a “dull englishman”, a “demmed idiot”, and a “fool” (Orzy 12). Others may think that she is kind because she bought a meal for a poor homeless man; however, this is the only nice deed we see her do throughout the first few chapters of the book. She is rude to the Comtesse and mimics her after she forbids her daughter Suzanne from speaking to her. Sir Percy Blakeney loves her, so much so the he literally kisses the ground she walks on, yet she still treats him bad. She, also angry of her brothers rejection to the family, bad mouthed Marquis de St. Cyr, a friend of the Comtesse, so badly that the whole family was sent to the
She decided that having her father live with her was more than she could bear and, therefore, ordered Oswald to both disobey and ignore Lear from that point onward in hopes that he would soon leave her home. Thus, Goneril is explicitly disobeyin...
... 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.”
...es, and the ones said to be "good" are evil. Imagine being in a life or death situation like Mary Warren? Would you lie knowing that there could be other innocent people out there being treated like you are? Well everyone has there own personal choices. Life in the 1600's talking medicine wise, wasn't advanced as it is today. Mrs. Putnam's babies could of died because of an illness or any other birth cause, Rebecca nurse a women in her seventies wouldn't have the heart to do that, in my opinion. She's just an example of those who are innocent, but mislabeled as doing bad (evil). Abigail Williams the the "Villain Extraordinary" is a whole different story. Williams being manipulated, and vengeful because she's not the one married to John Proctor, is willing to do anything to make Elizabeth get out of her way... All resulting in a big tragedy, all full of mislabeling.
Gonorill is the eldest of King Lear’s daughters. Although, everything began with Gonorill having a genuine concern for her father and his behavior, things quickly changed. She had a very envious demeanor with very devious intentions. When asked to declare her love for her father, Gonorill went in to deep exaggeration. She claimed that she loved her father more than life itself. As a result of Gonorill’s response, she and her husband, Duke of Albany, inherited half of King Lear’s kingdom. After she was given her portion of the kingdom, her true colors began to arise. Gonorill is the most demanding of herself, Regan and Cordelia. After King Lear awarded Gonorill her portion of the kingdom, she betrayed him. Her selfish and devious ways began to become evident. Gonorill became very cruel, not only to her father, but to everyone around her. She even attempted to challenge King Lear’s authority. After Gonorill got her hands on what she wanted out of the deal, she couldn’t have cared less about anyone other than herself. A prime example of this was the fact that she was not...
2nd ed. of the book. New York: St. James Press, 1995. Literature Resource Center -. Web.
have committed suicide by stabbing herself with a knife. This was not like every story that has a “happily ever after” ending. Cordelia had been killed by her own sister’s plots and so was her father King Lear. Goneril and Regan were both liars and scornful, they had planned to kill their own family members just to get what they pleased for.
Larry has complete control of his little kingdom and its subjects, and one of the ways in which this is enforced, is through the visibility of the land and of the body. The Apollonian eye works by objectifying, and that is what happens to Ginny when her father abuses her: she turns into an object that he can use; whose only form of resistance is "desperate limp inertia" (280). She gets dissociated from her body, a body that reminds her of the powerlessness she feels.
Abrams, M.H., et al. ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. 2 Vols. New York: Norton, 1993.
way Goneril and Regan treated King Lear they way they as the result of jealousy towards Cordelia.
113- The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. of the book. Vol.
Goneril and Regan won over the kingdom by lying and exaggerating their love for their father because of greed. Lear travels to spend his first part of his retirement with his daughter Goneril. With him travels his fool and Kent disguised as Caius to follow Lear because he knows he is making the wrong decision. Because Gonerils love for her father is fake and insincere, she does not want him there and makes it so that he is treated terrible by her servants. Lear begins to see the greed, dishonesty, and evil in his daughter, Goneril, and leaves, outraged, to visit his other daughter Regan believing...
...land, yet lived on the property with their husband. A woman in this time period would have not used their child to get back at the opposite sex, fulfilling their own dreams instead of letting their child have their own great expectations for life. These two women in Great Expectations just show how they were not portrayed as the typical housewife and mother that would have been expected for this time period.