King Lear and A Thousand Acres

In most tragic pieces of literature, it is very common to see the demise or destruction of a characters’ mind and poise as a stable person. Besides looking at the actual demise though, it is also important to look at the effects of unrewarding events and the relationship of certain characters. In both Shakespeare’s King Lear, and Smiley’s A Thousand Acres, both issues prove to be the causes of demise and destruction, despite …

…this false appearance that can eventually cause demise. Just as Lear saw Goneril and Regan’s love to be true, and Cordelia’s to be false, giving him an inevitable fate of death, so did the mistakes of Larry Cook cause his own demise. Although a good farmer, he was a weak father. Like Lear he was engulfed with his own ego and self-pride. It turns out that this pride that causes their eventual deaths.