Beginning of Essay
is one of William Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies which involves a common story of three daughters vying for the love of their father. Jane Smiley parallels the story of in her novel A Thousand Acres. Though this novel is derived from the roots of and the ....

Middle of Essay
.... only deals with the present and neglects the past and the future. The reader is not informed about an earlier time period in the play. The play opens up with Lear immediately choosing to, “express our darker purpose” (I, i, 35). There is no mention of any of the three daughters’ childhood. In contrast, Smiley makes a point of adding description to her novel. She constantly describes the three girls’ childhood, their ancestors, and other memories from the past. In the beginning of the novel, Ginny elaborates upon her great-grandparents and, “when they came the first time to Zebulon County, in the spring of 1890, and saw that ha ....