Though separated by hundreds of years, William Shakespeare’s King Lear and Jane Smiley’s A Thousand Acres share many common themes. One of the most prominent themes shared by both literary works is that of madness. In King Lear, the theme of madness is developed throughout the story and not only involves King Lear’s descent into insanity, but also is seen when Edgar feigns madness as Poor Tom and when Goneril and Regan are gripped by madness over their lust for Edmund. In A Thousand Acres, the theme of madness is most apparent in Larry, but it can also been seen in other characters as well such as Ginny. In both King Lear and A Thousand Acres, Shakespeare and Smiley alter how they use the theme of madness from story to story exposing the reader to varying degrees and types of madness throughout their works. Although the literary works are similar in that they both involve the theme of madness, they also differ in the ways they use and present madness and those differences give the reader varying perspectives on the other themes and plots. In King Lear, the theme of madness is most clearly visible in the main character of King Lear. Although King Lear displays potential signs of insanity from the commencement of the play, it can be said that it is his anger and lust for revenge that eventually drives him to madness. We first see King Lear beginning to manifest signs of madness in the opening scene, which starts with King Lear forcing his daughters to profess their love for him in order for his daughters to receive their share of his kingdom. It seems absurd that a king would divide his kingdom according to professions of love by his daughters, but it is worth considering that a long reigning king is accustomed to exercising his power irresponsibly. The most troubling aspect of the situation is that Lear had already previously decided to divide his kingdom even before receiving his daughters’ professions of love. Gloucester tells Kent “…but, now, in the division of the kingdom, it appears not which of the Dukes he values most; for equalities are so weigh’d that curiosity in neither can make choice of either’s moiety”(I.i). This narcissism and illogical thinking, or deteriorating memory of King Lear can be seen as an early sign of him slowly edging towards madness. In A Thousand Acres, Larry, the [character that] parallels of King Lear, is [constantly] on the brink of insanity much like King Lear. In A Thousand Acres however, madness not only envelops Larry, but it also affects other main characters such as Ginny. Larry’s madness is attributed to his drinking, retirement, and inappropriate relationships with his children. The plot in A Thousand Acres is similar to King Lear, only instead of King Lear dividing up his kingdom among his daughters; Larry is splitting up his farm among his three daughters. Larry’s madness is also first seen at the beginning of A Thousand Acres, just like in King Lear when early on Lear is splitting up the land. Caroline objects to the splitting of the farm because she does not think it is a smart decision for Larry. As the book progresses we see more and more instances where Larry exhibits moments of insanity such as when he purchased the new cabinetry to show off to his neighbors and then let it sit out in the rain. His growing madness begins to craziness disrupt his family’s daily life making the children fearful of what he might do next such as try and leave town by driving his truck while intoxicated. Ginny and Rose have to constantly call him and make sure he is not doing anything that could be dangerous to himself or others. Ginny, one of Larry’s daughter’s also suffers from severe madness. Her illness is blamed on her father’s sexual abuse, her jealousy of her siblings, and her family problems. Rose, one of Larry’s other daughter’s, was also sexually abused by her father when she was younger which causes problems for her later in life by not to the same extent as Ginny. There is no doubt that Ginny was affected by her father’s abuse more so than Rose, and this is seen in the way she acts around her father and the way she treats him. Rose is not as affected as Ginny because she has had more time than Ginny to figure out how to cope with the mental distress caused by their father’s abuse because Ginny is much younger and consequently too young to remember much of it, but after Rose reminded her about the sexual abuse, Ginny was never the same around Larry. The development of Ginny’s insanity throughout the story climaxes when she tries to poison her own sister. Ginny does this so she can take custody of Rose’s children because she is convinced that she can be a better mother than Rose. From these examples one can see that Madness and insanity is a common theme throughout both King Lear and A Thousand Acres that drastically changes the plots and relationships between the characters.

The major differences between how the theme of madness is presented throughout King Lear and A Thousand Acres is the characteristics of madness that the characters display; how the characters manifest their growing insanity. In King Lear, Lear’s insanity was eccentric but harmless, his madness the product of naïveté. Conversely, the madness of Ginny's father, Larry, is much darker and more evil; it is best described as: malicious, underhanded, fickle, and--worst of all--incomprehensible. By portraying madness and insanity in different ways the reader is presented with two stories that are similar yet at the same time different. Similar in that they share a common theme, but different in that in one story the common theme, madness, doesn’t affect the play in a very negative way and in the other story madness significantly impacts the characters’ actions and views throughout the play.
King Lear and A Thousand Acres both use madness as a theme, but they portray it in different ways, which brings about different reactions and causes different feelings in the reader of each story. In King Lear because the theme of madness is portrayed in an almost comical way, it does not affect the story as much as it does in A Thousand Acres where madness is portrayed in much more serious and dangerous ways.