Brandon Frendo

Dana Patrascu-Kingsley

ENG110Y5-Y

3 January 2011

A Perfect Place

            The vast idea of perfection is sought after by many, but most of the time is difficult to control a life around it. In the motion picture Shrek, ruler Lord Farquaad tries to maintain a perfect kingdom for him to rule and control. Farquaad’s kingdom – named DuLoc – embodies a setting that foreshadows the future ambitions for this tyrant. It is used as a location to assist in illustrating Lord Farquaad’s desire to become a king and perfect ruler. DuLoc also resembles Farquaad’s thirst for definitive perfection. With the help of DuLoc’s influence, Lord Farquaad becomes willing and able to hunt down his idea of a perfect kingdom and is ready to dispose of anything that may hinder his future way of life. However, as Farquaad’s plan goes into motion, many threats to it arise consisting of the protagonists Shrek and Donkey. Additionally, a certain thought comes to Farquaad’s attention by the Magic Mirror that also threatens and ultimately destroys his quest of attaining a perfect kingdom. This elevates the truth that all of Lord Farquaad’s misfortunes occur within DuLoc itself. These ongoing threats in addition to Farquaad’s own misjudgements lead to his failure, demise and realization that even with DuLoc’s massive authority and contributions towards his progress, DuLoc may never really be a “perfect place” (Shrek).

            As Lord Farquaad’s progress towards a perfect kingdom is first displayed in the fairytale, he seems to think that he already has achieved perfection. As a way to confirm his thoughts, he brings the Magic Mirror into his kingdom to ask the mirror itself if he truly has the most perfect kingdom: “Mirror mirror on the wall, is this not the most perfect kingdom of them all?” (Shrek). As seen in the mirror’s response, “Well technically you’re not a king,” Farquaad’s so called “kingdom” is not complete without Lord Farquaad being a king himself. As a ruler, Farquaad had built DuLoc to achieve his idea of a perfect land, however this thought brought up by the Magic Mirror reminded Farquaad that it is not fully complete yet. This is the most crucial moment in the fairytale because if not for Lord Farquaad’s utter confidence that the Magic Mirror will validate his beliefs about DuLoc’s flawless nature, Farquaad would have never fallen short of his ultimate dream. As can be observed, this scene with Lord Farquaad and the Magic Mirror takes place within DuLoc. Therefore one of Lord Farquaad’s misfortunes towards his demise happens because of DuLoc’s existence.