Hag-Seed: the tempest retold

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This is the extent of it, Felix muses. My island domain. My place of exile. My penance. / My theatre.”

Prospero and Miranda have been confined to a ‘poor cell’. Ariel and Caliban have had their freedom curtailed by Prospero. Imprisonment for Prospero has enabled him to refine his Art and re-discover his humanity. Felix is confined to the hut where he lives as the retired schoolteacher Mr Duke and the correctional facility itself where he prepares his Tempest Atwood focuses on The Tempest’s theme of revenge and, like Shakespeare, conveys how it is not revenge that instigates change, it is forgiveness of the self and then others. Charles, Ron. “Margaret Atwood Rewrites Shakespeare. Who Will Do It Next—Gillian Flynn? Yes.” Review of Hag-Seed, by Margaret Atwood. The Washington Post, 3 Oct. 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/margaret-atwood-rewrites-shakespeare-whos-next--gillian-flynn-yes/2016/10/03/6869e7ba-8389-11e6-a3ef-f35afb41797f_story.html?utm_term=.55359012629d. Accessed 28 Dec. 2016.The novel builds to a fantastic climax of dark calamity, with a wonderful footnote that sees the prisoner-actors analyse what they would want to happen next in The Tempest. There is so much exuberance and heart and wonder in this novel that the only thing I want to happen next is for Atwood to rewrite the whole of Shakespeare. (No offence, Will.)

Hag-Seed is] particularly clever and witty, with layer upon layer of correspondences with the original text waiting to be teased out by readers. Suzi Feay, Tablet Felix has a plan for using the production to achieve his personal revenge against Tony and Sal, but he’s not sure if it can succeed, or if he has the courage to try it. Rehearsals go poorly at first, but with Felix’s determination—as well as Anne-Marie’s increasing involvement and help with choreography—they improve. The prisoners write innovative raps from the perspective of Caliban and Antonio. Meanwhile, the ghostly Miranda reads Felix’s copy of the script and becomes fascinated with the play; although she’s angry when Felix explains she can’t play the heroine, she eventually agrees to “understudy” Ariel’s part and accompanies Felix to rehearsal, saying the lines in his ear. The secondary characters remain very secondary in this reimagining that has become very much about the Prospero figure. For example, Estelle, the professor who supervises the Literacy Through Literature program at Fletcher County Correctional Institute and meets Felix at a local McDonalds to hire him, does little more than constantly assure Felix she will take care of the details and procure or facilitate whatever he needs, including assisting him with his revenge plot during the inmate performance of The Tempest. Atwood does not offer any details about why Estelle started the literacy program or why she has such a strong degree of influence with all the politicians she maneuvers, raising questions about her motives and ambitions as well as general plausibility issues. Similarly, Atwood discloses little more than basic facts about Anne-Marie, who was the original Miranda in the version of The Tempest that was aborted when Felix lost his job. Felix seeks her out again, twelve years later, to play the role in the prison performance. Atwood implies Anne-Marie is rough around the edges with her cuss-laden dialogue, but she is also a strong and elegant dancer whose career never advanced, partly due to the lost opportunity of playing Miranda. Atwood provides little information, and though there are brief descriptions of Tony and the prisoners at the jail, they are more archetypes than fleshed-out characters, raising many questions that cannot be answered. Groskop, Viv (2016-10-16). "Hag-Seed review – Margaret Atwood turns The Tempest into a perfect storm". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 2019-01-30. Early in the novel, Atwood’s hero Felix is ejected from the Shakespeare festival he has long directed, cast out from his beloved state by a ruthless factotum called Tony. Felix knows he’s a version of Milan’s deposed duke. Imprisoning himself in a hovel on the edge of town, distilling his resentment, he is self-consciously playing out the play.

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Groskop, Viv (2016-10-16). "Hag-Seed review – Margaret Atwood turns The Tempest into a perfect storm". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 2020-02-23.

Felix is at the top of his game as Artistic Director of the Makeshiweg Theatre Festival. His productions have amazed and confounded. Now he’s staging a Tempest like no other. It will boost his reputation. It will heal emotional wounds.

READERS GUIDE

didn’t the best art have desperation at its core? Wasn’t it always a challenge to Death? A defiant middle finger on the edge of the abyss?"

Bury, Liz (2013-09-09). "Shakespeare retold: Margaret Atwood and Howard Jacobson join new series". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 2020-02-23. What makes the book thrilling, and hugely pleasurable, is how closely Atwood hews to Shakespeare even as she casts her own potent charms, rap-composition included… Part Shakespeare, part Atwood, “Hag-Seed” is a most delicate monster — and that’s “delicate” in the 17th-century sense. It’s delightful.”— The Boston Globe This quote emphasizes the importance of theater that will become one of the major themes of the play. Here, Felix looks at the costume he had planned to use for his version of Prospero before he was fired as Assistant Director at Makeshiweg Theatre Festival. Noticing that the garment is less than impressive, he thinks about the power of theater and its ability to transform the ordinary into something magical. This theme continues throughout the novel, as the mundane costume choices at Fletcher become real experiences for those watching.

In his loneliness, Felix begins to imagine that the deceased Miranda is visiting him and keeping him company. At first she appears as a young girl, and Felix takes care of her by “helping” her learn her multiplication tables and reading children’s books out loud. Over the years she seems to become a teenager, and “forces” Felix to remember to eat and cook healthy meals. On an intellectual level Felix knows this is a fantasy, but that doesn’t make his delusions less real. When one day he truly seems to hear Miranda singing outside, he tells himself that he needs to make a change in his life. The novel shines a thrilling new light on The Tempest‘s themes of revenge and forgiveness […] as well as making a strong case for art’s ability to “set you free” by helping you understand yourself.” –Helen Brown, Sunday Telegraph of the plot and the inadequate attention paid to key character Caliban, there is also considerable enthusiasm and admiration for Atwood’s reimagining of Prospero and her comprehensive knowledge of and discussion of themes in the play.