GENERAL ESSAY

In a reflection of Hag-Seed, Margaret Atwood stated ‘there is only one Shakespeare’. However, her adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest allows Atwood to explore themes within a Jacobean drama in a 21st Century context, creating both resonances and dissonances between the two stories and their context. In The Tempest, Shakespeare explores the themes of revenge through performance and manipulation, resulting in the growth of Prospero. Similarly, Atwood’s metafictive novel delves into Felix’s desire for revenge, achieved through performance, allowing him to grieve over his daughter, creating a dissonance. The restrainment of both Mirandas and Ariel and Estelle in The Tempest and Hag-Seed, creates another resonance between the two texts, but is reframed due to the modern context of the prison setting, allowing Atwood to explore different societal views. Atwood’s reimagining of the drama in a prison setting, allows her to retell The Tempest, with different characters, themes and therefore meaning, allowing Atwood to successfully explore the effects of context on actions. LINK TO QUESTION

Atwood’s reimagining of the contextual setting of The Tempest allows her to explore the theme of performance, providing protagonists with opportunities to seek revenge. However, the end result creates a dissonance as Prospero grows by forgiving and Felix learns to mourn. Prospero asks Ariel ‘Hast thou spirit performed to point the tempest I bade thee?’ The eponymous storm initiated by Ariel due to Prospero’s orders illustrates the motif of performance and causes chaos, which culminates in Prospero orchestrating his revenge by placing his enemies in separate groups, giving him the power to manipulate the emotions of the individuals that betrayed him. In Atwood’s metafictive

construction of ‘The Tempest’, Estelle says to Felix ‘Well, your wave-making has had results!’, illustrating the motif of performance through intertextuality. Felix creates a metaphorical storm, to bring his enemies to Fletcher Correctional, allowing him to seek revenge, by reimagining the events of ‘The Tempest’. The irony created through Ariel’s acknowledgement ‘Mine would, sir, if I were human’ acts as a catalyst for Prospero’s growth and self- actualisation, leading to his forgiveness of those who usurped him. Contrastingly, Atwood emphasises Felix’s ability to let go of Miranda through the fulfillment of her character within the performance, ‘to the elements be free, and finally she is.’ Throughout the journey, Felix has held onto the memory of Miranda, and through the performance, he is finally able to let go. Atwood’s similarities and changes provides commentary on the societies in which the texts are set in, revealing the transcendent need of all humans to seek revenge, and how this can result in different forms of transformation, providing the audience with a different meaning. Thus, through resonances and dissonances between the texts, both protagonists experience a similar journey, but the outcomes are significantly different, adding meaning through the exploration of other themes. LINK

Confinement is explored in The Tempest and Hag-Seed, in Miranda offering symmetry, and Ariel and Estelle, creating a collison. Felix says ‘When she was eight, he taught her to play chess.’ Although Miranda is no longer alive, the memory of Miranda causes immense guilt, stemmed from his self-imposed actions of prioritising theatre. In The Tempest, all characters face a form of imprisonment, whether it be on the island or under the power of someone else. Miranda’s imprisonment on the island, due to her father’s actions, is not the only form of confinement that she faces. Through Prospero’s conversation

with Ferdinand ‘ I have given you here a third of my own life’, it is revealed that Miranda is a symbol for women in Jacobean times. The constraints of women demonstrates that because she is Prospero’s creation, she is owned by her father. Both Miranda’s are restricted by their fathers, one due to the guilt Felix carries and one physically due to the context of the drama. Atwood’s depiction of Miranda’s confinement, collides with Shakespeares, due to the contextual changes, emphasising that the values existing around fatherhood in Jacobean times, no longer exist in modern society. Despite this difference, Miranda in both texts acts as a powerful force in the transformation of their fathers, revealing a resonance in the textual conversation. Entrapment is further explored in Ariel’s character, ‘All hail, great master… I come to answer thy best pleasure.’ Ariel is restricted, due to the magical power that Prospero holds and also Ariel’s gratitude for being released from his previous imprisonment from Sycorax. This is contrasted to Estelle in Hag-Seed, ‘It’s given me a certain access. I know the ropes.’ This illustrates Estelle’s willingness to assist Felix, unaware of the revenge he is willing to seek. Estelle holds power in her role as supervisor, having a choice her actions, opposed to Ariel being forced to carry out Prospero’s orders. Again, Atwood’s reframing of Ariel in Hag-Seed exhibits the changes in society between the two settings. In the 21st Century, people are more free in their thoughts and actions, unlike the restrictions placed on societal members in Jacobean times. These dissonances between texts allows Atwood to reframe the ideas in The Tempest to create a different meaning in Hag-Seed, exhibiting how context can significantly impact the ideas and behaviours within a text. LINK

In conclusion, Hag-Seed, Atwood’s intertextual construction of the Shakespearean drama The Tempest, explores themes of performance, revenge

and confinement in a different light as well as growth and grief. The modern context creates both resonances and dissonances between the two texts, allowing more meaning to be drawn. Although there are aspects from each text that align, there are more that collide, or are reframed and reimagined, due to the setting and the different societal values within the context of each text. LINK TO QUESTION