1
Q
Context
A
- Jacobean England - Christian Humanism, providentialism (god’s will is evident in all occurrences), free will, monarchic power/divine right of kings, age of exploration, magic as a real force, social/class structure, patriarchal society.
- 21st Century: Secular humanism (liberal thinking, don’t lock in any religion), gender equity, free will, power as a diffused notion (spread/shared across society - democracy), the power of language and story to change.
2
Q
Thesis Statements
A
- The textual conversation between ‘The Tempest’ and ‘Hag-Seed’ enhances my understanding of how a character becomes wholly fixated on revenge and how forgiveness does not merely restore, but also transforms a character’s nature.
- Atwood effectively transforms Shakespeare’s Jacobean play to mirror humanity’s shift to rehabilitative justice, sympathy for the oppressed and gender equality.
- Vengeance is seen as a negative value for both texts and a kind of imprisonment for anyone who seeks it.
3
Q
Concepts
A
- Today, with psychological interpretations more in vogue, Prospero’s form of revenge can seem perverse: he forces his enemies to beg his pardon and then boasts his own generosity.
- Hag-Seed is part of the Hogarth Shakespeare project which ‘sees Shakespeare’s works retold by acclaimed and best selling novelists of today’.
- However, while Shakespeare’s play never resolves conflicts between theatre’s artificiality and the deep truths it’s able to embody, Atwood comes to view the world of theatre as, if not totally reflective of real life, at least able to improve it.
- Metatheatre reorients the audience itself toward the play by conceding the artificiality of playing and yet insisting on its real powers of reformation.
- By demonstrating theatre’s power, Atwood strongly advocates for increased attention and funding for the arts program in Canada.
4
Q
Forgiveness Topic Sentences
A
- Whilst Prospero does experience loss and suffering before finding the ability to forgive others, he also turns to enslavement, cruelty and obsessive control over those he does not consider ‘human’.
- Perhaps Shakespeare uses the magician Prospero to reflect on his own life as a poet and playwright - in the Epilogue Prospero claims that his ‘art to enchant’ has come to an end.
- Caliban can be portrayed as someone who is trapped by ‘original sin’ inherited from his witch mother but who can nonetheless be saved when Prospero chooses forgiveness over revenge.
5
Q
Forgiveness Quotes
A
- ‘The rarer action is / In virtue, than in vengeance.’
- Ariel ‘Your charm so strongly works ‘em / That if you now beheld them, your affections / Would become tender.’ Prospero ‘Dost thou think so, spirit?’ Ariel ‘Mine would, sir, were I human.’
- Prospero to Antonio ‘I do forgive / Thy rankest fault - all of them.’
- ‘“Don’t you feel sorry for them?” says 8Handz.’
- ‘The play of The Tempest declares for second chances, and so should we.’
6
Q
Freedom Topic Sentence
A
- Margaret Atwood is interested in how ‘The Tempest’ offers an alternative to retributive justice by encourage compassion, compromise, and forgiveness as methods for achieving genuine freedom.
7
Q
Restoration Topic Sentences
A
- Atwood extends the conversation of restoration in Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ by exposing the power of forgiveness to transform.
- In the end, the novel affirms the positive role of change and transformation in bringing out the best part of human nature and facilitating personal growth.
8
Q
Exile Quotes
A
- ‘Hold it far back. Pretend it was only a movie.’
- ‘not-to-be-thought- about event’
- ‘He couldn’t face it head-on. He had to transform it, or at the very least enclose it.’
- ‘Ejected! Tumbled out! Discarded!’
- ‘The secrecy, the sabotage. The snake-like subterfuge. The stupendous betrayal.’
9
Q
Imprisonment Topic Sentences
A
- Shakespeare’s concept of imprisonment is appropriated by Atwood to convey the societal shift toward rehabilitative justice and compassion for the colonised above the coloniser.
- In both cases, the protagonists’ ability and desire to manipulate the action of the plot affects their relationships with those around them.
- In both cases, the protagonists expose and punish the villainy of those around them, which - especially in Hag-Seed - is presented as a social service.
10
Q
Imprisonment Quotes
A
- Self-centredness ‘Without me, the whole Festival would go up in flames.’
- The island ‘It’s different for each one of the people who’s landed on it. Some of them fear it, some of them want to control it. Some of them just want to get away from it.’
11
Q
Revenge Topic Sentences
A
- Both texts effectively resonate the idea that revenge is detrimental to the characters who pursue it.
- Characters that fixate over revenge develop personally damaging traits and habits.
- Felix’s obsession with seeking revenge impedes his ability to lead a fulfilling life and reveals a deceitful and manipulative side to his character. Felix sees himself, by virtue of his talent and creativity, as inherently entitled to his fame and cushy job; any deviation from his privileged status is a violation of his core being.
12
Q
Revenge Quotes
A
- ‘Twelve years later Felix can still recall every syllable of that encounter.’
- ‘“What goal?” he would respond. Surely there was one. An unopened box, hidden somewhere under a rock, marked V for Vengeance.’
- ‘It’s taken a while, but revenge is a dish best eaten cold, he reminds himself.’
- ‘He got his revenge, such as it was. His enemies had suffered, which had been a pleasure.’
- Tricolon ‘It rankles. It festers. It brews vengefulness.’
13
Q
Pursuit of Power Topic Sentences
A
- Atwood adapts Shakespeare’s patriarchal society to reflect contemporary movements for gender equality through the addition of strong, unrestrained women.
- Like Shakespeare’s opening scene, Atwood’s prologue also communicates that those in positions of power have suddenly lost their control and status.
- By closely appropriating the narrative, Atwood ensures both texts successfully reflect upon the enduring nature of the theatricality of life by presenting an otherworldly environment controlled by a skilful ‘director’.
14
Q
Pursuit of Power Quotes
A
- Boatswain ‘What cares these roarers for the name of the king? To cabin. Silence! Trouble us not.’
- Stephano to Caliban ‘Kneel, and repeat it. I will stand, and so shall Trinculo.’
- Prospero ‘My high charms work, / And these, mine enemies, are all knit up / In their distractions. They now are in my power’
- ‘“You can do some embroidery.” Miranda frowns at that… “Okay. Some higher math”’
- ‘Can a person be good only in the absence of power?’
- Nature vs nurture ‘a born devil, on whose nature / Nurture can never stick’ ‘good wombs have borne bad sons’
- Nature vs nurture ‘Prisons are for incarceration and punishment, not for spurious attempts to educate those who cannot, by their very natures, be educated.’ ‘It’s their nature to do things like that.’
15
Q
Magic and the Theatre Topic Sentence
A
However, while Shakespeare seems to use Prospero to meditate uneasily on his own long career as a playwright, Atwood ultimately uses this contradiction to argue for the moral utility of theatre and the importance of prioritising it within a society.
16
Q
Magic and the Theatre Quotes
A
- Prospero ‘But this rough magic / I here abjure.’ ‘I’ll break my staff’ ‘I’ll drown my book.’
- Prospero ‘Now my charm are all o’erthrown, / And what strength I have’s mine own - / Which is most faint.’
- Prospero ‘As you from crimes would pardoned be, / Let your indulgence set me free.’
- Stage directions ‘He draws, and is charmed from moving.’
Prospero puts Miranda to sleep ‘I know thou canst not choose.’ - ‘He’ll break his staff, he’ll drown his book, because it’s time for the younger people to take over.’
- Rhetorical question, ‘He smiles: the illusion of a smile. Pretense, fakery, but who’s to know?’
- ‘Watching the many faces watching their own faces as they pretended to be someone else - Felix found that strangely moving. For once in their lives, they loved themselves.’
- Anaphora ‘My island domain. My place of exile. My penance. My theatre.’
English
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