Imprisonment in The Hagseed

Imprisonment in the hagseed
He is not imprisoned by his situation but he is most imprisoned by all that he has lost and the guilt
that follows him around.
Key themes in both the tempest and Hag-seed.
Performance: a producer/director/playwright putting on a play – this is what is called metatheatre,

there are multiple plays going on which makes the text aware of itself.
Reality vs Illusion: magic is the only weapon Prospero has, it is the only way that Prospero controls
people on the island, his way to keep Caliban away from Miranda. Prospero lost his power as duke
and needs to take control, give himself some authority. He has learnt to let that go.
Miranda is an illusion of Felix’s imagination, she is a figment of Felix’s imagination, so that is the
illusion that takes place of the magical illusion in the play. Our society (contemporary context) is very
secular, we don’t derive the same value from magic.
Felix drugs his enemies and they have hallucinations, same as tempest imagination. Relate to it more
than magic.
Vengeance vs Mercy
Prospero is concerned about getting vengeance on his enemies, mainly the people who usurped him,
Antonio and Alonzo. He comes to terms and sees that he has to let go of these grudges and
he needs to be set free. He said “set me free” at the end of the book. He is in the prison of
his own mind when he is not showing any mercy. He has the humility in the epilogue of the
play to ask for forgiveness from the audience.
Translation in hag-seed
The revenge is taken over Felix being taken over and kicked out of his role as a producer/director by
Sal and tony,*just as Alonzo and Antonio had the ploy to get rid of him*
Tony = Antonio.
Felix’s exile is not forced upon him as is Prospero’s in the tempest, but he chooses to move himself
out of the city as a result of feeling shame and embarrassed as to what other people will think of
him. This gives us some empathy when looking at the character of Felix, his daughter has died,
his position as director was usurped.
More pity from the audience , feels so bad for himself. Prospero and Felix both have 12 years of
isolation. di
His exile was self-imposed, so he has to have mercy for himself rather than forgive others, this is as
he blames himself for the death of his author, that he was not around enough. Mercy for himself.
Only by giving mercy to himself he is able to let go of the mercy of his daughter who plagues him
with her ghost. He feels so much guilt and when he forgives her he can be set free like prospero
was.
Prison
The prison is metaphorical in the tempest. She believed all the characters were constrained at some
point in the play. To a real physical prison in Hag-Seed.
Musical
Musical notes of the tempest, paying tribute to the musical aspects of the play.
Prospero Vs Felix in The Tempest and Hagseed
Felix is modern day embodiment of Prospero, but hagseed makes some innovations.
Modern day Felix will change how we view Prospero.
Atwood believes that prospero is often redeemed in the tempest and we give him the benefit of the
doubt.
The novel is written using third person limited narration but biases felix’s thoughts and only his are
shown. This is Atwood’s take on the favouring of Prospero, she literally favours him.
Felix is given a humanised character, she innovates with his backstory which give-
Felix becomes more sympathetic at the end of the play when he let’s go of his ego.
Hagseed question:
Evaluate:
Intertextuality is just a euphemism for plagiarism, it is an excuse to not come up with new ideas.
Postmodern belief that all ideas have already been created, all modern texts are pastiches,
lampoons and mere imitations. Atwood’s story of Hagseed references is often said to be a modern
rendition of the tempest, but it’s themes and ideas can be referenced back to many other source
texts. For example, the tragic protagonist who’s life has been consumed by grief from the death of
his family members is a common trope amongst modern literature. For example, in the
- Postmodern belief of no new ideas and the idea that intertextuality is plagiarism
- Possible arguments
o Everything is intertextuality so is everything plagiarism
o The use of key ideas does not correlate to plagiarism, key themes and messages are
timeless and can be expressed in many fashions
o In Hagseed, all the prisoners sympathise with Caliban and all want to play him,
whereas in the tempest, the same character of Caliban with the same themes is
shown in a completely different light;
 The prisoners relate to Caliban as they have also been demonised and
outcast by their society, this theme has been intertextualised yet it is most
definitely not plagiarism
o Plagiarism in literature is the copying/stealing of storylines from other texts.
Intertextuallity is different in that it is not stealing
o Same ideas with different additions can enforce a message in different ways. The
third person narration limited perspective of Felix in Hag-seed enforces the
favouring of prospero as in the tempest, but we are more easily able to see the
backstory and what happens. The narrator explains that
o Innovates and moves with

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What are some of the themes explored in the text?

How does Felix compare to Prospero from The Tempest?

Imprisonment in the hagseed

Key themes in both the tempest and Hag-seed.

Performance: a producer/director/playwright putting on a play – this is what is called metatheatre,

Prospero Vs Felix in The Tempest and Hagseed

Modern day Felix will change how we view Prospero.

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