Hag-Seed: the tempest retold

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The cast celebrate their success at saving the program and give their final reports about The Tempest. Epilogue Atwood reinterprets the play as a heartbreaking novel, told in gorgeous yet economical prose Editor's Choice, New York Times Book Review 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.) What does this tell us about the story? Shakespeare wrote some truly brilliant narratives, and they really are timeless. Here one has been used in a modern setting to tell us a story that has happened and will happen again. I hesitate to generalise, but one thing I’ve learnt from reading a fair bit of Shakespeare is that his characters are real. They could be real. They are easily to identify with and the stories they have are easily seen in later wo

This quote reflects on the efficacy of the Literacy Through Literature program and describes the actors' reactions to the final screening of their performance at the end of each class. It emphasizes the importance of creativity, performance, and imagination as elements of enriching one's life and feeling proud of oneself. Here, the narrator suggests that the inmates at Fletcher Correctional Facility are offered the opportunity to inhabit different lives for a brief period of time. I’ve read it dozens of times and watched various versions of it over the years. Unfortunately, I’ve not seen it live yet. One day I’ll see it live at Shakespeare's Globe in London. There’s so much to take from this play, and Atwood’s interpretation completely blew my mind. The way she took one of the lines made me consider this in a completely new light.For years Felix lies low in the cottage, marinating in his resentment of Tony and grief for Miranda. He tries to develop hobbies but can’t interest himself in anything outside the world of theater. His favorite amusement is using the Internet to stalk Tony, who eventually leaves the theater and rises through the ranks of provincial politics. Without his career and his family, Felix is completely adrift; driving through the Ontario countryside after leaving the festival for good, he spots a tiny wooden cottage built into the side of a hill. He decides that he will move here to retreat from the world and avoid letting others witness the spectacle of his professional downfall. He arranges to rent the cottage from Maude, its surly owner, and completely disappears from his old life. He even creates a new name for himself—F. Duke—which he uses to introduce himself to Maude and open a P.O. box and a new bank account. 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?"

An absolute triumph... ravishing... I am not ashamed to say that I didn't just have a lump in my throat by the end of Hag-Seed, I had tears on the fringed curtains of mine eyes Stuart Kelly, Scotland on Sunday A former accountant convicted of embezzlement, he is an inmate and student in Felix’s prison class. He is smart and respected by his fellow inmates, who feel that he can help them. He formerly acted in Felix’s productions of Macbeth and Julius Caesar before being cast as Gonzalo in The Tempest. SnakeEye Felix, as both an intricate and well-drawn modern man and a thoughtful reinterpretation of Prospero that exhibits a deep understanding of Shakespeare’s protagonist, is one of Atwood’s biggest successes in this book. Felix can be kind and patient when dealing with the inmates. He can be cruel in his revenge, allowing a character to believe his child is in peril. He can also be funny, initiating a rule that the inmates are only allowed to swear using Shakespeare’s language from the play; thus the title, Hag-Seed, an insult Prospero hurls at Caliban. Felix has many layers, and since the story is told in the third person through Felix’s perspective, he is understood more intimately than any other character in the book. He is also a character who earns great sympathy as a despairing father who lost his beloved daughter, Miranda. Felix as the grieving father, that, although it differs significantly from Shakespeare’s version, makes the contemporary portrayal of him real and compelling. Although, as some critics have noted, these moments of grief rest somewhat uncomfortably amidst the silliness of the book; Shakespeare was a master of such hairpin turns from comedy to tragedy and employed them often. Though Felix’s Miranda died at age three, he conjures a version of her to share his hovel in exile, joining him in her ghost incarnation for meals and games of chess. She ages just as Felix does, and like Prospero, Felix eventually realizes he has relied too heavily on her companionship. Somewhat confusingly, however, despite her name and parentage, she mirrors Ariel, Prospero’s enslaved fairy spirit, more closely than Prospero’s daughter. This quote reveals Felix's opinions of Anne-Marie Greenland, the young woman who ends up playing Miranda in his production of The Tempest. Here, readers are able to draw further parallels between Felix and Prospero, as Felix thinks of himself as the "creator" of Anne-Marie's career much like Prospero retains control over his daughter Miranda throughout the play. This quote is significant because it highlights one of Felix's more problematic qualities, namely his desire to control the female figures in his life -- a desire that, throughout the rest of the novel, will be challenged and ultimately squelched.Groskop, Viv. “Margaret Atwood Turns The Tempest into a Perfect Storm.” Review of Hag-Seed, by Margaret Atwood. The Guardian, 16 Oct. 2016, www.theguardian.com/books/2016/oct/16/hag-seed-review-margaret-atwood-tempest-hogarth-shakespeare. Accessed 28 Dec. 2016.