Hag-Seed: William Shakespeare's The Tempest Retold

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Throughout most of the narrative, what does Felix seem to be pursuing through theater?

A) Understanding

B) Liberation

C) Fame

D) Control

2. Which Tempest character is Tony meant to evoke?

A) Antonio

B) Alonso

C) Caliban

D) Ferdinand

3. Which Hag-Seed character is The Tempest’s Ariel most similar to?

A) Tony

B) WonderBoy  

C) Felix

D) 8Handz

4. Which of the following most clearly supports the text’s thematic concern with the mind as a prison?

A) The drugging of the ministers

B) Felix’s hallucinations of Miranda

C) WonderBoy’s fixation on Anne-Marie

D) The epilogues the inmates imagine for their characters

5. Whose attitude most clearly supports the text’s thematic concern with the marginalization of imprisoned people?

A) Anne-Marie’s

B) Estelle’s

C) The ministers’

D) Freddie’s

6. Which most accurately describes Felix’s progress as a character by the novel’s end?

A) Although he has some success with letting go of the past, his essential nature is unchanged.

B) His failure to find satisfaction in revenge leaves him even more bitter and isolated.

C) He has become much more aware of the need to respect others’ essential humanity.

D) Although he learns to be a more forgiving and inclusive person, he is still haunted by Miranda’s death.

7. Which Tempest character is Sal meant to evoke?

A) Antonio

B) Alonso

C) Caliban

D) Ferdinand

8. Which term most precisely applies to Hag-Seed’s commentary on literature and theater?

A) Nonlinear narrative

B) Fragmentation

C) Intertextuality

D) Metafiction

9. Which of the following best describes Felix’s attitude toward Anne-Marie?

A) Paternalistic

B) Lustful

C) Respectful

D) Ambivalent

10. Which statement is most clearly supported by the narrative?

A) It is acceptable to manipulate others for a good cause.

B) Attempts to control others inevitably end in failure.

C) Access to power has great potential to corrupt.

D) The only ethical use of power is to defend the powerless.

11. What is the structure of Hag-Seed meant to mimic?

A) One of Prospero’s magical incantations

B) A Shakespearean play

C) A critical essay on theater

D) Prospero’s storytelling in The Tempest

12. What do the inmates seem better able to understand about Shakespeare’s characters than Felix is?

A) Their historical context

B) The language they use

C) Their potential for violence

D) Their complex human natures

13. Which of the following best describes Felix’s attitude toward the inmates?

A) Condescending

B) Apathetic

C) Apprehensive

D) Collegial

14. Which is the most logical interpretation of what chess represents in the narrative?

A) Intellectual flexibility

B) Overthrowing a leader

C) Maneuvering for power

D) Friendly competition

15. Which of the following stances on revenge does the text seem to be taking?

A) It can provide closure and allow people to move on.

B) It causes more pain and suffering than it is worth.

C) It is much less satisfying than it seems like it will be.

D) It is the proper business of gods, not human beings.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. When it comes to Miranda, in what sense is Felix more similar to Prospero than he is willing to admit, and how is he different?

2. How is Felix’s bargain with 8Handz similar to a bargain Prospero strikes in The Tempest?