Hag-Seed: William Shakespeare's The Tempest Retold

“What to do with such a sorrow? It was like an enormous black cloud boiling up over the horizon. No: it was like a blizzard. No: it was like nothing he could put into language. He couldn’t face it head-on. He had to transform it, or at the very least enclose it.”

This quote is notable for the imagery it pulls from Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The title of the play refers to a storm, mirrored here in the image of a black cloud on the horizon that metaphorically connotes an inner storm. It is also notable that Felix finds he can’t understand his tempest with language, which is his specialty. This quote is foreboding and foreshadows Felix’s descent into the madness of his own tragedy.

“It didn’t take Felix long to discover that it was easy to disappear, and that his disappearance was borne lightly by the world at large. The hole his sudden absence left in the fabric of the Makeshiweg Festival was filled soon enough—filled, indeed, by Tony. The show rolled on, as shows do.”

Despite Felix’s ego and faith in his long-standing reputation as artistic director, the theater world moves on quickly without him. Far from being missed or celebrated, Felix disappears from the circles he once led. This quote emphasizes Felix’s delusions of grandeur. As good as Felix believed he was at his job, Tony keeps the show going, and going well. 

“He realized that his spying was a little deranged, though only a little. But he’d gradually been opening another space in his life that verged on full-blown lunacy.”

Crucial to Felix’s character development is his acknowledgment that his behavior verges on lunacy, as this calls many of his actions into question. If Felix is aware that he is driving himself to madness, then he seems likely to be aware of the way he manipulates situations and people. This quote further solidifies Felix as a Shakespearean figure: In Shakespeare’s plays, villains like Iago (Othello) or imperfect heroes like Hamlet (Hamlet) are aware of their flaws but continue to act on them.

“Bad behavior and even stupid behavior were punished and virtue was rewarded, more or less. With Shakespeare it was always more or less, as he took pains to point out.”

Here, Felix indirectly justifies his vengeful thoughts and his manipulative actions through an allusion to the imperfect moral codes in Shakespearean plays. Shakespeare reflected a complex world in which bad behavior is sometimes rewarded. Some plays do feature heroic acts and teach the value of moral behavior, but the characters that drive the plots are often morally imperfect. In looking to Shakespeare, Felix can contextualize the injustice of his losses and explain his impetus for revenge.

“His students are suspicious of ulterior motives, having so many ulterior motives themselves. They disapprove of greed in others. As for themselves, they only want what’s due to them. Fair is fair, and that way many a fracas can lie, as Felix already knows.”

This quote highlights the irony of Felix’s actions. He knows and even appreciates that his students value pure intentions, though Felix doesn’t connect this to the prejudices they’re likely to face. Felix has two ulterior motives: The first is that the job fuels his ego, and the second is that it pays. This is dramatic irony because the reader knows Felix’s true intentions while his students do not.

“In a world that doesn’t contain much for them that they can actually choose, they’re in the Shakespeare class because they chose it. It’s a privilege, as they are told perhaps too often. Some folks on the outside would kill for what Felix is giving them. Felix himself never says that, but it’s implied in everything he does say.”

Here, Felix’s delusions of grandeur influence the way he views his students. Instead of seeing his students as human beings in the difficult situation of incarceration, Felix believes that his class is a privilege instead of an authentic way of helping people develop their skills. Felix is aware enough not to say this out loud, but his attitude indicates that Felix has not changed in the years since his directing job. It is also notable that Felix, despite his appreciation for Shakespeare, does not consider the prisoners lucky to be exposed to Shakespeare. Instead, he believes they should feel lucky to be exposed to Felix.

“What he had in mind was vengeance—that was certainly universal. He hoped she wouldn’t ask him about the theme: vengeance was so negative, was what she’d say. A bad example. Especially bad, considering the captive audience.”

Felix keeps the theme of revenge a secret from Estelle, highlighting that he is aware of the potential ramifications of performing “The Tempest” in a prison. This emphasizes Felix’s lack of concern for the well-being of his actors/students. Rather than consider what would be best for the prisoners under his tutelage, Felix prioritizes his own ambitions. This foreshadows future conflict in rehearsing and producing The Tempest. It also proves Felix’s critics correct: He is using the prisoners for his own experiment.

“Mr. Duke, Mr. Duke. You are being far too abstract. These are real people. They are not ciphers in your aesthetic of drama, they are not your experimental mice, they are not your playthings. Have some respect.”

The warnings and criticisms from other volunteers and employees at the prison highlight how oblivious Felix is to other people. In his own eyes, he is sly and cunning, but experts in the field of prison education and rehabilitation notice how his performances do not help the prisoners address their real problems. It is notable that the term “playthings” is used here, as Felix himself calls his students “Players.” Though “Players” is a typical term for actors in a theater troupe, Felix refuses to see how his intentions with his Shakespeare program may be dehumanizing to the prisoners.

“He wants his old position back, he wants his daughter well married, and he can’t have any of that if he stays on the island.”

Here, Felix teaches his students how to analyze the character of Prospero. Ironically, Felix doesn’t realize the implications of his own argument. Prospero doesn’t want to stay on his island because he wants to return to his life as Duke of Milan. Similarly, Felix believes he wants to return to his old life, but vengeance can’t get him what he truly wants. No matter what Felix does, he will not be able to change the last 12 years or recover his wife and child. Felix conveniently seizes upon the similarities between him and Prospero without acknowledging the parallels that foreshadow Felix’s ultimate disappointment. 

“Is the island magic? Felix asks himself. The island is many things, but among them is something he hasn’t mentioned: the island is a theatre. Prospero is a director. He’s putting on a play, within which there’s another play. If his magic holds and his play is successful, he’ll get his heart’s desire. But if he fails…”

This quote contains Felix’s most direct acknowledgment of his parallelism to Prospero. Prospero’s island is Felix’s stage—a space that they can control for their own ambitions and whims. Felix understands the stakes of his plan: Success would earn him his revenge, but failure would bring unthinkable consequences. Unacknowledged thus far by Felix is the difference between Prospero and Felix. Prospero has his daughter Miranda to worry about, while Felix no longer has a daughter whose future he must plan for.

“Let’s say a prison is any place or situation that you’ve been put in against your will, that you don’t want to be in, and that you can’t get out of.”

Felix encourages his Players to consider the different types of prisons. Though it’s possible to retraumatize incarcerated people through a discussion of metaphorical prisoners, Felix cares more about his own prison than that of his students. Ironically, the Players are physically imprisoned for a variety of crimes, but it is Felix who is the dangerous person in this story.

“No, Felix, it isn’t, he tells himself firmly. Prospero is not crazy. Ariel exists. People other than Prospero see him and hear him. The enchantments are real. Hold on to that. Trust the play.”

Here, Felix talks himself out of his consideration of Miranda’s point of view in The Tempest. He momentarily questions whether Miranda is the dutiful, doting daughter he imagines her to be. Instead, Miranda might find her father Prospero maniacal; she might be eager to leave his control. Felix quickly talks himself out of considering the female perspective because this interpretation of Miranda as a human being with her own opinions and dreams would force Felix to question his control over his imaginary Miranda.

“But real life is brilliantly colored, says another part of his brain. It’s made up of every possible hue, including those we can’t see. All nature is a fire: everything forms, everything blossoms, everything fades.”

In this quote, Atwood rehumanizes Felix by invoking the pain he has endured. While Felix has focused on his desire for revenge against Tony, the truly unfair losses were the deaths of his wife and daughter. Felix represses this pain, as is evident here, when he turns away from dealing with the real world because of its unpredictable nature. The pain of living in reality is too great for Felix, so he chooses to live in his fantasy world.

“Irritable and unreasonable, kindly and caring? Sadistic, forgiving? Too suspicious, too trusting? How to convey each delicate shade of meaning and intention? It can’t be done.”

When Felix questions Prospero’s contradictions, he is subconsciously questioning his own contradictions. Felix may believe he can be caring, forgiving, and too trusting, though he often acts on his unreasonable, sadistic, and suspicious leanings. When Felix decides that it is impossible to portray Prospero in all his layers, Felix is subconsciously acknowledging how difficult it is for him to be all the things he wants to be. Felix is reaching the burnout phase of his 12 years of waiting for revenge.

“I hope she won’t destroy him, thought Felix. But he’s a con man, don’t forget. A con man playing an actor. A double unreality.”

Felix’s perception of WonderBoy mirrors Prospero’s perception of both Caliban and Ferdinand. To Prospero, all other men pose a danger to his daughter Miranda because they all look at her with desire and lust. The prospect of someone else possessing Miranda’s body, whether through consensual sex or rape, angers Prospero. Felix commits to his role as Prospero so much that he looks at Anne-Marie paternally. When WonderBoy hits on Anne-Marie, Felix views him with the same dismissive assumptions of desire and lust that Prospero projects on other men. This emphasizes Felix’s disregard for both WonderBoy and Anne-Marie, who is old enough to control her own body and emotions. What’s more, this quote ironically dubs WonderBoy the con man, when it is Felix who is tricking everyone. Thus, Felix is unable to look at himself through the same critical lens he uses on other men.

“Prisons are for incarceration and punishment, not for spurious attempts to educate those who cannot, by their very natures, be educated. What’s the quote? Nature versus nurture, something like that. Is it from a play?”

This quote reveals the politicians’ perceptions of the Fletcher prisoners. They wrongly and cruelly assume that the type of person who becomes incarcerated is the type of person who cannot be educated. This dismissal of human beings parallels the colonialism of The Tempest, in which the noblemen from Milan view island people with dehumanizing contempt. In their view, people like Caliban are inherently inferior and therefore natural slaves. Though Felix believes he is morally superior to these politicians, Felix is Prospero, and Prospero shares the noblemen’s low opinion of commoners. Just as Prospero enslaves Ariel and Caliban without concern for their psyche or well-being, so too does Felix engage the prisoners in a situation that they don’t like.

“’Anyway I succeeded,’ he tells himself. ‘Or at least I didn’t fail.’ Why does it feel like a letdown?

The rarer action is / In virtue than in vengeance, he hears inside his head.

It’s Miranda. She’s prompting him.”

In the final moments of Part 4, Felix realizes that he is unsatisfied with his vengeance. This is a crucial moment of plot and character development. For 12 years, Felix had been obsessed with getting his revenge on Tony. He worked hard on this plan, and it was successful despite its absurdity. Atwood challenges the reader to consider why Felix remains unsatisfied. Atwood’s emphasis on the loss of his daughter Miranda is a clue: No matter how Felix triumphs over Tony, his daughter remains dead. Furthermore, Felix considers the idea that virtuous behavior is ultimately more honorable than vengeful behavior with Miranda acting as his moral guide. 

“We can divide the characters of The Tempest into optimistic characters and pessimistic characters. The optimistic characters are stakeholders in the more positive side of human nature, the pessimistic characters in the more negative side.”

Bent Pencil identifies the major characterization difference between characters in both The Tempest and Hag-Seed. Some characters choose positivity, while others harbor resentment towards the world. Notably, characters who are negative about human nature are the characters who act on their more deplorable desires. The positive characters, like Miranda or Gonzalo, embrace hope and therefore live more fulfilling lives.

“Is extreme goodness always weak? Can a person be good only in the absence of power?”

Bent Pencil poses an important philosophical question that Shakespeare explores throughout The Tempest. The issue of power is important because in this play and novel, power corrupts people, who then enslave and abuse the less powerful. Gonzalo epitomizes what happens when a person doesn’t have power: He is free to be truly good. Through Bent Pencil’s interpretation, Atwood asks her reader to consider the issue of goodness and power. Characters in both novel and play could have wielded their power for good, but they embrace bad behavior without question.

“Why should the other ones in this play get a second chance at life, but not him? Why’s he have to suffer so much for being what he is? It’s like he’s, you know, black or Native or something. Five strikes against him from Day One. He never asked to get born.”

Leggs identifies the prejudiced perceptions Caliban faces. Caliban is a victim of racism, slavery, and a life predetermined by powerful white men. The “five strikes” Leggs identifies evoke the history of the Western world’s oppression of people of color. Caliban is punished simply for his existence—a feeling that many of the prisoners can empathize with. Leggs reclaims Caliban’s dignity and revises history.

“Will Prospero be spared, or will retribution climb in through his window one dark night and cut his weasand? Felix wonders. Gingerly, he feels his neck.”

Felix ominously envisions a future in which he must always be on guard against people who may now want revenge against him. In triumphing over Tony, Felix ironically switches roles with Tony: Now that Felix has wronged powerful people, he will always be in danger. Though Felix applies this line of thinking to Prospero, he feels his own neck, emphasizing his subconscious doubts and affinity with Prospero. Felix has won his battle, but in winning, he has left the door open for retribution and punishment.

“It doesn’t come out all that well for Prospero at the end, does it? He gets his dukedom back, but he’s not very interested in it anymore. So he wins, but he also loses.”

Felix notes that Prospero will always be imprisoned by his island. This parallels Felix’s journey, because now that he has defeated Tony, he must find a way to move forward out of the prison of his own mind. Prospero doesn’t really want the dukedom back, just as Felix doesn’t really want the role of artistic director back. In not dealing directly with his problems, Felix spends 12 years accomplishing a goal that he now realizes he never actually cared about. 

“A state of suspension somewhere on the road to death. But on second thought, what did he have to lose? The road to death is after all the road he’s on, so why not eat well during the journey?”

In the Epilogue, Felix must deal with his immediate future—in particular, the question of what to live for now that he has successfully won his revenge. Here, Felix embraces his death and decides to live knowing he has nothing to lose. He has lost his wife, his daughter, and 12 years of his life. Though he has regained some prestige and his beloved job, what used to give him meaning no longer inspires him. For someone as creative as Felix, a lack of inspiration is akin to death. Now that he has ended his ultimate performance, Felix has no more meaning in his life.