Hag-Seed

Last updated
Hag-Seed
Hag-seed.jpg
First edition
Author Margaret Atwood
LanguageEnglish
Series Hogarth Shakespeare
Genre Theatre-fiction
Publisher
Publication placeGreat Britain
Media typePrint (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages289
ISBN 978-0-099-59402-4

Hag-Seed is a novel by Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, published in October 2016. A modern retelling of William Shakespeare's The Tempest , the novel was commissioned by Random House as part of its Hogarth Shakespeare series. [1]

Contents

The novel centres on theatre director Felix who loses his job with Makeshiweg Theatre, and is exiled from his position in society, following his betrayal by a trusted colleague. Having suffered in isolation, Felix is granted the position of teaching in a prison literacy program in the Fletcher County Correctional Institute. Thus begins his plot of revenge against those who wronged him. [2]

The novel had varying reception among critics and audiences. A witty, dark and imaginative adaptation of Shakespeare's play, Hag-Seed manages to convincingly create a vengeful Duke Prospero [ citation needed ] from the slightly ridiculous, and certainly more sympathetic, director Felix. Dealing with themes of loss, revenge, a life of imprisonment and the concept of closure, Atwood uses Felix's lessons on The Tempest to the actor-inmates to demonstrate the parallels between her text and the original play.

The story culminates with a "fantastic climax of dark calamity" [3] in a metaphorical and literal storm.

Atwood's Hag-Seed can be considered an example of what Graham Wolfe calls theatre-fiction: "referring to novels and stories that engage in concrete and sustained ways with theatre as artistic practice and industry". [4]

Plot summary

Hag-Seed follows the life of Felix, once experimental artistic director of the Makeshiweg theatre festival, now an exiled man who speaks to his daughter's ghost. Felix's fall from the theatrical elite is brought about by the betrayal of his right-hand man, Tony. Using Felix's vulnerability after the death of his wife Nadia post-childbirth and the death of his beloved daughter Miranda, Tony used his influence and connections to oust Felix from his position and then have the board instate himself in the role. Worst, for Felix, is the cancellation of his production of The Tempest. A play which he had thrown himself into in order to cope with the loss of his own Miranda.

After an unceremonious firing and being escorted to his car, Felix decides that he must entirely retreat from the theatrical world he's known. Felix plunges into a form of self-inflicted exile, aiming to escape the press he imagines will humiliate him and those who betrayed him. He moves into a ramshackle cottage off the grid and relies on his unofficial, cash-in-hand landlords, Maude and Bert, for his power access.

Nine years into his seclusion, Felix has spent his time imagining a life shared with his dead daughter and keeping track of the two men who betrayed him; Tony and the minister of heritage Sal O'Nally. Following an advertisement for a teaching position at the literacy program in the Fletcher County Correctional Institute, Felix applies for the position using the name 'Mr. Duke'.

Hired by Estelle, who recognises him as Felix, Felix convinces her to give him a chance in the position to teach through performing Shakespeare - and to keep his true identity a secret. A professor at Guelph University, Estelle will not be involved in the day-to-day running of the program. However, as his work proves a success, she secures further funding and eventually organises a visit to a prison performance by two newly appointed government ministers, Tony and Sal.

Four years into the prison program, Felix now has his opportunity for revenge. Choosing to finally stage The Tempest he casts Anne-Marie, his original actress for the role of Miranda [ citation needed ] and begins readying the actors within the prison as part of his revenge scheme.

The play culminates in a drug fueled chaotic performance of the play, Sal and Tony are frightened and punished. The novel ends with Sal's son Freddie becoming the embodiment of the character of Ferdinand and is set up with Anne-Marie. Felix is restored to his former position and finally, like Prospero sets Ariel free, he releases the ghost of his daughter. [5]

Main characters

Development history

In June 2013, Random House announced the Hogarth Shakespeare series, as part of which well-known novelists re-tell a selection of Shakespeare's plays. [6] Later that year, it was announced that Margaret Atwood's adaptation of The Tempest would join Jeanette Winterson's Winter's Tale adaptation and Anne Tyler's Taming of the Shrew adaptation as part of the project. [7] The Hogarth Shakespeare series, Hag-Seed included, was intended to launch in 2016 to coincide with the four-hundredth anniversary of Shakespeare's death. [8]

Explanation of the novel's title

Felix asks his students to make a list of "curse words" used in The Tempest. On the list is "hag-seed." Felix bans all swearing from rehearsals save for the curse words from the list. [9] "Hag-seed" refers to Caliban, who is the son of a witch.

Awards and nominations

Hag-Seed was on the long list for the 2017 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. [10] [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prospero</span> Character in William Shakespeares The Tempest

Prospero is a fictional character and the protagonist of William Shakespeare's play The Tempest. Prospero is the rightful Duke of Milan, whose usurping brother, Antonio, had put him to sea on a "rotten carcass" of a boat to die, twelve years before the play begins. Prospero and Miranda had survived and found exile on a small island. He has learned sorcery from books, and uses it while on the island to protect Miranda and control the other characters.

<i>Return to the Forbidden Planet</i> Musical

Return to the Forbidden Planet is a jukebox musical by Bob Carlton based on the 1956 science fiction film Forbidden Planet, which, in turn, is loosely based on Shakespeare's play The Tempest. The show features a score of 1950s and 1960s rock and roll classics and dialogue largely adapted from well-known passages from Shakespeare.

Caliban, son of the witch Sycorax, is an important character in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hogarth Press</span> British publishing house

The Hogarth Press is a book publishing imprint of Penguin Random House that was founded as an independent company in 1917 by British authors Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf. It was named after their house in Richmond, in which they began hand-printing books as a hobby during the interwar period.

Miranda (<i>The Tempest</i>) Character in The Tempest

Miranda is one of the principal characters of William Shakespeare's The Tempest. She is the only female character to appear on stage.

<i>Prosperos Books</i> 1991 British film by Peter Greenaway

Prospero's Books is a 1991 British avant-garde film adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Tempest, written and directed by Peter Greenaway. Sir John Gielgud plays Prospero, the protagonist who provides the off-screen narration and the voices to the other story characters. As noted by Peter Conrad in The New York Times on 17 November 1991, Greenaway intended the film “as an homage to the actor and to his 'mastery of illusion.' In the film, Prospero is Shakespeare, and having rehearsed the action inside his head, speaking the lines of all the other characters, he concludes the film by sitting down to write The Tempest.”

The Tempest, or The Enchanted Island is a comedy adapted by John Dryden and William D'Avenant from Shakespeare's comedy The Tempest. The musical setting, previously attributed to Henry Purcell, and probably for the London revival of 1712, was very probably by John Weldon.

The Tempest is an opera by English composer Thomas Adès with a libretto in English by Meredith Oakes based on the play The Tempest by William Shakespeare.

<i>The Tempest</i> (1979 film) 1979 British drama film

The Tempest is a 1979 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play of the same name. Directed by Derek Jarman, produced by Don Boyd, with Heathcote Williams as Prospero, it also stars Toyah Willcox, Jack Birkett, Karl Johnson and Helen Wellington-Lloyd from Jarman's previous feature, Jubilee (1977).

<i>Scene from Shakespeares The Tempest</i> c. 1736–1738 painting by William Hogarth

Scene from Shakespeare's The Tempest, also known as Ferdinand courting Miranda is an oil painting by the English painter William Hogarth. It has been displayed at Nostell Priory since 1766, and was acquired by the National Trust in 2002. The National Trust claims that it is "the first known painting of a scene from Shakespeare".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sycorax</span> Character in Shakespeares The Tempest

Sycorax is an unseen character in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest (1611). She is a vicious and powerful witch and the mother of Caliban, one of the few native inhabitants of the island on which Prospero, the hero of the play, is stranded.

<i>The Mock Tempest</i> 1674 play by Thomas Duffet

The Mock Tempest, or the Enchanted Castle is a Restoration era stage play, a parody by Thomas Duffet; it premiered in 1674, and was first printed in 1675 by the bookseller William Cademan. In creating his farce, Duffet's target was not Shakespeare's famous play, but the adaptation of it that John Dryden and Sir William Davenant wrote in the 1660s. According to critic Michael West, "There are frequent nautical metaphors, and 'more noyse and terrour than a Tempest at Sea'...."

Ariel (<i>The Tempest</i>) Character in The Tempest

Ariel is a spirit who appears in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest. Ariel is bound to serve the magician Prospero, who rescued him from the tree in which he was imprisoned by Sycorax, the witch who previously inhabited the island. Prospero greets disobedience with a reminder that he saved Ariel from Sycorax's spells, and with promises to grant Ariel his freedom. Ariel is Prospero's eyes and ears throughout the play, using his magical abilities to cause the tempest in Act One which gives the play its name, and to foil other characters' plots to bring down their master.

<i>The Tempest</i> (2010 film) 2010 film directed by Julie Taymor

The Tempest is a 2010 American fantasy comedy-drama film based on the 1611 play of the same name by William Shakespeare. In this version, the gender of the main character, Prospero, is changed from male to female; the role was played by Helen Mirren. The film was written and directed by Julie Taymor and premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 11, 2010.

Ferdinand is the prince of Naples and the son of Alonso, the King of Naples, in Shakespeare's play, The Tempest. He falls in love with Miranda. He is quick to promise the title of queen and wife to Miranda even though he doesn't know her name. He is happy in humble labours, blinded by love. He makes a solemn vow to be truthful to Prospero, and not to violate Miranda's chastity before their wedding.

<i>Negotiating with the Dead</i>

Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing is a non-fiction work by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. Cambridge University Press first published it in 2002.

<i>The Tempest</i> Play by William Shakespeare

The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, the rest of the story is set on a remote island, where Prospero, a wizard, lives with his daughter Miranda, and his two servants: Caliban, a savage monster figure, and Ariel, an airy spirit. The play contains music and songs that evoke the spirit of enchantment on the island. It explores many themes, including magic, betrayal, revenge, and family. In Act IV, a wedding masque serves as a play-within-a-play, and contributes spectacle, allegory, and elevated language.

The Hogarth Shakespeare project was an effort by Hogarth Press to retell works by William Shakespeare for a more modern audience. To do this, Hogarth commissioned well-known writers to select and re-imagine the plays.

<i>The Tempest</i> (1908 film) 1908 British film

The Tempest is a 1908 British-made silent film directed by film pioneer Percy Stow who specialised in trick photography.

<i>Shakespeares Shitstorm</i> 2020 American film

Shakespeare's Shitstorm is a 2020 American musical comedy horror film written and directed by Lloyd Kaufman. Produced by Troma Entertainment, it is a contemporary parody of William Shakespeare's The Tempest.

References

  1. Groskop, Viv (2016-10-16). "Hag-Seed review – Margaret Atwood turns The Tempest into a perfect storm". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  2. Atwood, Margaret (August 2017). Hag-Seed : The Tempest Retold. Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. London. ISBN   9780099594024. OCLC   1001957163.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. Groskop, Viv (2016-10-16). "Hag-Seed review – Margaret Atwood turns The Tempest into a perfect storm". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  4. Wolfe, Graham. Theatre-Fiction in Britain from Henry James to Doris Lessing: Writing in the Wings. Routledge, 2019. 2.
  5. Graue, Anne (2016). "This Brave New Rendering A Review of Margaret Atwood's Hag-Seed: The Tempest Retold". Margaret Atwood Studies: 30. ISSN   1081-9622.
  6. Flood, Alison (2013-06-26). "Shakespeare's canon to be reworked by authors including Jeanette Winterson and Anne Tyler". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2020-02-23.
  7. Bury, Liz (2013-09-09). "Shakespeare retold: Margaret Atwood and Howard Jacobson join new series". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2020-02-23.
  8. Gopnik, Adam. "Why Rewrite Shakespeare?". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2020-02-23.
  9. Groskop, Viv (2016-10-16). "Hag-Seed review – Margaret Atwood turns The Tempest into a perfect storm". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2020-02-23.
  10. "Women's Prize for Fiction: Margaret Atwood among finalists". BBC. March 8, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  11. "Canadian authors make long list for Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction". The Star. March 7, 2017. Retrieved 2020-02-23.