Hagseed and Tempest Essay - Comparative Essay PDF

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A comparative essay including notes on both texts Tempest and Hagseed. 19/20. Enjoy - Work Hard. English is Hard. ENJOY...

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STUDENT NUMBER: 215069 TEACHER: OCKERT

QUESTION: ‘The act of looking back, of seeing with fresh eyes, reveals that ideas and values endure through time.’ To what extent does this statement reflect your study of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Margaret Atwood’s Hag-Seed? The post-colonial meta-fictional novelised adaption Hag-seed by Margaret Atwood (2016) shares a provocative conversation with Shakespeare’s Jacobean tragic comedy the Tempest (1610), the overarching values of freedom (both physical and psychological) and forgiveness and revenge are shaped by each texts strikingly different respective contexts of the age of discovery (1610) and the post-colonial discourse which followed (2016) that is explored through the characterisation of Caliban and Prospero in The Tempest and the extension and innovation of those characters in Hag-Seed, Felix and the prisoners. The conversation between both texts proves the enduring value of universal themes and the study of both texts as a pair has allowed me to understand that forms and values transform with context through my looking back to the Tempest with the post-modern context allowing for connections to be developed in terms of the changes in values between the respective texts. Shakespeare’s the Tempest explores the universal value of freedom (both psychological and physical) through the characterisation of Caliban as a noble savage, with the purpose of criticising the treatment of native peoples which operated during his context of the age of discovery, at this time Europeans endeavoured to colonise ‘newly found land’ through their extensive overseas exploration leading to the demise of native peoples and attitudes of European dominance. The exploitation of Caliban results in an inability to escape the psychological prison of his ‘colonised mind’ and is cemented through interactions between Caliban and the Trinculo and Stephano. Shakespeare is able to critique the euro-centric ideals during the Age of Discovery through the juxtaposing characterisation of Caliban and the Shakespearean fools, Trinculo and Stephano. Shakespeare’ harsh depiction and condescension of Caliban is essentially a warning sign of how slavery is increasingly problematic and has the capacity to exploit and abuse good-hearted and inwardly sophisticated native people by the rather incompetent unnatural masters or in this case the incompetent Shakespearean fools. Caliban is a character that is full of eros and some undesirable traits but, he also speaks in Iambic pentameter, a rhythmic and metered unit of speech indicative of educated and noble (even godly) individuals yet, the ‘supposedly’ well educated Europeans (Stephano and Trinculo) speak in prose, that which is typically associated with the lower class the deliberate use of ‘culo’ meaning backside in Italian further sets up Trinculo as a classic fool and buffoon for the purpose of Shakespeare’s critique of the folly of empire and the hypocrisy of Eurocentric thinking. In Act 2 Scene 2 Shakespeare indicates the characters innate differences first through the stage directions “Enter CALIBAN, with a burden of wood. A noise of thunder heard”, the object of wood characterises Caliban as a man of earth followed by his monologue full of rich bestial imagery further aligning Caliban to the natural world “Sometimes like Apes…And after bite me; then like Hedgehogs which lie tumbling barefoot…adders who with cloven tongues” which is then juxtaposed with the object Stephano is carrying, “Enter STEPHANO carrying a bottle and singing” and the prose that Trinculo speaks when meeting Caliban “What have we here- a man, or a fish? Dead or alive? Both of these structures of speech establish the pair as a representation of the worst that civilization has to offer — debauchery and absurdity highlighted through their introduction of alcohol to Caliban and the instructive verb “bear my bottle” foreshadowing Caliban’s looming ‘like for the drink’. Caliban then further juxtaposes the drunkards through his rich ecological knowledge “I prithee let me bring thee where crabs grow; And I with my long nails will dig thee pig-nuts To snare the nimble Marmoset” Shakespeare uses his need to appease to reveal his ‘colonised mind’ and the damage of euro-centric mass colonisation during the age of discovery, through this rich characterisation and dyna twists, Shakespeare is able to critique his imperialist Eurocentric world.

The value of freedom is carried through time and transformed in Hag-seed’s conversation with The Tempest, in order to serves the author’s purpose of conveying the importance of education in the justice system. The re-imagining of the character of Caliban in Atwood’s postmodern novel Hag-Seed, allows Atwood to adapt and ,move the canonical play into the 21st century context of post-colonial discourse whilst infusing it with an egalitarian spirit through the mirroring of Shakespeare’s Caliban in her ‘collective Caliban’. Atwood explores the post-modern context of in-efficient and inhuman prisons through a prison ‘collective Caliban’, Atwood re-purposes the character to reveal egalitarian values such as psychological freedom in which the prisoners can find through studying canonical texts which reveals itself in the positive interactions had through the ‘literacy through literature program’. Atwood effectively updates Shakespeare’s Old World critiques and enters her own purposeful message regarding the restoration of criminals: Atwood ultimately emphasises the importance of humane and education based prison systems through Leggs, in Chapter 26 ‘Quaint Devices’ of Hag-Seed Leggs delivers a text within a text rap rendition of intertextual dialogue lifted directly out of the play, the dialogue originally was a moment of insight into Caliban’s physical and

psychological imprisonment however, Atwood repurposes the dialogue to instead shine a light on the capacity of universal themes to re-ignite a passion for expression and learning “Bash in his brains, pay him back for my pains, make that girl be my Hag-Seed queen, no matter how she scream, the more she scream, she’s askin’ for it, down on her knees, I’ll make her adore it, no matter how she whine, I’ll hump her blind, Cause I’m Hag-Seed”, the overtly sexual subtext is very much reflective of commercial rap, the shift of delivery of the dialogue shows the connection that the prisoners have forged with The Tempest, this is due to the fact that Shakespeare’s exploration of universal themes enables prisoners to draw connections to their own lives and restore their own dignity and communal interaction. This is also revealed before Leggs performs when Anne-Marie and his fellow prisoners encourage and support him, “Don’t forget to breathe….Leggs rears up, crouches, shakes a fist. TimEEz, PPod, VaMoose, and Red Coyote stand off to the side clapping out the beat..” this further exacerbates the communal reconnection and interaction as a result of education. Hag-Seed’s conversation with The Tempest is very much used to critique the current state of Western prison systems and bring the reader’s attention to the importance of education as a way of breaking of cycle of criminality and reconnection of prisoners to the wider community by drawing and extending upon the value of freedom and imprisonment present in The Tempest. In an interview conducted with Atwood she reiterated her purpose in saying “what are prisons for? Are they to inflict punishment for wrongdoing? To teach a lesson? To keep the public safe? To correct someone who has walked dangerously off course? Each era in history had its own motive, and in the 19th-century the emphasis turned to reform.” Therefore, affirming that prison should be a space for beneficial, restorative and community driven systems for reconnection through education rather than reformation. The value of forgiveness and revenge in the Tempest operate through the characterisation of Prospero and the journey he takes, Shakespeare’s purpose in doing so was to critique the old world and place emphasis on the power of Christian humanism to release and empower. The first indication of a paradigm shift is the symbolism of a storm as a disruption to an old paradigm “a tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard.” and the emergence of an island as a ‘new paradigm. Prospero undergoes a progression through forgiveness that is indicative of the paradigm shift from Providentialism (a belief in strict fate that is laid out by God) to Christian humanism (a humanist principle that values human dignity, individual freedom and forgiveness), as Prospero realizes that revenge is superficial and only provides instant-gratification for a limited time, Prospero comes to the conclusion that true power and satisfaction are rooted in the forgiveness of others and self. The abdication of providentialism and mysticism takes place in Act 5 scene 1, when Prospero moved by Ariel’s feelings of compassion agrees to take pity on his ‘prisoners’ and release them, adopting a Christ like persona, “Though with their high wrongs I am struck to th’quick, Do I take part. the rarer action is in virtue, than in vengeance… go release them Ariel. My charms ill break, their senses I’ll restore, and they shall be themselves” this anti-thetical language indicates the paradigm shift to Christian Humanism and surrendering of Providentialism. The soliloquy following this continues to abdicate Providentialism, through the change from rich mysticism shown in the magical lexical field “demi-puppets…moonshine… green sour…midnight mushrooms...stout oak” to the allusion of Christian Humanism overthrowing providentialism “Some heavenly music..” and the moment that Prospero vows to be a leader and a man of Christian behaviour “I’ll break my staff, bury it certain fathoms in the earth, and deeper than ever plummet sound I’ll drown my book.” The personification and high modality further contribute to the critique that Shakespeare endeavours to make. Arguing that satisfaction is not found in revenge, it is found in forgiveness of self and others, an idea which challenges the Providential views of his context and harks to the powers of the Christian guiding light through Prospero and his all-encompassing desire for revenge against his usurping brother Antonio and eventual adoption of a Christ like persona and showing of Christian mercy towards his ‘prisoners’. These two texts create a relationship that is forged by their respective focuses on the value of forgiveness, which generates an ongoing cultural conversation surrounding their contexts of mass colonisation and post-colonial discourse, which is represented through the resonances and the dissonances of Felix and Prospero. In Hag-Seed these values are represented through the character of Felix who resonates with Prospero, a revenge driven and obsessive protagonist who eventually has a similar realisation to Prospero Atwood enhances the idea that both protagonists were imprisoned by their need for revenge , however their eventual freedom is achieved through forgiveness. Much like Prospero, Felix endures a transformation. In the beginning of Hag-Seed there is an abundance of dark and tragic imagery “It didn’t take Felix long to discover it was easy to disappear…the hole his sudden absence left…maybe he had a breakdown? Jumped off a bridge?...the intensity of when his little girl had died? there is an obvious juxtaposition of imagery from the start of the novel in comparison to the end indicating the deep-rooted internal restoration Felix is able to achieve through releasing his “obsession” of the sprite Miranda “To the elements be free he says to her. And, finally, she is.” this ambiguous statement is a moment of dissonance with the Tempest as Prospero asks the audience for forgiveness which breaks the fourth wall this brings attention to the fact that it is occurring in a play and aligns to the power of text to mould and influence value system and moral codes.

Hag-seed and the Tempest both share valuable insights into their respective context and the power of texts to influence values such as freedom and forgiveness through their fascinating and thought-provoking conversation, and individual purpose. Although, there are dissonances between how the values of freedom and forgiveness and revenge are used to convey purpose in both texts, Hag-seed is undoubtably enriched by the study of The Tempest as the ‘fresh eye’ is able to identify connections in ideas and values that transcend time....