The Tempest & Hagseed Themes & Quotes PDF

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Quotes from The Tempest and Hag-Seed for HSC Advanced English topic 'Textual Conversations'. Sourced from LitCharts.com...

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The Tempest Themes Loss & Restoration:

® Prospero’s attempt to recover his lost dukedom of Milan o

Gives up his magic rather than seeking revenge.

o

Frees Ariel before returning to Milan

® Ariel lost his freedom to Sycorax – now serves Prospero. o

Continues to serve Prospero even though he wishes to be free.

® Caliban overthrown as ruler of the island by Prospero. o

Hates Prospero and gives himself as a slave to Stephano in an attempt to kill Prospero.

® Prospero’s tempest strips Alonso and his courtiers of their position and power as they’re trapped on the island. o

Alonso returns Prospero to his power in Milan and restores order between Milan and Naples.

o

Antonio & Sebastian never show remorse and attempt to overthrow Alonso.

o

Stephano and Trinculo seek power through violence.

Power:

® The play is full of examples of power taken by force, and each case leads to political instability and further attempts to gain power through violence. o

Antonio and Alonso’s overthrow of Prospero leads to Antonio and Sebastian’s plot to overthrow Alonso.

o

Prospero’s overthrow and enslavement of Caliban leads Caliban to seek revenge.

o

After Prospero’s merciful refusal to seek revenge, Alonso and Prospero quickly come to an understanding and unite their once warring cities through the marriage of their children – Miranda and Ferdinand.

® The play suggests that compromise and compassion are more effective political tools than violence, imprisonment or even magic. Redemption & Imprison Imprisonment ment

® The entirety of the play is based around Prospero’s imprisonment on the island. o

For 12 years, Prospero was trapped on the island with his daughter Miranda, sprite Ariel and native Caliban.

o

Ariel was imprisoned on the island by Sycorax – Prospero freed him from this prison so long as he obeyed Prospero’s

o

Caliban both metaphorically (goes against nurture, gives into nature) and literally (by Prospero) imprisoned.

o

Alonso, Antonio etc., imprisoned on the island due to Prospero’s tempest.

orders.

® The characters in The Tempest seek redemption for their sins, errors and evil doings. This is largely due to Shakespeare’s Christian influence in the Jacobean Era. o

Prospero’s intent is not to revenge himself, or to reconcile with his brother, but simply to become Duke again. He intends to achieve this through magic and manipulation. He believes all that have wronged him will suffer – even Gonzalo who has done no harm. Ariel convinces Prospero to stop the misery caused by his magic.

o

The choice to forgive in ACT V convinces Prospero to extend this forgiveness to those that wrong him. He forgives

o

The end of the play shows Prospero’s soliloquy, which emphasizes the choice to remove his magic. Prospero achieved

Caliban for his attempted murder, but not for his acts against Miranda. He also forgives Trinculo and Stephano. redemption and forgave, leaving the island and finding peace in Milan.

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Quot Quotes es Theme Theme(s) (s) Loss & Restorat Restoration ion Power

Loss & R Restoration estoration Magic & Illus Illusio io ionn

Loss & Restoration Power

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Analys Analysisis

“What cares these roarers for the name After Gonzalo urges the Boatswain to bear in mind that Alonso of the king?” – Boatswain to Gonzalo is the King of Naples, the Boatswain responds that the storm doesn’t care “for the name of the king”. He insists that the meaning of the hierarchy of status has no significance in the face of the power of nature. Just as the storm itself will not distinguish between kings and ordinary people in its destructive might, so will the consequences of the storm throw these distinctions into disarray. “O, I have suffered / With those that I Miranda is watching the ship be battered alongside her father, saw suffer! A brave vessel / Who had no Prospero. She suspects her father is causing the storm with doubt some noble creature in her, / his magic. Miranda feels sympathy for those on the ship, Dashed all to pieces” – Miranda to imagining some ‘noble creature’ aboard – reflecting Gonzalo’s Prospero statement in the previous scene. Miranda also feels a connection to the passengers on the ship, as she also arrived on the island via shipwreck. This passage lays out Miranda’s personality, as a kind, empathetic and compassionate person. Contrasting her character to those of Caliban (embittered by his own experience) or Antonio (Selfish and power-hungry) Prospero tells Miranda the truth about their past – before “Thy false uncle...new created / The they were shipwrecked on the island. Prospero was the Duke creatures that were mine...set all hearts of Milan, but allowed his brother, Antonio, to run the state; i'th'state / To what tune pleased his ear, Antonio then betrayed Prospero, usurping his status and that now he was / taking control for himself. Prospero explains how his brother The ivy which had hid my princely trunk, / used his cunning political skills to manipulate others into And sucked my verdure out on't...” – believing whatever ‘tune pleased his ear’. Prospero emphasizes Prospero to Miranda how he and Antonio were initially very close, but Antonio used Prospero’s trust to undermine him. This description establishes Antonio as the villain of the play, motivated not by love and compassion but by self-interest and desire for power.

Loss & Rest Restoration oration

“You taught me language, and my profit

Prospero’s ‘poisonous slave’ Caliban enters. The two characters

Power

on’t / is, I know how to curse.” – Caliban

fight, with Prospero arguing that in the past he treated Caliban

Colonisation

to Prospero

with care, only to have Caliban retaliate by attempting to rape Miranda. Caliban grumbles that Prospero taught him language, but

Imprisonment

the only value of this is that he now knows to curse. This is a key moment that establishes Prospero’s paternalistic attitude to Caliban, a feature that signifies their colonial dynamic. While Prospero considers his teaching as a gift, Caliban refuses to separate this education from Prospero’s overall imprisonment of him. Caliban implies that there is little use of having language fluency if he is not treated as an equal by the people he communicates with. This tension is symbolically significant when compared to the “education” that European colonizers imposed on colonised populations.

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“…She that from whom / We all were

Ariel has entered and played music that has lulled Alonso and

sea-swallowed, through some cast again

Gonzalo to sleep. Meanwhile, Antonio has pointed out to

/ And by that destiny, to perform an act

Sebastian that Ferdinand has drowned, and that means

/ Whereof what’s past is prologue, what

Sebastian is the heir to the throne of Naples. This tempest has

to come / In yours and my discharge” –

provided an opportunity for him and Sebastian to ‘perform an

Antonio to Sebastian

act’ that would lead them to gain power. Antonio used his skill in speech and persuasiveness that he used on Prospero years ago. Rather than telling Sebastian outright of his plan to murder Alonso, he plants ideas slowly in Sebastian’s mind, creating the impression that this is all part of a larger ‘destiny’. Antonio’s comment ‘what’s past is prologue’ shows Antonio’s vision of himself as the playwrights, with the power to plan and manipulate events into taking place exactly as he wishes.

Power

“Twenty consciences / That stand ‘twixt

Antonio has revealed his plan to murder Alonso. He reminds

me and Milan, candied be they, / And

Sebastian that he has pulled of a similar act before, when he took

melt ere they molest.” – Antonio

his brother’s title of Duke of Milan. He boasts that the position suits him well, and when Sebastian asks if he is troubled by his conscience, Antonio replies that ‘twenty consciences’ would melt before they bothered him. This response reveals Antonio to be an arch villain, with no trace of remorse for having murdered his brother and niece (or so he believes). While other characters are presented a having more complex relationship with ethics and personal gain, Antonio is straightforward and shameless in his desire to seize power.

Lo Loss ss & Redemption

“Misery acquaints a man with strange

Caliban has delivered a speech about the ways in which Prospero

bedfellows” – Trinculo to Caliban

torments him; noticing Alonso’s jester Trinculo, he hides under a cloak. Trinculo, however, notices Caliban despite his attempt to hide, and at first speculates about bringing him back to Naples to show him off as an exotic oddity. Then, fearing lightning from a coming storm, Trinculo crawls under the cloak with Caliban, exclaiming that ‘misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.’ Trinculo is a comic character, and to some extent this scene is a brief humorous distraction from the serious matters of the political scheming and assassination plots. On the other hand, Trinculo’s treatment of Caliban represents the cruel, ignorant way in which European colonisers interacted with and exploited colonised populations. While Trinculo is comically unintelligent, his perception of Caliban as a ‘strange’ creature is not unrelated to Prospero’s opinion that Caliban is savage, ugly and subhuman.

Colonisation

“A devil, a born devil, on whose nature /

Prospero summons Ariel upon remembering Trinculo, Stephano

Nurture can never stick…” – Prospero to

and Caliban’s plot against him. Ariel reports that he has led the

Caliban

three drunk men on a treacherous walk, and further informs Prospero on their plans to kill him then steal his cloak and books. Furious, Prospero exclaims that Caliban is a sick devil ‘on who’s nature/nurture can never stick”. His words reflect the prominent

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debate among colonisers at the time about the nature of indigenous populations. Others believed that it was impossible to ‘civilise’ these populations, as Prospero claims in this passage. Like Prospero, many who held this view claimed that non-white people were not human, comparing their ‘nature’ to animals or ‘devils’. Lo Loss ss & Restoration

“…The rarer the action is / in virtue, than

Moved by Ariel’s sympathy for Alonso and the other men who

Power

in vengeance.” – Prospero

Prospero imprisoned, Prospero reflects on himself and chooses to be more sympathetic. He admits he still feels hurt by their ‘high

Imprisonment

wrongs’, but reasons that it is rarer to act virtuously then vengefully. The events leading up to this moment support this theory; the play is full of characters seeking revenge on one another. Yet, Prospero’s use of the word ‘rare’ does not just refer to infrequency, it also refers to the value. As he has observed Ariel, acting with compassion and forgiveness towards the others is admirable, and an important part of being a human. Prospero is reminded of this fact, and how to use his power for good, by Ariel, a non-human with very little power. Loss & Restoration

“…O brave new world / That has such

Moved by the compassion of Ariel, Prospero has ordered Alonso,

Colon Colonisation isation

people in’t!” - Miranda

Gonzalo and the others to be released and brought to him. He has praised Gonzalo and scolded the others, before revealing himself in the old attire of the Duke of Milan. Alonso grieves the presumed loss of Ferdinand, and at first Prospero continues letting him believe Ferdinand is dead before revealing that Ferdinand and Miranda are together. Seeing the new people, Miranda exclaims ‘O brave new world!”, astonished and delighted by seeing so many new people at once. However, Miranda’s joy shows how naïve she is as a result of growing up on the island.

Power

“…This thing of darkness, I /

Now that everyone has been bought together, Prospero has

Colonisation

Acknowledge mine.” - Prospero

reclaimed his dukedom, and Miranda and Ferdinand’s love has been announced, Prospero asks Ariel to undo the spell placed on the other characters. Prospero reveals the plan the 3 drunk men hatched against him and asks the other characters if they recognise Stephano and Trinculo. He then claims ‘this thing of darkness’ as his own. Assumedly, ‘thing of darkness’ refers to Caliban; there are many times in the play when Caliban is referred to as non-human ‘it’, rather than as a man. Such an interpretation confirms the impression that Prospero believes Caliban to be his property, and treats him simultaneously as a child, pet, and inanimate possession. It is possible these lines actually consist of Prospero taking partial responsibility for the sinister plot against him, though this is somewhat unlikely as Caliban replies “I shall be pinch’d to death”.

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Hag Seed Themes Theatre & The Tempest

® The entirety of Hag Seed is based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest . o

After being ousted from his job at a prominent theatre festival, Felix begins teaching Shakespeare in a prison.

o

Both the novel and the play centre around a protagonist who does his best to control the direction of the plot and the actions of those around him. In this sense, Shakespeare’s Prospero – who uses his magic powers to exact revenge on his enemies – and Atwood’s Felix – whose craftiness as a thespian allows him to achieve his own vengeance – represent the playwright or author who inevitably controls their creative work.

o

However, while Shakespeare seems to use Prospero to meditate uneasily on his own long career as a playwright, Atwood ultimately uses this contradiction to argue for the moral utility of theatre and the importance of prioritising it within a society.

Vengeance

® Just as The Tempest’s Prospero seeks revenge on the man who steals his kingdom, Felix wants to get back at Tony, a former colleague who supplants him as director of a prestigious theatre festival. o

As his desire for revenge becomes more obsessive, it prevents Felix from building and fulfilling life and brings out the duplicitous and self-centred side of his character. He doesn’t get over these feelings until he’s finally able to avenge himself, but his vengeance comes in the form of a clever scheme that actually benefits several other people.

o

By presenting Felix’s final actions in the positive light, the novel shows the negative moral effects of a desire for revenge while also pointing out the ability of restorative action to provide fulfillment and closure after an instance of injustice.

Imprisonment & Marginalisa Marginalisation tion

® In both stories, most of the characters spend time trapped in literal and metaphorical prisons. o

Felix exiles himself to a remote cabin after being fired from his job. §

While Prospero uses his magic powers to imprison others, Felix takes a teaching job at a prison, where he takes charge of a group of men who, like Caliban, have been demonised and exiled within their own society. He uses his power as a director to help them confront their pasts and to stage a revolt against the politicians who exploit prisoners for their own ends.

§

Changing the role of her protagonist, Atwood gives the marginalised characters in her narrative their chance to speak, thus looking to a future of empowerment rather than a continuation of the cycle of incarceration.

Transformation & Change

® The novel is full of transformation, in which characters constantly change roles, ascend to power, or fall into disgrace. o

Felix initially sees such transformations as inherently false and unjust; he devotes most of the novel to returning himself and his adversary, Tony, to their original states.

o

Though, as his revenge plot progresses, it becomes evident that rather than betraying the natural order of things, transformations can also help characters improve their lives, and Felix’s habit of clinging to a static notion of his own place in the world proves unhealthy and unrealistic.

Grief

® The beginning of the story is marked by two serious losses for the protagonist: o

His job as director of a famous theatre festival, which his assistant tony steals.

o

The loss of his daughter, Miranda, who has recently died of meningitis. §

Felix addresses his grief by plotting to reclaim what he has lost. However, over time, Felix realises that he can never return to the life he once had and will be happier trying to build a new one.

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Quote

Analysis

Theatre

“What to do with such sorrow? It was

In a flashback, Felix discusses his original motivations for

Transformation & Change

like an enormous black cloud boiling up

staging The Tempest. Felix’s obsession begins while he’s

Grief

over the horizon… He had to transform

grieving for his young daughter Miranda and decides that this

it, or at the very least enclose it.” - Felix

process will help him overcome his loss. In his daily life, Felix usually resists the idea of transformation, however, he’s much more willing to embrace personal transformation when it happens in the context of a play, framing such transformations as performances helps him embrace the change that naturally occurs in his life.

Theatre

“This is the extent of it, Felix muses. My Entering Fletcher Correctional Centre on the first day of his

Ven Vengeance geance

island domain. My place of exile. My

latest course, Felix walks through the small block of classrooms

penance

where he holds classes, runs rehearsals and ultimately films his

My theatre.” - Felix

productions. With its lack of resources, formal equipment, or professional staff, the prison is a letdown compared to other places Felix has works, and his arrival at the prison reminds him of his professional demise. At the same time, by taking a breath and reminding himself that this is ‘my theatre’, Felix points out that he’s still doing the same work he has done all his life. Felix’s place of exile is already a theatre, and he too will use it as a tool of revenge, following in Prospero’s footsteps.

Th Theatre eatre

“’We could put ...