Author Origin: Born in Ottawa, Ontario. Lives in Toronto, Ontario.
Page Count: 295
Genre: Fiction
Difficulty: Medium
Grade Level: 11-12
Key Talking Points: Coping with grief and loss, revenge, literary style, the relevance of the classics.
Sensitive Subject Matter: Discussion of rape (in the context of the plot of The Tempest).
What can be more traditionally CAN Lit than Margaret Atwood? Atwood can be very divisive for readers: some love her, some hate her. Some, like me, both love and hate her depending on the book. This one definitely falls on the positive side of the scale for me. Thank you to Catherine, a lovely friend, for supporting this project by buying me Hag-Seed. It is not one of Atwood's more famous texts, which means there was less pre-existing hype, giving it an extra draw for me. It is also unique in that Atwood is reenvisioning Shakespeare's The Tempest in a modern context and in some pretty creative ways. Shakespeare AND CAN Lit, what's not to love?
Summary: Felix had a successful career as the Artistic Director of a theatre festival until some of his colleagues staged a coup to dethrone him in the midst of what he believed would be his glory, his production of The Tempest, by William Shakespeare. Felix only really had work in his life, as both his wife and daughter died before the action of the book began and he is haunted by their loss, but more on that later. In his "exile", Felix moves to a tiny little shack on the outskirts of a farm and lives in solitude for twelve years. This is when the action of the story really starts as Felix decides to take a job teaching English at a prison. We are introduced to a literal "cast" of characters in the prison as Felix connects Shakespearean texts to the real world struggles of the inmates- just more proof that Shakespeare really is relevant, because if prisoners can find its common themes, high school students definitely can, right? When Felix decides to stage his Tempest once again, using his jailhouse stage, he is finally given the opportunity to get revenge on those that betrayed him in his past life.
One of my common criticisms with Atwood is that sometimes she tells rather than shows. She sometimes ends books by explaining all the intricacies rather than trusting you to figure it out yourself. In a similar way, this book started with a bit too much telling in order for us to witness Felix's backstory before his job at the prison. It was hard to connect with Felix and engage in what was happening because we weren't digging deep enough into his personality and emotional life. Years passed in sentences and gaps in how Felix was living/feeling/coping were left gaping. To be honest, I was skeptical if I was going to enjoy the book at this point. However, once the narrative switched to more actively following Felix's day to day life with his Fletcher Correctional Players, I completely bought in. Now, to give Atwood a break here, this is also how The Tempest starts. In Act I, Scene ii, Prospero has a lot of long winded exposition about his betrayal by Antonio and Alonso. Since Hag-seed is The Tempest retold, the parallel makes sense, but I still feel like Atwood could have amped up the buy-in for such a big chunk of the book (all of Part 1).
Speaking of the Fletcher Correctional Players, they are, by far, the best part of the story. Many of the men taking Felix's class are fleshed out with distinct personalities: quirks, backstories, conflicts. Something about how these men are so invested in Shakespeare (albeit in their own, aggressively masculine, deviant way) just makes my English Teacher's heart flutter. There are so many adorable details that Atwood uses to make these men come to life; for example, Felix has a rule that they are only allowed to swear if they use curse words from the play they are currently studying. Picturing hardened criminals enthusiastically calling someone "whoreson ugly" or exclaiming "red plague" and "pox" never got old (194). They also all have their own endearing stage names, like Leggs, Bent Pencil, and 8Handz. Just so fricken cute.
Teacher Note: As this novel is The Tempest, retold, it offers up some really cool avenues for comparing and contrasting the text with The Tempest itself. Easy lesson material, and more than that, it is really interesting to see how Atwood represents the Shakespearean story in so many different ways, large and small . She doesn't hit you over the head with the majority of the parallels, they seem natural or playful. On top of that, there is the meta-textual nature of the story: Atwood is retelling The Tempest through the exile and revenge plot of Felix, but Felix is also telling his version of The Tempest through the play that he puts on in the prison. Felix is meant to represent Prospero, he chooses "Mr. Duke" as his alias in the prison, and he plays Prospero in the play he directs. There are so many layers to be unpacked, and a senior level English class could have a lot of fun with it. This could also lead to a project where students retell a text in their own unique way.
In addition to doing a partnered text study with The Tempest, Hag-Seed would be really interesting to look at using critical theoretical lenses. A number of critical theories would have interesting applications in the text, but none more than psychoanalysis. As mentioned in the summary, Felix's wife and daughter (named Miranda, just like Prospero's daughter in The Tempest) are long dead. However, Felix's Miranda is still very much present in his life, described as a spirit or imprint of herself. He speaks to her, interacts with her, and describes her as if she is living her own life independent of him- wondering where she is at the moment, having her surprise or challenge him. She has aged along with him, but holds on to a child-like innocence that he tries to protect in her, like any father would. For example, he explains objects in the world to her as if instructing a kindergartener- just the basics of what she needs to know. When they get into his car together to go to the prison, he wonders if she remembers the day she died, since her last time in the car was on the way to the hospital. The way Miranda is represented it leaves the reader wondering if she is, in fact, a spirit that is benignly haunting her father, or if she is a very well developed figment of his imagination. At one point, another character seems to also hear Miranda, and that really makes us readers feel the ground beneath us quiver. The uncertainty that that moment provides for us is another interesting layer to the text. Psychoanalysis, as in the application of the theories of Jung or Freud, could be used as a lens to look at these topics, offering ways to unpack Felix's unconscious mind and the root causes of his behaviours.
The text ends with a "final assignment" presentation by the inmates of their character's lives after the plot of The Tempest ends. This is another cool idea that can be stolen from Felix to use in the classroom.
Final Thought: So many interesting things going on in this one, a Shakespeare/ Atwood love child that is well worth your time.
📚 Ms. CAN Lit
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