You know what I love? A good book.
You know who I love? Margaret Atwood.
There's just something so very appealing about her writing - the nuances in her language, her plots, her general cleverness, and her willingness to experiment with form. She's the subversive queen, and with the popularity of 'The Handmaid's Tale', she really has taken centre stage from a literary perspective. Yet, I want to talk about a text less widely known, that is, 'Hag-Seed'.
It was published a number of years ago as part of the Howarth Shakespeare series. In a nutshell, the series had well known authors re-write Shakespeare's plays into a modern context. I've read a number of them, and this week, I again read 'Hag-Seed'.
The novel is a re-working of Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' - which is the Bard's last play, and it is a story of revenge, as the Duke of Milan is usurped and thrown in a boat, to wash up on an island where he would stew over his revenge plot for 12 years - until, lady luck delivered him his usurper (his brother Antonio) and his royal entourage. The play has strong themes around revenge, the role of women and colonisation. Revenge - Christian Humanism kicks in, as Shakespeare's context offers that we have free choice, as long as we use our will to do good. He positions women as puppets of men, who would serve their fathers, before, much like property, being passed off to a convenient suitor. It also offers insight into colonisation, as the island monster, Caliban, is portrayed as the evil villain - and as a native, obviously servile and non-human.
(It is worth pointing out that for each character in 'The Tempest' there is a mirror in the modern text. The Duke of Milan Prospero, becomes Mr Duke. Caliban becomes the prisoners collectively etc)
This is where Atwood takes her title, as Caliban was known as Hag-Seed; the son of the witch. She transforms the island into a prison, where the fallen director, Felix (Mr Duke) would take on the role of working with the inmates on a literacy program for prisoners. The text seeks to humanise the prisoners - they arn't just numbers, they are people. This is Atwood's humanist perspective walking to the front. Through the novel we learn the prisoners' backstories, and ultimately, we learn to cheer for them, and challenges our own existing perceptions of others, as Caliban, the stereotypical 'other' in Shakespeare's day - is finally given voice and feelings and life and dimension - only four hundred years later. In the end, the prisoners work together with Felix to achieve his ends. It's a happy ending, but a little twisted - you won't see it coming, but you'll be highly satisfied.
Atwood also takes on the role of women. In the original Shakespeare, 'The Tempest's' only female character, Miranda is there to be a victim of rape, and the gift for the first man who comes to the island. She really is a puppet, and her father, Prospero, manipulates her - using magic to put her to sleep. Chess references are abundant in the text, and Miranda becomes just another piece in father's game. When she does get married; she doesn't get any more lines in the play. She is silenced.
Atwood, a known feminist, takes up the challenge. In the opening pages we learn Felix (Prospero's mirror character) has lost his daughter, Miranda, early in her life. So Miranda is dead - a metaphor for Shakespeare's 'ideal woman'. And Atwood introduces into the novel a strong, sexually aggressive, tattooed, beer drinking, hamburger eating, foul mouthed young lady who becomes the novel's heroine. What a joy it is to see her play the role of Miranda in the play, and provide a springboard for an investigation into the role of femininity in a modern context.
Then, in the final pages of the novel - Felix gives his inmates a final assignment for their literacy class. They have to come up with the life of the characters in Shakespeare's play after the final curtain. On Caliban's new history, she writes, 'They're really listening. The care about what happens to him...'. We understand Caliban needs a second chance, and in her didactic way, realise we are so quick to judge disadvantaged people in our world.
The play concludes in Spring, a hopeful new start for all.
This is a awesome book, and I've now read it three times, and each time I discover a new layer. If you are unfamiliar with the play, it doesn't matter - Shakespeare is universal, and this really becomes the story of a revenge plot - enjoy it for the way it comes together.