Hag Seed By Margaret Atwood Context

Composers can reimagine iconic texts as a way to reinforce their core themes and significantly challenge contextual norms. ‘Hag-seed’ written in 2016 by Margaret Atwood is a prose fiction novel that reimagines Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ through a modern-day lens, allowing audiences to connect and deepen their understanding of the original text in a more digestible way. As a modern female author, Atwood utilises redefined plotlines in her novel to embed relevant social commentaries, expressing the differing values and contexts between herself and Shakespeare. Atwood’s representation of the character Miranda better helps the audience understand the actions and motives of Miranda in the base text. The intentional similarities and differences

A significant portion of Miranda’s characterisation in Atwood’s ‘Hag-seed’ is through the lens of grief, connecting to modern audiences to better understand Felix’s journey and question the social values of Shakespeare’s context. This greatly differs from the base text as mental health, as a focus was not taken into account and was an uncommon driving motivation. For Atwood to implement this at the forefront of Felix’s revenge plot, Miranda’s purpose within the story changes from a naive love blinded child to something quite meaningful. Furthermore, as revenge in ‘The Tempest’ scarcely involves Miranda there's a disconnect and lack of empathy towards Prospero, highlighting Miranda's role as a pawn in his manipulation. As Felix clings to Miranda for closure he states, “What has he been thinking--keeping her tethered to him all this time?” emanating a sense of guilt within himself, further relating to Miranda’s secondary role in the novel. Contrastingly Prospero’s revenge is fueled by the act of betrayal and loss of aristocracy, while Miranda’s purpose remains uninvolved in the main action without the effects of loss at all. In Miranda's naivety, she recalls, “Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.” symbolising the innocent nature of this