The Tempest Context Essay

To represent the changing contexts of different time periods, characters and motifs are used to display the values of this time. The text The Tempest by Shakespeare and Hagseed by Margaret Atwood are two texts that weave the morals and beliefs of their time into the story. Through Caliban and the prisoners we can see how the concept of ‘the other’ reflects on the assumptions society makes about those who are different, as well as Atwood’s thoughts on the prison system. Prospero and Felix display the motif of ‘forgiveness & revenge’ which indicates how religion and beliefs have morphed over time. Finally 8 Handz and Arial show us the portrayal of ‘magic’ and the ways it is modified to suit new contexts, namely centering around technology.

She has chosen to represent him through a group of prisoners, who still display to us the motif of ‘the other’. Atwood can now exhibit this modern context through this group, as well as her beliefs surrounding prison reform. In this society, prisoners are stereotyped and judged for the mistakes that have placed them in prison, and are seen as different to society because of this situation. They are treated as if there is no hope, and that they cannot be educated or rehabilitated, ‘Heritage Minister Price and Justice Minister O’Nally are pulling the plug on the Fletcher Correctional literacy program’ uses metaphor to show the audience how little care there is for those in the prison system. But the way that Atwood portrays the prisoners in her book shows how similar they are to everyone else, they possess impressive skills and are able to learn to a high standard. The use of intertextuality in the quote ‘“I couldn’t have done it without Ariel”, say Felix, “Without 8Handz”’ shows us how capable prisoners such as 8Handz are. These examples show the audience Atwood’s stance on the prison system, she is a prison reform advocate and strongly believes there is change needed in the current system. The way in which her characters are knowledgeable and useful shows us this, and the reason she is advocating for this equality. This is also a direct

Christianity is no longer the majority religion and such values are not held as highly. So to form a more relatable connection between HagSeed and the audience she has decided to align more with the current context, and let Felix fully carry out his revenge. Felix believes that there are a number of people who have wronged him and wishes to carry out his revenge on those people. So he plans a play which will let him carry out this plan. ‘Quote’ uses ---- to show how desperate Felix was for his revenge and how much he needed it to be able to move on with his life. The obsession with it, and the infatuation with it shows us inside Felix’s head, and suggests that he is mentally unstable. This is a clear reflection of Atwood’s context as it has become more normalized for men to express their emotions publicly. But this revenge does not give Felix the peace of mind that he craves, using --- the quote ‘quote’ we are shown this. Even though Atwood does not stop Felix before he enacts his revenge, she does show us that revenge is not the answer. The motif of ‘forgiveness and revenge’ is displayed through Felix and shows us how society has moved away from the Christian values of Shakespeare’s time and allowed for men to be more open with their