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Hag-Seed is a novel by Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, published in October 2016. A modern retelling of William Shakespeare's The Tempest, the novel was commissioned by Random House as part of its Hogarth Shakespeare series.
The novel centres on theatre director Felix who loses his job with Makeshiweg Theatre, and is exiled from his position in society, following his betrayal by a trusted colleague. Having suffered in isolation, Felix is granted the position of teaching in a prison literacy program in the Fletcher County Correctional Institute. Thus begins his plot of revenge against those who wronged him.
The novel had varying reception among critics and audiences. A witty, dark and imaginative adaptation of Shakespeare's play, Hag-Seed manages to convincingly create a vengeful Duke Prospero from the slightly ridiculous, and certainly more sympathetic, director Felix. Dealing with themes of loss, revenge, a life of imprisonment and the concept of closure, Atwood uses Felix's lessons on The Tempest to the actor-inmates to demonstrate the parallels between her text and the original play.
The story culminates with a "fantastic climax of dark calamity" in a metaphorical and literal storm.
Atwood's Hag-Seed can be considered an example of what Graham Wolfe calls theatre-fiction: "referring to novels and stories that engage in concrete and sustained ways with theatre as artistic practice and industry".Wolfe, Graham. Theatre-Fiction in Britain from Henry James to Doris Lessing: Writing in the Wings. Routledge, 2019. 2.
After an unceremonious firing and being escorted to his car, Felix decides that he must entirely retreat from the theatrical world he's known. Felix plunges into a form of self-inflicted exile, aiming to escape the press he imagines will humiliate him and those who betrayed him. He moves into a ramshackle cottage off the grid and relies on his unofficial, cash-in-hand landlords, Maude and Bert, for his power access.
Nine years into his seclusion, Felix has spent his time imagining a life shared with his dead daughter and keeping track of the two men who betrayed him; Tony and the minister of heritage Sal O'Nally. Following an advertisement for a teaching position at the literacy program in the Fletcher County Correctional Institute, Felix applies for the position using the name 'Mr. Duke'.
Hired by Estelle, who recognises him as Felix, Felix convinces her to give him a chance in the position to teach through performing Shakespeare - and to keep his true identity a secret. A professor at Guelph University, Estelle will not be involved in the day-to-day running of the program. However, as his work proves a success, she secures further funding and eventually organises a visit to a prison performance by two newly appointed government ministers, Tony and Sal.
Four years into the prison program, Felix now has his opportunity for revenge. Choosing to finally stage The Tempest he casts Anne-Marie, his original actress for the role of Miranda and begins readying the actors within the prison as part of his revenge scheme.
The play culminates in a drug fueled chaotic performance of the play, Sal and Tony are frightened and punished. The novel ends with Sal's son Freddie becoming the embodiment of the character of Ferdinand and is set up with Anne-Marie. Felix is restored to his former position and finally, like Prospero sets Ariel free, he releases the ghost of his daughter.
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