Advanced English Tempest-Hagseed Essay

Summary:

The comparison between Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest” and Margaret Atwood’s novel “Hagseed” highlights an ongoing dialogue within literature about human nature and its complexities. Both works explore themes of power, revenge, and forgiveness, showing how these concepts evolve and resonate across different contexts. The examination of the cycle of usurpation, driven by a craving for power, is a central theme in both texts. Shakespeare’s play embodies this through characters like Antonio, reflecting the political anxieties of his time. Atwood’s modern retelling maintains this theme, portraying power struggles in contemporary settings.

The desire for revenge is another shared theme, revealing the dark consequences of pursuing vengeance. Shakespeare portrays the moral decay resulting from revenge, while Atwood’s characters also succumb to its corrosive effects. This desire for retaliation is shown to persist across time and societal changes, illustrating its enduring relevance.

However, a significant difference emerges in their treatment of forgiveness. Shakespeare’s play emphasizes the value of forgiveness and restoration as a moral ideal. Prospero’s act of pardoning his enemies symbolizes unity and healing. Atwood, on the other hand, challenges this idealism by deconstructing the notion of forgiveness. She presents a more cynical perspective, suggesting that forgiveness might not lead to lasting restoration. Her narrative interventions and postmodern approach disrupt traditional moral conclusions.

This intertextual conversation ultimately sheds light on human nature, illustrating our inherent desires for power, the corrupting influence of revenge, and the evolving understanding of forgiveness. The dialogue between these two works offers a deeper comprehension of both the constants and evolutions in the essence of humanity.

Excerpt:

Advanced English Tempest-Hagseed Essay

TEMPEST – HAGSEED

Literature is an endless, complex dialogue engaging with the essence of man. Shakespeare’s tragicomedy ‘The Tempest’ (1611) and Atwood’s postmodern retelling ‘Hagseed’ (2016), to a large extent, engage in a textual conversation dismantling, reconstructing and reconciling the human narrative of usurpation, revenge and forgiveness. The aligning examination of man’s pervasive quest for power and revenge is reconstructed and recycled across the texts, composing a central resonance for the purpose of revealing the enduring contextual relevance of such desires.