Conversations about Hag-Seed

Epigraphs

The Advanced English Textual Conversations module provides an option to study the pairing of Shakespeare's The Tempest and Margaret Atwood's Hag-Seed. It's an accessible and popular option, and there's an ever-increasing amount of material becoming available to assist teachers and students. I usually approach the pairing by having students read The Tempest in one go, and then looking at Shakespeare's text through the lens of Hag-Seed. 

One of the literary structural conceits used by Atwood in her novel is the epigraph. In this context, an epigraph is the use of a quote or phrase at the beginning of a text to 'prime' the reader. This is a form of textual allusion, which is fitting when we consider that Hag-Seed itself is a giant piece of textual allusion. Atwood isn't shy in this regard, she uses not one epigraph but three.

Here's a sheet that invites students to analyse the epigraphs: The Art of the Epigraph in Hag-Seed

In this activity, students:

• Look at what an epigraph is and how it functions.
• Consider what each epigraph specifically says about Hag-Seed and/or why Atwood has chosen this particular quote to use. 
• Take the intertextuality a step further by using a quote from either The Tempest or Hag-Seed as an epigraph for their own piece of writing.

Epigraphs are important for Advanced students to learn about because they exist as a higher order form of comprehension. They are a sophisticated (and potentially obscure) way for writers to experiment with abstraction, a way to distil the essence or thematic core of a piece of writing, or to even ironically write against the idea of a piece. 

Socratic Discussion

Another way of getting Advanced students to better comprehend the textual conversation between The Tempest and Hag-Seed is the use of Socratic circles. This allows for the generation of discussion about the texts without focusing too much on lower order skills like grammar and sentence construction. 

I've already written about this approach a while back if you're interested (Socratic circles) and, for the purposes of this blog entry, I've included some useful discussion questions below. I like to use these questions around the halfway mark in the module - they're intended to push quieter students into forming and voicing opinions, and can also give struggling writers an opportunity to demonstrate their advanced thinking. The beauty of Socratic discussion is in sparking a single comment from a more forthright student and then watching other students build on this or react to it. 

Anyway, here are the questions:

• Does Prospero have the right to enslave Caliban?
• Prospero's most prized possession is his books and he arranges to take these with him to the island, along with his daughter. What two items would you take?
• Should Prospero have forgiven Antonio? Does he have a right to revenge?
• Felix tells himself to 'trust the play' but then questions himself with 'but is the play trustworthy?' What do you think is meant by this?
• Thinking of Caliban and the inmates in Hag-Seed, which is more influential - nature or nurture?
• In what way is Miranda a product of her time?
• Prospero was overthrown by his own brother, which is indicative of a familiar thread in Shakespeare's plays. What is this theme and is it still relevant today?
• Who is more justified in his methods - Prospero or Felix?
• In what way is the theme of 'performance' relevant to our everyday lives?
• Who is 'the Other' in our society? Are they fairly represented in the media? Fairly represented in Shakespeare's time? Is Caliban a racist stereotype?
• Would The Tempest as a play be better off without the characters of Stephano and Trinculo?
• If Prospero were an allegory for Shakespeare himself, who would be the closest equivalent for Margaret Atwood in Hag-Seed?
• In what way does Hag-Seed succeed in updating The Tempest for a modern day audience?
• In what way does it fail?
• Should any text be fair game for adaptation or sequelising? 

I've asked these questions to a range of students and it's genuinely fascinating to hear the discussions that emerge, to see the way in which conversations fold over the top of each other, and the ideas that are extended through Socratic discussion. 

They could probably even work as a writing activity for individual students who need further extension.