Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Hag-Seed, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Theater and The Tempest
Vengeance
Imprisonment and Marginalization
Transformation and Change
Grief
Summary
Analysis
Almost everything is ready: the cast has created the sets, sung their songs, and fought amongst themselves throughout it all. Felix alternately castigates himself for taking on this project and “congratulates himself on his judgment.” The goddesses look fantastic on the video, especially with the creepy background music PPod composes and the special effects added by 8Handz.
This passage juxtaposes the wholesome work of putting the play together and Felix’s nefarious scheme, which underpins the endeavor.
Themes
Felix makes another trip to Toronto, where he buys bowler hats and white makeup for Stephano and Trinculo. After that, he meets a middle-aged Korean man in the train station; a contact of 8Handz, the man gives Felix a package of pills, some powder, and a hypodermic needle. He tells Felix precisely how much of each substance to use in order to induce strong but not permanently damaging effects. Felix feels more reckless than ever before in his life.
Although the reader still doesn’t know exactly what Felix is planning, he must have shared his ideas with 8Handz. In a way, Felix is staging a play not only within the prison but in his narration—he controls the information that flows to the reader in order to create suspense and increase the sense of his own power.
Themes
The next day, Felix eats eggs for breakfast and checks on Tony and Sal, who are attending one function after another, making campaign promises and collecting donations. When he checks his email, he finds a message from Estelle, saying she needs to see him as soon as possible. He accepts her invitation to lunch. He always behaves graciously to Estelle, who “gets a huge kick out of being an unseen but crucial part” of the productions.
Estelle is an invisible aid to Felix’s work, just as Ariel helps Prospero without being seen by the other characters. However, the director and supervisor have a much more egalitarian relationship than Prospero and his enslaved spirit.
Themes
When they meet at their usual lunch place, Felix suspects that Estelle has dressed up for him more than usual. Felix orders a martini, as they’ve taken to having drinks with their lunch. Estelle confides to him that she’s heard Tony and Sal are going to cancel the prison literacy program after seeing the play. They’ve labeled it a “reward for criminality” and project of the “liberal elites.”
Tony and Sal treat prisoners as less than human; for them, incarceration isn’t just a period of punishment but a lifelong loss of rights and respect. While Felix stresses the possibility of theater to bring about personal growth, the politicians deny that such transformations can occur at all.
Themes
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Estelle is puzzled that Felix doesn’t seem more disappointed. He’s actually thrilled, because this new slight is exactly what he needs to win the actors to his cause. He tells Estelle that he has an idea to save the program, but she’ll have to help him; she responds that she’ll do anything she can.
Even though this is a blow for the prisoners, Felix is happy because it facilitates his revenge. Moments like this show that he continues to be somewhat self-absorbed even though he’s grown so much since the start of the novel.
Themes
Felix asks who else will be accompanying the ministers, and Estelle pulls out a file folder full of information she’s not technically supposed to have. Scanning the page, Felix finds that Lonnie Gordon—now a local political fundraiser—will be attending, as well as Sebert Stanley, who’s planning to run for party leader against Sal. Estelle says that the race is a toss-up, since Sebert is considered ineffective by the rest of the party but Sal has made lots of enemies. No one knows whom Tony is backing.
Corresponding to Gonzalo and Sebastian, Lonnie and Sebert fill out the cast of characters as defined by The Tempest, making it easier for Felix to create a series of events that mirrors the play’s plot. Even their relationships are similar: Antonio is torn between supporting Alonso or Sebastian, and Tony’s loyalties are similarly unclear.
Themes
Last on the list is Sal’s son Frederick, an aspiring actor who has been unsuccessful so far. Felix immediately dismisses him, assuming that his father pulled strings to get him into university theater programs. However, when Estelle admits that she’s shown Frederick videos of Felix’s prison productions and he thinks they’re genius, his opinion softens slightly.
Felix’s rapid change of opinion towards Frederick—and his eventual embrace of the young man—show how susceptible he still is to flattery, even as he also uses it to manipulate other people, like Estelle. Even though he’s a master at creating illusions, he still falls for them himself.
Themes
Felix asks anxiously if any of the men know his real identity, but Estelle reassures him smilingly that she’s taken trouble to keep his cover by telling everyone he’s a “broken-down failure of an old teacher.” Elated, Felix orders another martini; somehow, he finds himself holding hands with Estelle, whom he calls “the best Lady Luck I could ever have.” Estelle clinks her glass with him; she doesn’t know what he’s planning, but if it will save the Players, she’s ready to help.
Just like Ariel does for Prospero, Estelle preserves Felix’s power by hiding his identity. Her immediate willingness to get involved with his devious schemes is rather unrealistic, but it paves the way for them to deepen their relationship—one of the novel’s notable departures from the plot of The Tempest.
Themes
