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
Unsure of what’s happening to them, Sal, Tony, Sebert, and Lonnie are marched down a pitch-black hallway, surrounding the by the amplified sounds of wind and waves. Eventually they’re shoved into a cell, in which the lights go on after the door is closed. No one knows what to do. Shakily, Lonnie says they should be thankful to be alive, but Sal is moaning that they’ve shot his son; he says that the prisoners are “animals” who “should all be fucking dead.” Calmly, Tony points out that this is the reason literacy programs should be canceled. Sal begins to sob.
While Sal’s comments are harsh and reflect a deeply harmful ideology, his words are somewhat mitigated by his concern for Frederick; on the other hand, Tony is clearly only motivated by political gain, even in the midst of this ostensible crisis. One of the results of Felix’s play is that it separates the merely weak—Sal – from the truly villainous—Tony.
Themes
Sebert and Tony begin to talk quietly, pointing out that the whole thing is an embarrassment. As Lonnie embarks on a long speech about the ways he would reform prisons, Tony makes fun of his goodhearted daydreaming. Strangely, Lonnie and Sal soon feel drowsy, stretch out on the bunks in the cell, and fall asleep.
Even though Felix likes to think of Lonnie as fundamentally different from him through his pompous behavior and lack of influence, they share similarly humane ideals.
Themes
Tony and Sebert take the opportunity to confer about Sebert’s chances in the upcoming elections. Tony assures him that he’s supporting him; he even points out that “when someone gets in my way…I just remove them.” Sebert says that there’s no way to get rid of Sal; he’s a respected man with no scandals. Slyly, Tony says that they’re currently in the middle of a prison riot; anything could happen during this chaos, and at the end of the day the prisoners will be blamed.
It’s amazing that Tony can turn any situation to his advantage and someone else’s loss. However, in a way this characteristic likens him to Felix—it’s his rival who has used his humble position as a prison teacher to bring his powerful enemies to heel. In fighting Tony’s duplicity, Felix has to confront his own deviousness.
Themes
Spelling out his plan for the benefit of the exceedingly dull Sebert, Tony proposes a hypothetical situation in which they drown Sal in a toilet and frame the prisoners; meanwhile, Lonnie would have a heart attack, assisted by a pillow. No one would be able to contest their narrative.
Almost every character, no matter how flawed, has some redeeming traits—it’s only Tony who emerges as irredeemably villainous, and thus completely deserving of Felix’s punishment.
Themes
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Listening from the other room, Felix eagerly asks 8Handz if he has everything on tape. Tony must have been planning to oust Sal for a long time, if this drastic plan occurred to him so quickly. He tells 8Handz to sound the wake-up call before a murder actually does occur. 8Handz presses a button and Metallica begins to blare in the cell.
Since the reader has been immersed in the politicians’ point of view for some time, the rapid shift to Felix’s perspective is a sharp reminder that, although they don’t know it, they’re actually putting on a scripted performance, which Felix will use to his own ends.
Themes
Sal and Lonnie sit up suddenly. Tony says that he’s been hearing roaring noises, and tells them to stand up and get ready for rioters. Sal says that he feels hungover, and Lonnie hears a buzzing in his ears.
The performance is almost exclusively on 8Handz, who has supplied the drugs and controls the special effects. His agency shows the limits of Felix’s power, even as he is the plot’s mastermind.
Themes
