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Chapter 16
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
When Felix leaves the prison, crows watch him start up his car. He drives home absently, feeling relieved that he’s finally secured a Miranda and won the actors over to his play. However, when he reaches his cottage, it’s depressing to see the darkness inside. He almost knocks on the door before he realizes that no one will answer. A feeling of fresh loss floods him. He reminds himself that it’s foolish to imagine Miranda waiting for him.
While preparing a lackluster dinner of eggs and tea, Felix thinks over the plot for revenge he’s been hatching. At first it seemed simple: when Tony and Sal visited the prison, he would make sure they watched the play not with the Warden but in his own classroom, where they would see another version, with actors “directed and controlled by himself.” However, the possibilities of detection are endless, and the actors might get carried away once a “tough-on-crime” politician is at their mercy. He’s always told himself that no one will get hurt, but he now realizes he can’t make these promises.
When Felix first came up with his plan, he was thinking only about his own goals of revenge. Now, he’s worrying about the potential harm it could do both to his actors and his enemies. While these moral doubts won’t stop him from carrying out the plan, they do show that he’s gradually becoming less self-centered, probably as a result of his work in the prison.
Themes
Maybe it would be better to give up his vengeance, and with it his “former self.” Felix doesn’t even know if his theatrical accomplishments are worth defending in this way, and he knows it’s foolish to feel “entitled to special consideration from the universe at large.” He wonders if Miranda isn’t appearing to him tonight because he’s so depressed; he thinks he can hear her humming, but it might just be his tiny fridge.
Felix has always thought of himself as a genius doing irreplaceable work and thus entitled to the privileges which Tony stripped from him. While these new thoughts aren’t pleasant, they demonstrate a positive change in Felix’s self-conception and character.
Themes
In his bedroom, Felix looks at his “wizard’s garment,” which has been waiting so long to be used. Examining it, he knows that he must and can have his time of revenge.
Even though the costume is a reminder of a previous failure, it also spurs Felix to be confident in his new endeavors—maybe the cloak can finally work its “magic.”
Themes
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When Felix returns to the living room, Miranda is sitting in the corner, looking worried. He promises her that nothing bad will happen, and that everything he does is “in care of thee.” Even as he says this, he knows he can’t really take care of her, or give her all the things that girls her age want and need: pretty clothes, a cellphone, a social life. He’s such a terrible parent, and he’s grateful that Miranda isn’t angry at his failures. He offers her a game of chess; without much enthusiasm, she agrees.
While Felix is beginning to acknowledge that he can’t cause any spectacular reincarnation with his production of The Tempest, he still believes that Miranda is appearing to him and that he can care for her. At this point he’s conflicted both about how he should express his grief and what his paternal duties are.
Themes
