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Chapter 21
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
On Thursday, Felix has plans to meet Anne-Marie for lunch and brief her before her first meeting with the other actors, which will take place on Friday. In the morning he eats his egg alone; Miranda is somewhere else, being “cagey” like a normal teenage girl. He’s given a lot of thought to the casting decisions—wondering whether to cast “by type” or against it, and weighing the actors’ preferences—but he thinks he’s arrived at a good line-up. When he directed professional productions, he was known for aggressive “envelope-pushing” in his casting, but now he tries to play it more safely, giving each actor the part in which he is most likely to succeed.
Felix both wants Miranda to be a “normal” teenager and feels anxious whenever anything about her personality changes; he can’t acknowledge that, even in relationships between two living people, such change is normal and inevitable. His revised approach to casting his plays shows that he’s shifted from a desire to shock people with aesthetic decisions to a wish to accomplish moral objectives through his work—like giving actors parts that will allow them to grow personally.
Themes
Felix looks over the notes he’s made for Anne-Marie, which state the casting assignments as well as a brief biography and the criminal record of each actor. He’s given Ariel to 8Handz, a bright young man incarcerated for hacking. 8Handz thinks of himself as a “benevolent Robin Hood” working against capitalism, and feels that his imprisonment is unjust.
In a way, it’s 8Handz’s intelligence that leads to his incarceration. This contravenes the stereotype of prisoners as inherently stupid and uneducated.
Themes
Caliban will be played by Leggs, an Irish and black veteran of the war in Afghanistan, who turned to drugs and robbery after the government wouldn’t pay for his PTSD treatment. In prison, he was part of an addiction recovery program until it got canceled. He’s a good actor, but a “touchy” person.
Leggs’s backstory demonstrates that for many prisoners, incarceration has more to do with the oppressive social forces among which they live than their actual character or morals.
Themes
Ferdinand will be played by WonderBoy, who looks younger than he is. He’s been convicted for selling fake life insurance to old people; as such, he’s very charismatic and almost too effective at making people like him.
It’s notable that Felix is most distrustful of WonderBoy, since—like the director himself—he excels at creating illusions.
Themes
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Alonso will be played by Krampus, jailed for participating in a Mennonite drug ring. Sebastian’s part goes to Phil the Pill, a middle-aged doctor jailed after prescribing opioids to college students who later overdosed. Felix describes him as easily taken advantage of. Bent Pencil, a pompous but respected accountant convicted of embezzling, will play Gonzalo.
Despite having committed crimes, these three men are all middle-aged and gentle—if anything, they bore Felix with their pomposity. With his constant plotting and disregard for the law, Felix is as much a criminal as they are—he just doesn’t bear the social stigma of imprisonment.
Themes
Antonio’s part goes to SnakeEye, a real-estate scammer who also ran a small Ponzi scheme. He thinks that other people are “credulous and deserve to be fleeced,” and is good at playing villains.
SnakeEye is the only prisoner who somewhat fits the stereotype of the unrepentant criminal, but even he is distinguished by his intelligent and canny nature.
Themes
Stephano will be played by Red Coyote, a young Native-Canadian man in jail for bootlegging and selling drugs and who feels that “the legal system is illegitimate.” His partner, Trinculo, will be played by TimEEz, a young man of Chinese background convicted as the ringleader of a shoplifting ring.
It’s Red Coyote who provides much of the social commentary as the prisoners are discussing the play, and who explicitly makes the link between Caliban’s oppression and the oppression of native peoples in Canada.
Themes
Felix has added an “Announcer” part, who summarizes each scene in order to allow the audience to follow. He’s assigned Shiv the Mex, a gang enforcer, to this part. The Boatswain will be played by PPod, and African Canadian also in prison for gang-related offenses. Finally, there are three female goddesses—Iris, Ceres, and Juno—who appear to Prospero. Felix hasn’t figured out what to do about them, since none of the men will play a woman.
Felix’s addition of extra parts shows that even though he believes in Shakespeare’s eternal greatness, he’s willing to be flexible in implementing his plays. For him, the eternal nature of Shakespeare’s plays depends on their ability to change and adapt to contemporary circumstances.
Themes
Next, Felix has notes assigning crew parts to different actors, based on their skills. For example, he’s placed 8Handz, the talented hacker, in charge of tech and special effects and WonderBoy, who’s good at selling things, in charge of publicity skills. The chief goblins will be Riceball, Col.Deth, and Vamoose; they are the “ultimate weapon” for his second, secret projects. He imagines that they can wear black ski masks, the better to inspire fear.
With their nonjudgmental descriptions of the prisoners’ pasts and adept analysis of their characters, Felix’s notes show his investment in the prisoners. At the same time, the addendum about the goblins shows that his primary concern is his own revenge—even if accomplishing it puts the prisoners at risk.
Themes
