Hag-Seed: Chapter 25 Summary & Analysis

Now, there’s only five weeks left until Tony and Sal arrive at the prison and Felix’s plan either succeeds or fails. He can feel them growing closer in their political orbit of attending parties, giving interviews, and arranging photo ops. He still follows their activities on the Internet, and relishes the thought that they never think of him and have no idea what’s going to happen to them.

But right now, the show is nowhere near ready. Some goblins have quit, and scuffles have broken out when Felix was distracted. He only has a few scenes on video, and the keyboard he ordered hasn’t arrived yet. It’s hard to create the music score when the prisoners can’t use the internet. Meanwhile, WonderBoy has indeed tried to seduce Anne-Marie; after she rebuffs him, he performs his scenes sulkily.

Almost everyone is flubbing their lines; in his old life Felix would berate his actors for these kinds of mistakes, but he knows he can’t behave so erratically with these vulnerable men. Instead, he reminds them that they have talent and can produce better work. While he does this, he worries about the play’s missing energy.

During the morning coffee break, SnakeEye and Anne-Marie approach him to say that the Antonio team has composed a rap to tell the play’s backstory, which he wants to use instead of a speech by Prospero widely considered long and boring. Ruefully, Felix thinks that SnakeEye is cutting him out of the play, just as Antonio does to Prospero. Still, he agrees to hear the number.

The team gets into a formation and, on Anne-Marie’s signal, launches into an aggressive and rhythmic dance. Felix is impressed. SnakeEye begins the rap, which tells the story of Prospero’s exile from the point of view of “Evil Bro Antonio.” According to Antonio, Prospero was “a fool” who didn’t “watch his back,” thus allowing Antonio to claim the kingdom for himself.

After finishing the rap, everyone looks hopefully at Felix. The routine is excellent—in fact, it’s so much better than Prospero’s speech that Felix wants to “throttle” SnakeEye. Anne-Marie says warmly that the scene is a “keeper” and, in a whisper, accuses Felix of being jealous; she has an uncanny ability to know what he’s thinking.

SnakeEye suggests that, after his rap, Prospero perform the end of his speech, in which he describes how his love for Miranda preserved him through his darkest days—a particularly resonant passage for Felix. Many of the prisoners have children, and SnakeEye wants to superimpose their pictures onto the sky during this part of the speech; 8Handz can make them flash on the screen like starts. Shyly, SnakeEye asks if Felix wants to include any pictures of his own in the montage. Felix thinks of his treasured photo of Miranda, but sharply retorts that he has nothing to add. Stumbling into one of the small classrooms, he collapses on a bunk, head in his hands.