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Chapter 41
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
Full of swagger, SnakeEye comes to the front of the room while everyone else falls silent. He starts off by remarking that Antonio is “the most hardcore evil guy in the play” and never does a single good deed; at the same time, his villainy is partly Prospero’s fault because he never does anything to check his behavior before the coup. Even when he’s humbled at the end of the play, Antonio doesn’t formally apologize, and he’s likely less remorseful than furious that he’s been caught.
SnakeEye’s analysis of Antonio is eerily reminiscent of Tony—who, after all, never really apologizes to Felix. It’s also descriptive of his own character, since he’s notably unrepentant about his real estate scheme. Even though SnakeEye has been pretending to be someone else throughout the play, the process has given him some insight into his own character.
Themes
In the team’s narrative, Antonio boards a ship back to Naples with the rest of the characters and starts plotting with Sebastian again. Eventually, they smother Alonso and kill Ferdinand and Prospero; Prospero is now defenseless against them because he has let Ariel go. The villains rape Miranda, inviting Caliban to join in; but when Caliban objects to throwing the girl overboard, they kill him too. In summary, Antonio acts exactly “like what you’d expect him to,” and Prospero is oblivious to the danger his brother poses, just as he was the first time.
In a way, SnakeEye’s imagined future reflects badly not just on the murdered characters but the prisoners as well. It suggests that those who have historically held power—like Tony and Sal—will continue to wield it, despite their evident villainy. Even though the prisoners have used the play to empower themselves, SnakeEye suggests that the freedom it provided is fleeting.
Themes
Everyone is silent at the end of this grim conclusion, but Felix concedes that the team has done a good job and awards them full points. He asks the class to think about who might save Prospero and Miranda in such a situation, and PPod says the sailors might help them. Everyone seems to take hope from this possibility.
Even though the prisoners hated Prospero at the beginning of the play, now they’re rooting for him and Miranda. Like with Felix, their perspectives have evolved over the course of the production.
Themes
