Canadian Author & Humanist Margaret Atwood's "Hag-Seed" Literary Fiction at its Finest

Margaret Atwood (b Canada 1939) has received numerous literary awards for her novels (Oryx & Crake & The Blind Assassin; Man Booker Prize winner.  Atwood is also highly regarded for humanitarianism.  Her newest novel, "Hag-Seed" is a literary novel that swirls around Shakespeare's "The Tempest."  Felix, a thespian has just been unceremoniously thrown overboard from his artistic directorship of a Shakespearian CO. by his plodding nemesis.  Felix is drowning in an enormous black  boiling cloud of sorrow & self-castigation after his firing & deaths of his wife & daughter, Miranda.  He banishes himself to the bleak countryside to live a parsimonious & hermit-like existence.  An ad for a theatrical teacher for inmates draws hims out of his self-imposed prison to an actual prison where he teaches inmates whose worlds contain few freedoms from which to choose.  The opportunity to participate in a Shakespearian production appeals to some of the prisoners.  "Hag-Seed" is derived from the "Tempest'" a name that represents all that is evil in the play.  "I'm two times evil and I ain't sorry, cause I'm Hag-seed," raps one of Felix's students. Atwood's eloquent & poignant novel contemplates many of Shakespeare's themes:  revenge, remorse, redemption, insanity, power & love.  These themes are encased within Felix & the inmates in his theatrical group.  Felix is the king of retribution.  He manipulates his powerful educational opportunities as a means of vengeful payback.  He cunningly & obsessively plods how he will strike-back at the villain who deposed him.  Theater is a persuasive tool & the redemptive power of art often cathartic.  The inmates & Felix discover the strength to call forth light from darkness.  "The rare action is in virtue than in vengeance."  The keynotes of the novel are prison reforms, power & clemency; from  revenge to forgiveness.  The prisoners discuss & collaborate on Shakespeare's Tempest.  The profundity they gained is liberating.  "Despite the crap they did, he {Caliban} feels sorry for the bad guys and what they're being put through once they've suffered enough, so we take that it's okay to change our minds."  Atwood again proves her exceptional literary finesse.  I applaud her writing and her thoughtful call for social reform.