Hag-Seed: William Shakespeare's The Tempest Retold

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. Hag-Seed is based on Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. What do you know about this play? What is a “tempest”? Have you heard references to the characters of Prospero, Ariel, or Caliban? Have you ever heard the quote “O brave new world, / That has such people in’t”? Based on what you know about The Tempest, what can you guess about Hag-Seed?

Teaching Suggestion: In order to thoroughly understand Hag-Seed, students should have some familiarity with The Tempest. The resources listed below offer three varying levels of entry points for The Tempest—the video is a quick introduction, the RSC site can be explored in whatever depth is desired, and the Shakespeare Editions introduction is very thorough, discussing themes, the context of colonialism, metatheatrical elements, and so on. If your students have already read The Tempest, you might wish to use the Alternative Tempest Prompt below. The suggested resources that follow the Alternative Tempest Prompt are more analytical in nature, addressing specific issues pertinent to Hag-Seed’s intertextuality with the play.

• This 5-minute video from TED-Ed offers a basic introduction to The Tempest.
• This site from the Royal Shakespeare Company discusses the story, characters, language, and staging in various levels of depth.
• This introduction to The Tempest from the Internet Shakespeare Editions provides extensive context on the writing of the play and its elements.

Alternative Tempest Prompt: What elements of The Tempest might trouble a modern audience? How are class, race, and gender portrayed in this play? How did the Elizabethan attitude toward things like religion and magic differ from a modern audience’s likely attitude? What motifs in The Tempest make it especially appropriate to use as the basis for a modern adaptation? If you were “updating” this play for a modern audience, what changes might you make, and what would you preserve?

• This 14-minute video explores messages about power and colonialism in The Tempest.
• This paper from the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference explores messages about gender in The Tempest.
• This 8-minute video discusses the interrelated nature of language, performance, magic, and manipulation in The Tempest.

2. Describe or define the following terms in your own words: postmodernism, metafiction, intertextuality. If you have not heard these terms before, what can you guess about their meaning?

Teaching Suggestion: This question allows you to assess students’ prior knowledge before they begin Hag-Seed. The resources listed below address different aspects of postmodernism, metafiction, and intertextuality so that you can choose resources that specifically address any gaps in knowledge that you identify.

• This library guide to postmodern techniques comes from Valley Cottage Library.
• This 3-minute video from Professor Eric Gerlach discusses postmodernism and the Western metanarrative. (Please see Gerlach’s comment regarding his use of the term “manufactured genocide” so that you can alert students ahead of time that he does not intend to imply that the Holocaust did not take place.)
• This article introduces metafiction and offers examples.
• This academic discussion of intertextuality from a professor of education introduces many relevant terms and explains how to apply the information to texts.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

What kinds of retellings have you encountered—in books, film, games, or in other formats? Is there one that you have particularly enjoyed? What made it so enjoyable? If you can’t think of any you’ve enjoyed, why do you suspect that is? If you were going to retell an old story from a new perspective, which one would you choose?

Teaching Suggestion: Although many students may be able to think of relevant experiences immediately, some may be temporarily stumped. If students are answering this prompt in writing, you might offer a few minutes’ time for discussion ahead of time to prime their recollections of retellings they have encountered. The resources below offer both examples of texts that are commonly reinterpreted and the thoughts of creators who take on these reinterpretations.

• This 10-minute video of a TEDx talk presents author Erin-Claire Barrow discussing her reasons for retelling fairy tales.
• This 7-minute video interview with James Ijames is about his Pulitzer-Prize-winning adaptation of Hamlet.