William Shakespeare’s The Tempest is a remarkably sincere piece of elaborate theatrical artifice discussing the notion of power and control and its ramifications in distinct situations and scenarios. Encompassing a grand plot of usurpation, the play highlights the complexities of individuals that are products of Shakespeare’s context through form, setting, and meta-theatrical elements. The tragicomedy’s enigmatic protagonist Prospero, constructed by Shakespeare personifies the dichotomy of power and morality which demonstrates his critique on society’s patriarchal tendencies. This skillful illustration of Prospero’s character draws varying perspectives from an audience providing insight into Shakespeare’s context. Hence, containing many unanswered questions as well as several inexplicable characters, I was compelled to ultimately appropriate and intertextualize the play, concerning the contemporary perspectives of the 21st century. My appropriation Hagseed thus champions Shakespeare’s response by questioning his dramatic decisions.
When understood through the lens of textual conversations, the universality of Shakespeare’s representation of power and control remains paradoxical reinforcing the central motif of the play, the trappings of perspective. Set on a remote magical island, Shakespeare emphasizes the divide between the courtly worlds and the wilderness. The island’s isolated setting in conjunction with meta-theatrical elements allows him to concentrate the storytelling on the development of characters and their competing desires. Prospero as the play’s protagonist is conceived as a prisoner confined to both the finite space of the island and the infinite chasm of his mind, trapped within the meta-theatre of his own creation. This can be seen in the quote “it was mine art, when I arrived and heard thee .. And let thee out” which is seen as a metaphor of theatre, with Prospero a stage manager who orchestrates the proceedings like his magic while he himself is trapped in the island. While the original play largely takes place on Sycorax’s island, I transport my readers to present-day Canada, primarily at an isolated farmhouse that Felix inhabits. Here, a physical and tangible manifestation of the “prison” is revealed in which my appropriated character Felix is metaphorically trapped in. In the setting of Felix’s isolated farmhouse years pass in solitude as he communicates with the spirit of his late daughter while obsessively reimagining his The Tempest. This can be seen in “This Tempest would be brilliant: the best thing he’d ever done…But more than that his Miranda would live again”. Illustrating Felix as a manipulator of his play in which fiction becomes reality, heightens metatheatricality and the flawed duality of his character mirroring the effect of control on the human condition. The portrayal of his positive illusions is also implemented in my novel to explore the human psyche allowing Felix to cultivate desires as opposed to exacting punishment on the less powerful, a concept which resonates with a modern audience.
The notion of power and control additionally seeps into each composer’s respective structural decisions. Adhering to the five-act structure, Prospero is seen to effect changes in the character of the individuals on his island, as well as enjoys a transformation himself from an authoritarian controller of events into a being with a defined niche in society. This allowed Shakespeare to present his fixated views on the notions of power and control denying his audience from speculating on their own experiences. Maintaining his structure to build pivotal occurrences, and the use of Shakespearean phrases for section titles Hagseed’s intertextuality is taken beyond the recreation of plot elements and characters. Shifting the narrative perspective to Felix’s thoughts and actions personalizes representation displaying his transformation, simultaneously, by shifting between intra- and extra-diegesis, the novelistic structure becomes dynamic and metafictional. By presenting a contextual shift, my audience is able to shape a new perspective informed by a deepened understanding of the development of individuals through the progression of the novel. Hence my novel Hagseed produces a tangible story by depicting a shift in ideologies and realigning the values of Shakespeare’s audience to that of a rather contemporary one through the exploration of form, setting, and metatheatrical elements. I strongly believe my appropriated Hagseed would be a suitable and widely accepted appropriation of Shakespeare’s final play.
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