A Comparative Study On The Themes Of The Tempest And Hag-seed

Shakespeare's The Tempest is a story about evil,revenge and forgiveness.In Hag-seed,Atwood in large part inherits the original plot and characters of The Tempest,but at the same time she also makes some changes according to her own style.This thesis aims to analyze the themes of evil,revenge and forgiveness in the two works and make a comparative study of them.It includes five parts,introduction,three main chapters and conclusion.This thesis begins with an introduction composed of the research background,overview of previous researches,methodology and significance.Chapter One to Chapter Three examines the themes of evil,revenge,forgiveness respectively.Chapter One discusses the theme of evil in Shakespeare and Atwood.Atwood preserves the profit-driven evil in The Tempest,she places the conspiracy and betrayal of Shakespeare's age in the environment of modern career and political circle.Atwood's innovation lies in that first,in Hag-seed,she makes the flawed Anne-Mary Greenland take the place of the purely virtuous Miranda in The Tempest to show that everyone carries evil,the ideal person only exists in imagination.Moreover,the evil-doers in Hag-seed are different in that all of them are hypocrites who try to conceal their real natures and paint them as virtuous people.Chapter Two deals with the theme of revenge.Like Prospero,Atwood's revenger Felix not only controls his revenge within the limit of reason but also suffers the moral decay brought by revenge.Atwood's innovation lies in that first Felix who is created in a secular world does not carry burden for the revenge like Prospero.Moreover,the revenge in The Tempest is described as a double-edged sword that not only hurts victims,but also brings moral decay to the offenders.However,Atwood infuses into her own understanding by depicting revenge as prison where the revenger is reluctant to stay but can't get out.The discussion about the theme of forgiveness is presented in Chapter Three.The genuine forgiveness means the change of heart and the will to see the wrong-doers in a favorable view.However,in both of the two works,the so-called forgiveness simply means reconciliation and the remission of further punishment.The difference lies in the way to achieve reconciliation.In The Tempest,political marriage is a harmonious way to restore the broken relationship.In Hag-seed,the reconciliation is reached by threat.The wrongdoers are forced to reconcile with the victim.This thesis ends with a conclusion of Atwood's preservation and innovation of Shakespeare on the themes.