Trauma Writing In Margaret Atwood's Hag-Seed

As a world-known contemporary Canadian writer,Margaret Atwood shows deep concerns for the state of human existence and the future of mankind in most of her works,which draws great attention of critics worldwide.Hag-Seed is an adaptation of the last work of Shakespeare---The Tempest.Atwood creates the characters with high similarity to the original play and inherits its humanistic theme of revenge and forgiveness,demonstrating her superb technique of canon rewriting.This novel depicts the lives of lower classes to present their psychological traumas caused by real-life survival plight.Through shaping various characters with their traumatic experiences,Atwood exposes power abuse,racial oppression,gender discrimination and other social ills.Therefore,realism and humanism are the characteristic of Hag-Seed.Adopting the theory of trauma,this thesis focuses on traumatic symptoms of characters and their trauma healing processes,reflecting Atwood's humanistic ideas.Through analyzing traumatic events of protagonists,this thesis unfolds the marginalized position of the disadvantaged groups and reveals the spiritual predicament faced by modem society.The trauma recovery process reflects the healing powers entailed in the theatre and language.In the end,this thesis analyzes the social oppression suffered by the lower classes,the black and women.Through uncovering the political struggle of the decadent bureaucracy,this thesis highlights the theme of survival,criticizes the loss of the humanistic concerns in society and summarizes Atwood's humanistic ideas of giving people "a second chance".She aims to make oppressed races and people acquire their dignity of existence and the right to free speech through showing kindness and respect.