Essay on Theme of Revenge in 'The Tempest'

The idea of revenge as a means of catharsis in Shakespeare’s The Tempest is revealed in the prison setting of Hag-Seed through the characterization of the prisoners and Felix. Prospero’s magical performance on the island enables his discovery of an ethic of forgiveness and eventually the relinquishment of the control he has over others through renouncing his magical powers thus reflecting Shakespeare’s idea of revenge as a means of catharsis. After the politicians enter the green room and eat Felix’s drugged grapes, they all fall prey to various frightening delusions. In the midst of their bad trip, TimEEz and Red Coyote, who play Stephano and Trinculo respectively, enter the room and speculate amongst themselves on how best to exploit the physically weakened men. Atwood juxtaposes the prisoners to the politicians to highlight the role reversal that has taken place, as the men ironically state, “We could put them on show,” “Gibbering lunatics. Street people. Addicts. Dregs of society. Always good for a laugh.” The prisoners are recycling the rhetoric that politicians use to condemn and marginalize them often for offenses like drug use and petty robbery, which Atwood elucidates stems from poverty and social oppression, rather than inherently bad character. Therefore through the process of Felix’s revenge in allowing the prisoners to perform their innermost perspectives, each prisoner is able to exercise their own form of revenge as a means of catharsis through the setting of the green room as a room in which the power of the individual is reversed. This is also evident through Leggs’ use of rap to debunk the idea that the prisoners, similar to Caliban’s modern-day heirs, are “monsters” who deserve to be locked up and exiled from society. His use of derogatory words ironically draws a parallel with the crimes committed by those in authority, “You called me dirty, you called me a scum, You called me a criminal, a no-good bum, But you’re a white-collar crook, you have been cookin’ the books, Rakin’ taxpayer money, we know what you took, So who’s more monstrous...than you?” He points out that in fact, it’s the politicians who have used their privilege to commit crimes to their own advantage, often with consequences much greater than the petty felonies for which the prisoners are incarcerated. Once again, the prisoners are flipping the script on the politicians; they transform the rhetoric and speeches to suggest for punishment of the politicians. This, therefore, allows the prisoners to experience catharsis through the process of Felix’s revenge within the green room since Felix utilizes this space to allow the powerful to become defenseless. Thus Shakespeare’s idea of revenge as a means of catharsis is demonstrated through the green room setting within the prison.

Shakespeare’s The Tempest explores the aspect of performance as a mode of revenge which is revealed in the prison setting of Hag-Seed through the power of the playwright. Prospero can be seen as a metaphorical theatre director who stages the events on the island for his process of revenge, whilst on the other hand, Felix is a literal theatre director who similarly moves characters around and creates special effects. Just as Alonso and Ferdinand experience the illusion of each other's death after being separated, so do Sal and Freddie in the exclamation, “A shot. ‘They’ve killed him!’ wails Sal.” Atwood’s utilization of fragmentary and truncated sentences denotes the chaos that is taking place, and the dramatic irony that Sal and Tony experience in regard to what is happening. Through his process of revenge, Felix has instilled fear within those with whom he seeks revenge by causing them to lose control of what they thought they had, thus showing the effectiveness of Felix’s revenge. This is clearly illustrated by the setting of the viewing room through the orchestration of Felix’s special effects of thunder, and lightning, and the performance of the prisoners both yelling and the shots to create confusion within this scene. Therefore through the setting of the viewing room within the prison, the concept of performance as a mode of revenge is clearly highlighted through the opening scene of the play to mirror the havoc caused upon the ship within The Tempest.

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Shakespeare suggests that through the concept of revenge, the true nature of the individual is exposed. Within Hag-Seed this is revealed in the prison setting through the characters of Sal and Tony. Unsure of what’s happening to them, Sal, Tony, Sebert, and Lonnie are marched down a pitch-black hallway, surrounded by the amplified sounds of wind and waves. Eventually, they are shoved into a cell, in which the lights go on after the door is closed. No one knows what to do. Sal moans that they have shot his son and dehumanizes the prisoners by calling them “animals” who “should all be in cages!” Tony points out that this is the reason literacy programs should be canceled. Within the nineties demonstration cell, Atwood juxtaposes the characters of Sal and Tony to encapsulate this aspect of revenge and the impact it has on the individual. While Sal’s comments are harsh and reflect a deeply harmful ideology, his words are somewhat mitigated by his concern for Frederick; on the other hand, Tony is clearly only motivated by political gain, even in the midst of this ostensible crisis. As a result of Felix’s process of revenge, has created an impact of separating the weak Sal from the truly villainous Tony to expose the true nature of the individual. Through Felix’s use of the nineties demonstration cell with walls of painted cacti, Felix highlights the isolation of these individuals through the desert-style setting. This isolation illustrates a similarity between the process of revenge for Prospero and Felix as they utilize this to reveal the true nature of the individuals who experience isolation. Through the rhetorical question, “What happens in riots?” Atwood demonstrates how the true character of Tony is revealed when both Sal and Lonnie fall asleep. This question engages the reader about Tony’s relentless and opportunistic nature to gain victory in the upcoming election by killing Sal and disguising it as a product of the riot. Therefore it is clearly evident through the setting of the nineties demonstration cell, Shakespeare’s idea of revenge that the true nature of the individual is exposed through the process of the individual’s revenge.

Within The Tempest Shakespeare provides another aspect of the idea of revenge to suggest that the innocent should remain unharmed. This is revealed in the prison setting in Atwood’s Hag-Seed through the characterization of both Frederick and Anne-Marie. It is within the fifties cell of the prison setting that this is clearly evident. After the politicians enter the prison, Felix and his students hijack the play and “kidnap” the visitors. While Felix reckons with Tony and Sal, young Freddie is kept in a small cell, where Anne-Marie visits him and tells him that in order to survive the “riot,” they have to perform the scenes between The Tempest’s lovers, Miranda and Ferdinand. In, Atwood’s use of ambiguity elucidates how Freddie is highly aware that he’s participating in a fantasy as he is reading lines from a script, evident in Anne Marie’s suggestion, “Pretend you’re falling in love with me” and “Maybe I am falling in love with you. O you wonder!” which are theoretically unconnected to his own feelings. However, the performance between himself and Anne-Marie causes Freddie to develop genuine feelings for her. Moreover, while Anne-Marie refers to their interaction as “pretend” and truly understands the many illusions at work behind the play, she too will soon fall in love with Frederick, therefore revealing how Atwood foreshadows the relationship between the two by separating them into the fifties cell to be taken away from the revenge. Although their actions seem to be premised in falsity, they actually engender one of the novel’s most lasting relationships. As in many other moments, the make-believe method of theatre through Felix’s process of revenge does not obscure the actors’ true characters but instead reveals and even creates them. It is through the setting of the prison and specifically the fifties demonstration cell that their true character is revealed in the way that they are of a young, innocent, and naive nature which is reflected through the wall of “palm trees, seashells, a squid” and “a box of plastic lego blocks”. Thus Felix throwing the two of them together, exemplifies that there is a part of morality within his process of revenge to let the innocent remain unharmed as their circumstances are completely out of their control, therefore mirroring Shakespeare’s aspect of the idea of revenge through the prison setting.