Interesting that both of Atwood’s longer retellings, The Penelopiad and Hag-Seed, were commissioned, even though Atwood dabbled in the form in several short stories, such as “Bluebeard’s Egg.” I don’t count The Robber Bride as a retelling of “The Robber Bridegroom,” because it strays so far; perhaps “inspired by” is a better label.
While my reaction to The Penelopiad was lukewarm, I love Hag-Seed. Perhaps because I have taught The Tempest and am more familiar with that play than with the Iliad, which I am mostly familiar with through my Latin AP study of the Aeneid. What I love are the perfect parallels between the original and the adaptation, and the fact that The Tempest is actually going on inside Atwood’s retelling of The Tempest. Let me explain.
Felix Phillips is a successful director and is planning a production of The Tempest. However, his right hand man Tony is tired of being delegated to, and conspires with the board to get Felix fired. Tony, of course takes over. Felix goes into exile alone but for the ghost of his dead daughter Miranda. Starting to see the parallels? One of the cleverest is "Estelle," a woman with some pull in the government, who personifies the role of auspicious “star.” See what she did there?
Felix gets a job teaching Shakespeare in a prison. Atwood says, in Book of Lives, "I set the book in a prison because everyone in The Tempest is imprisoned in some way." After a few years of establishing himself, Felix is ready to stage that production that he was never able to finish, and get his sweet revenge at the same time. The theme of prison appears also in Bodily Harm, indirectly in The Handmaid's Tale (the handmaids are not technically incarcerated but they are far from free), and very directly in The Heart Goes Last.
It’s a delightful romp -- my only complaint is that the revenge goes down a bit too perfectly, but in order to mirror the happy ending of the play, it must, so there we are. If you are not familiar with The Tempest, Atwood includes a summary at the end, or watch the film version with Helen Mirren as Prospera, a female incarnation of the lead role, and Russel Brand as a hilarious Trinculo.
And we're nearly done! One more collection of short stories, and one more uncollected short story.
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