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| The Guardian: An article about Atwood's rewrite of The Tempest |
In Module A: Textual Conversations, students must understand precisely what makes the relationship between the two chosen interconnected texts so unique.
What the syllabus is trying to get Advanced English students to consider in this module are:
- What changes in Hag-Seed and what stays the same. Attwood deliberately makes the choice to change. Why did she do that?
- Changes in the setting: Mystical island versus medium-security prison. What was Atwood's purpose for reinventing the story?
- The effect of social and historical context on the composers’ respective text.
- How and why texts have such an extended effect on humanity
This article is an excellent read. Published in The Guardian and written my Atwood herself, she describes Hag-Seed's context in 2013 Canada, the characters and she has woven The Tempest into her story. There are even elements of modern day characteristics (digital hacker) but still encompasses complex characteristics of human nature which does not differentiate which era/time period one lives in. From this article, we are able to grasp and dig a little deeper into Hag-Seed's modern reinterpretation of the underlying themes of The Tempest.
The video above is a great model done by students for students. Following the close reading of both texts, multimedia clips and articles on both authors and their context, students now need to show how and why Atwood has appropriated The Tempest. In particular, this form of multimodal assessment and presentation by students allow them to critically evaluate the personal, social, cultural and historical contexts of both texts and explore how both composers are influenced by another text’s concepts and values.