Representations of Compassion and Reconciliation
Compassion and reconciliation are intrinsically humanistic values that have the power to restore even the most damaged relationships and bring about light in the darkest times. This notion is explored in both Shakespeare's 1611 play The Tempest and Margaret Atwood's 2016 novel appropriation, Hag-seed, specifically through the composer's characterisations of Miranda and ghost Miranda respectively. The composer's portrayal of these concepts is shaped by their respective contexts and creates various similarities and differences between the texts.
In the original text, The Tempest, Shakespeare depicts Miranda as the epitome of purity and innocence, mostly through the way her father Prospero speaks to her, as well as her naive views of the world. Alongside purity and innocence, Miranda also serves to embody ideas of compassion and reconciliation, which can first be observed when Miranda says O the cry did knock against my very heart! in which apostrophe is used to show her distress as she empathises with the victims of the shipwreck from the tempest her father creates. Miranda's naive and innocent depiction parallels Shakespeare's personal context, in which Christian values were dominant, and females were expected to be untarnished and pure like Miranda.
Miranda is seen as an embodiment of compassion and reconciliation most clearly in the overarching resolution of the play, where Prospero forgives all those who have wronged him and reconciles with his brother Antonio. Miranda incites compassion in her father and allows him to see why he should consider reconciliation.
Ferdinand and Miranda's love represents purity and innocence to Prospero and incites compassion within him. Their pure love, uninfluenced by external factors of the world shows him that humanity exists and hence reconciliation should be considered. As Alonso is an ally of Antonio, it also literally gives Prospero a reason to reconcile with Antonio. Atwood chooses to exclude this in Hag-seed as in a modern context, Miranda's relationship with Ferdinand would not be accepted as she is so young, and additionally, Anne-Marie who parallels Miranda in this particular aspect of the appropriation displays feminist values and would not be so infatuated by Ferdinand.
Similarly, in Hag-seed, the ghost Miranda guides Felix towards the path of reconciliation, and evidently incites compassion within him at particular moments in the narrative. Although the ghost of Miranda is an indicator of Felixs spiral into insanity, she also simultaneously controls his mania and desire for revenge, eventually allowing Felix to reconcile with himself and let the ghost of Miranda be free. Mirandas control over Felixs mania and her guidance is seen within the text in the following quote: Why does it feel like a letdown? The rarer action is/ In virtue than in vengeance, he hears her ins...
