Challenge

“Suddenly revenge is so close he can actually taste it. It tastes like steak, rare.” – the Narrator.

In Margaret Atwood’s fictional book, Hag-Seed, a great loss challenges a man and leads him to plot his revenge against those who wrong him. Felix Phillips is an Artistic Director of the Makeshiweg Theatre Festival and an occasional actor. He marries his wife Nadia and has a beautiful girl named Miranda. Unfortunately, Nadia dies of a galloping staph infection right after childbirth. At the age of three, Miranda contracts Meningitis and by the time they arrive at the hospital it is too late: she is gone. Unbeknownst to Felix, Tony, his assistant, is scheming to take over his job as Artistic Director. Soon after, Tony informs Felix he will be replaced and they will be cancelling the continuation of The Tempest. Infuriated Felix decides to move into a rural beat-up cottage where he embarks on his plot for revenge. During his time at the cottage, Felix decides he wants a separate identity: Mr. Duke.

He imagines that Miranda is still alive and he plays chess as well as has clear conversations with her. He begins to realize what he is doing; so fearing that he is becoming too isolated, he goes out to search for a job. He ends up taking a job teaching Shakespeare at a correctional facility. Throughout his time teaching, Felix has successfully preformed three plays with the inmates at the prison. Because of his accomplishment, his boss informs him that he will be receiving a visit from a few Ministers, including Tony. They are going to be reviewing the performances to decide if the program is worth continuing in the future. He announces that for this year’s production they will be staging The Tempest. Felix shares his plan of revenge with the inmates and they proceed to rehearse the play. When Tony and the rest of the Ministers arrive, they are subjected to a theatrical experience instead of a pre-recorded production. During this time, the actors stage a fake prison riot, which makes the men fear for their lives. Felix catches Tony on camera making a suggestion about murdering one of the other men and blaming it on the inmates. Felix uses that information to blackmail him into getting his old job back and securing a future for the inmates at the correctional facility.

The death of his wife and daughter plummets Felix into a deep depression that he tries to distract himself from by plunging into The Tempest. He thought to himself: “What to do with such sorrow? It was like an enormous black cloud boiling over the horizon. No: it was like a blizzard. No: it was nothing like he could put into language. He couldn’t face it head on. He had to transform it, or at the very least enclose it” (15). Felix decided The Tempest performance would not simply just be a performance. It would be like reality. He decides that he would play the protagonist Prospero, who also has a daughter with the name Miranda. Felix is fixated on his lost daughter. She is his everything and now that he does not have her he feels separated from reality. He cops with the death by still imagining she is still alive. He thinks he plays chess with her, rides in the car with her, and has conversations about the play with her. He is truly alone, but he did not feel that way when he imagined Miranda being around; her presence gives him comfort. By putting all his effort and time into the play he thinks it would not only be the perfect distraction, but also a way to bring Miranda back to life. When he makes this realization Felix knows he needs to spend the majority of his time invested in The Tempest. His loss of Miranda is rather touching; it adds a human aspect to him that contradicts his hardness towards the end of the novel. Felix is speaking in the middle of a meeting when Tony abruptly interrupts him. He says, “The Board has voted to terminate your contract. As Artistic Director {…} They feel you’re losing, you know, your edge” (19-20). The Board thinks Felix is mentally unstable, especially after Miranda’s death, and believes the direction he is taking the play would attract harsh criticism. Felix’s body is filled with rage as he asks if The Tempest will still continue on at least. Tony lightly informs him that: “They felt a clean break would be best. The production will be canceled” (22). He is then notified that Tony will be taking over his position as Artistic Director, which sends him over the edge. At that time, Felix is escorted out of the building with his belongings and script of The Tempest. Felix’s blood thickens as he dreams of revenge. He takes on a job at a prison where he unexpectedly comes up with a perfect plan for vengeance. The perfect trap is placed in his hands when he discovers a couple Ministers, including Tony, would be visiting to watch and evaluate the performance. When the men show up they are ambushed by some of the prisoners and make them believe it is a prison riot. They begin acting out The Tempest in the mist of holding the group captive in an unlit room. The men are in shock when they realize who is in front of them. Felix asks for his old job back, Tony to resign, and funding for the prison for five years. Before Tony can speak Felix continues: “I have it all on video. All of it. Sal mewing and boo-hooing in the corner, obviously stoned out of his mind; Sebert’s dissolving-body speeches; you, Tony, yelling at invisible demons, buzzed to the gills. None of you would want any of this to go viral on the Internet, as it will should you fail to make full amends and act as required” (241). On the surface Felix comes off as a simple average man. He is much more than that: he is slightly twisted. Felix has a certain dark side to him. He knows exactly what he is doing and how to get back at Tony.

When Felix is ensured his original job and funding for the inmates, he feels at peace. Forgiveness overcomes him and he feels content. It takes Felix twelve years to finally get the revenge he craved so desperately, but to him it was well worth the wait. Felix ultimately, “Got his revenge, such as it was. His enemies had suffered, which had been a pleasure. Then Felix had strewn forgiveness…” (287). Tony is out and Felix is back in, how it originally should have been. Felix feels that his life, for once, finally has a good result. The feeling of completing his goal gives him a feeling of contentment. By finally completing The Tempest, Felix is able to let go of Miranda and accept the truth as it is.

Felix Phillips is a man who suffered a great loss, but develops character throughout the novel. He had one purpose in his life: to get revenge on those who wronged him. It takes him twelve years, but it is his greatest accomplishment. At the beginning of the novel he losses two of the people he loves, but at the end of the book he develops multiple friendships and relationships with the people around him. He finally comes to terms with the fact that his beloved Miranda is never going to come back and sets her free.