Best of Margaret Atwood is that, regardless of assuming a literary quality in its own right, it will always end up surprising you in the plot or in the form. Innovative about her own work, Margaret reinvents herself with each new book.
En the witch's seed we enter the skin of Felix, a volunteer dedicated to the cause of recovering inmates through the theater.
Nothing better than Shakespeare and nothing better than The Tempest for those "losers" to discover the Caliban inside them but also the Ariel. Neither Caliban was that bad nor can Ariel end up being happy in his utter servility. They are two antagonistic characters in Shakespeare's great work, do you remember? One son of the witch Sycorax and the other one condemned by the same and finally made a slave by Prospero.
Felix wants to seek synthesis, the best of mixtures for those prisoners to seek balance in their humanity without giving up in their rebellion as a defense instinct, as a need for change.
Our actions, the actions of those who ended up with their bones in jail can always lead to guilt and conviction. And not always the deprivations of liberty or the most severe sentences are found in prison wards ...
The preparation of the play to be performed by the inmates, for which Félix gives himself, is also a rehearsal of what their interpreters are and what they have left behind, of opportunities, revenge and conscience.
Life is a paradox, a contradiction. When you can eat the world you have no idea where to start, when you could, we are unappetizing. We end up consuming ourselves like this in hollow materialism. Now and already in the times of Shakespeare ...
But Professor Felix's inmates are going to learn a lesson taught by themselves. The discovery of being, of the inner forum, of the battle between good and evil can only lead to inner peace.
But no one is free to relapse into the bloodiest mood of revenge, not even Professor Felix himself ...
You can buy the book The witch's seed, Margarte Atwood's new book, here: