Hag-Seed Lesson Plan

What do you think about the title Hag-Seed? Is it appropriate, or do you think a different title would have been better?

Hag-Seed is one of the curse words and an insult Prospero hurled at Caliban. It means the child of a hag, which is a witch. Caliban is literally the child of a witch, Sycorax. The title could refer to Caliban, who is a much more sympathetic character in Hag-Seed than in The Tempest. It could also refer to Miranda, the child of a different kind of sorcerer, a grieving artist. The title shifts the reader’s focus from the storm that prompts the novel and play’s events to the more vulnerable characters. Some students may argue that a title that reveals...