Author: S. Bavithra

Abstract: Canadian writers have produced a variety of genres. Influences on Canadian writings are broad, both geographically and historically. Criticism of Canadian literature has focused on its nationalistic and regional themes, although this is only a small portion of Canadian literary criticism. Margaret Eleanor Atwood, born in November 18, 1939 is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is a winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award and Prince of Asturias Award for Literature, has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize five times, winning once, and has been a finalist for the Governor General’s Award several times, winning twice. In 2001, she was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame. Margaret Atwood’s rendered her excellent play Hag-Seed in 2016 to Hogarth Shakespeare publications. It is a novel that takes Shakespeare’s play of enchantment, retribution, and second chances leads us on an interactive, illusion ridden journey with new surprises and wonders of its own. No study of The Tempest would be complete without some knowledge of its life on the stage in a historical perspective since, among other reasons, the stage history runs almost parallel with the critical history of the play and is therefore instructive in many ways. Moreover, criticism and stage presentation are complementary to each other. In the absence of directly inherited traditions from Shakespeare’s day, the theatre has often learnt from criticism and, conversely, no critical insight would be of much value unless it could be realized in the theatre. The earliest recorded performance of the play was at the court: “a play called The Tempest” was presented there in November 1611. Again, it was a part of the festivities organized in honour of the betrothal and marriage of Princess Elizabeth, daughter of James I, during the winter of 1612-1613.

Keywords: Canadian Literature, Margaret Atwood, Hag-Seed, The Tempest, Shakespearean Criticism

Article Info: Received: 27 Mar 2026; Received in revised form: 21 Apr 2026; Accepted: 25 Apr 2026; Available online: 30 Apr 2026

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.112.98