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Margaret AtwoodA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
In Act 2, Scene 1 of The Tempest, Antonio tells Sebastian that “what’s past is prologue, what to come / In yours and my discharge.” The first part of this well-known line indicates that events of the past have led up to the current moment like words written by a playwright. But what Antonio means by the second part of his statement is open to interpretation. He might be justifying the murder he and Sebastian are planning, as if he and Sebastian are characters whose actions are essentially predetermined. Or, he might be claiming that they have free will and their own choices will determine what happens next.
Teaching Suggestion: As you prepare students to answer this prompt, it may be helpful to point out that it is essentially an analogy: It compares Antonio’s quote to the relationship between The Tempest and Hag-Seed and then asks which interpretation of Antonio’s quote is more accurate in the context of this textual relationship.
By Margaret Atwood
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