HSC English. The smart way to prepare for your HSC.

This two-day HSC preparation course is designed for students completing the English Advanced Module A: Textual Conversations. As part of your HSC preparation, it will enable you to gain an in-depth focus on the pair of texts: William Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1611) and Margaret Atwood’s Hag-Seed (2016) as a re-imagining of The Tempest.

As part of a small class, students will be guided through the requirements of the English Advanced Syllabus and Prescriptions, as well as forming an understanding of context, form, narrative and connections.

Through analysis and discussion of The Tempest, participants explore its hybrid form; the multiple narrative threads; the contradictory and ambiguous key characters; Prospero and Caliban; and the ambiguous significance of Caliban as dark monster (‘hag-seed’), oppressed subject and poetic voice.

Following exploration of Hag-Seed as a reimagining of The Tempest, be guided by experienced teachers to discuss and consider the title; the revisionary parallels between Tony and Prospero (including the daughter motif); Anne-Marie and gender issues; the prisoners and class identity; the substitution of the prison and the prisoners and their performance of The Tempest for Shakespeare’s island.

By engaging in the comparative study of the texts, students will ex