Everyone has heard of William Shakespeare, but very few know about his personal life. Hamnet takes a minute to explore that life — and the life of his wife, Agnes.
The movie was released in theaters around Thanksgiving, and it’s all many have been able to talk about. The performances are outstanding, and the storytelling is one for the ages. The biggest question for many is how much of the story is based on truth.
Hamnet is based on a work of fiction
The actual story of the movie is based on the novel of the same name by Maggie O’Farrell. This is a fictionalized story of William Shakespeare, his wife Agnes, and their children, Susanna, Judith, and Hamnet.
While the book is based on real people, the story itself isn’t necessary true. It’s described as fiction, and that means the movie is a fictionalized telling of what could have happened in the past. The truth is that we just don’t have the information from the past to determine the real events.
Some of the changes to the real story
One of the biggest changes that people will note is that William’s wife is often written as Anne or Ann rather than Agnes. So, why change something so major? Well, it turns out that her father wrote “Agnes” in his will, and it’s possible that because of the lack of standardized spelling in the time period that her name was Agnes but that she went by Anne — or someone along the way spelled her name wrong.
However, Agnes was pregnant at the time of marrying William Shakespeare. He was just 18 at the time he married her at the age of 26. While there are some modern beliefs that William didn’t like his wife, there is nothing written in historical documents that would support this. O’Farrell decided to work with the historical documents, focusing on a potential love between the Shakespeares.
Then comes Hamnet’s death, which is recorded as happening when he was 11. While historians don’t know why he died, many believe it was the plague, which was common at the time. There were a few sicknesses at the time, such as the sweating sickness, measles, smallpox, and much more that could have led to his death.
O’Farrell opted for a slightly supernatural telling to the story. She had Judith as the weaker of the two twins — born stillborn but revived — and Hamnet tricked Death and switched places with her when she was on the brink of death from the plague.
Shakespeare never outright stated that the play Hamlet was inspired by the death of his son, but it’s easy to see why it likely was. And so, this is written in.
Overall, the movie is loosely based on true events. However, Hamnet is specifically based on the novel of the same name, and author O’Farrell makes it clear that her work is that of fiction.
Hamnet is currently out in theaters.
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