Warning: Includes SPOILERS for Hamnet!
Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet is the latest film inspired by and partially adapted from the life and work of legendary writer William Shakespeare, leading to questions about the true story. The film is adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel of the same name, a fictional biography of Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet, examining how William and Agnes suffered from his tragic death. In truth, the real events this novel depicts are far from clear in history, as records only tell a partial story, meriting O’Farrell’s fictional contributions to fill in the gaps.
Hamnet portrays a devastating tale of grief, following a marriage ruptured by the death of a child. However, the movie’s powerful ending ties the story into a performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, examining the connection between his son’s death and the legendary play. That leaves numerous questions regarding what is and isn’t true in Hamnet, and what’s been added just for the story’s dramatic purposes.
What Really Happened to Hamnet Shakespeare
Maggie O’Farrell has shared that it’s the connection between the death of Hamnet and the creation of Hamlet that inspired her to write the novel, not the actual history behind Shakespeare’s son. This is a work of fiction inspired by bullet points of real events, contrasting previous Shakespeare biographies that vastly reduce the importance of his familial life to his oeuvre. With that in mind, biographies will commonly note that Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet, died at the age of 11, but not much more. There’s no known cause of death for Hamnet Shakespeare.
So, while we don’t know what actually happened to young Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell’s book and Chloé Zhao’s film explore a threat that was, sadly, very real. O’Farrell’s use of the plague wasn’t random. She told EW in 2020 that the time of Hamnet’s death was high summer in a plague year, meaning the possibility of him contracting the disease wasn’t unlikely. Shakespeare never spoke about Hamnet’s connection to Hamlet, and he never mentioned the plague, leading her to think that his omission of a timely subject might have been due to his personal relation to it.
As for the Hamlet play, Shakespeare, as mentioned, never mentioned how the loss of his son impacted its creation. However, scholars have long thought this to be the case, so O’Farrell’s claim is backed by solid reasoning here. While it can’t be confirmed, it seems extraordinarily unlikely that he named it Hamlet by coincidence.
‘Hamnet’s Agnes and Her Supernatural Visions
The name “Agnes” might confuse film viewers, as Shakespeare’s wife is noted in history as Anne Hathaway. No, not Anne Hathaway, the movie star, but a woman born in the town of Shottery, near Warwickshire, England, who married William Shakespeare in 1582 at the age of 26. However, historians who have explored her more closely have noted that, upon her father’s death, his will listed her name as “Agnes,” leading to the change in the book and film.
The name Agnes contributes to Maggie O’Farrell’s interpretation of Anne Hathaway, painting the woman as a mystical, supernatural figure who has visions of the future. This is the magical realism part of O’Farrell’s novel, and can be left to audience interpretation. The notion that Agnes was perceived as a “forest witch” is original to this story and not backed by any historical reason. Anne Hathaway was not a witch; this is a fictional interpretation of her that connects Hamnet to the supernatural components of William Shakespeare’s plays.
Another major component of the film is the developing bond between Agnes and William. In real life, there are scarcely any details regarding the early years of William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway’s romance. He was 18, and she was 26, and they were married after conceiving their first child, leading many to speculate about the authenticity of their feelings for one another, and whether Shakespeare married her out of responsibility or if he actually loved her.
How Much of ‘Hamnet’s Story is Fictional
Beyond just the speculative explorations into little-known historical figures like Agnes and Hamnet, this story depicts several events that were entirely fictional, befitting of Maggie O’Farrell’s interpretation of these characters. For example, there are no records of William Shakespeare contemplating suicide that would connect to his “To be or not to be” line from Hamlet. There’s also nothing to suggest that Hamnet’s dramatic ending in the play really happened, as there’s no historical context to explain how William and Agnes felt regarding Hamnet’s passing.
William Shakespeare famously kept his personal thoughts and opinions to himself, leaving almost nothing behind outside his unbelievable body of work. Shakespeare’s plays are timeless and have been transformed into some brilliant films, but there’s not much else for historians to examine. In a sense, a fictional account is a beautiful way to interpret his life, as he interpreted the lives of so many others, from Cleopatra to Henry V.
- Release Date
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November 26, 2025
- Runtime
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126 minutes
- Director
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Chloé Zhao