- 11 hours ago
Sharpen your quills—time to separate history from drama. Join us as we unpack the real-life roots and bold inventions in Chloé Zhao’s Shakespeare tale, from Agnes/Anne and the twins to London’s stages and the plague, plus whether grief forged Hamlet. We spotlight Paul Mescal, Jessie Buckley, the Jupe brothers, the Globe, and that infamous “second-best bed.” Which detail felt most authentic to you? Tell us below!
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00:00Do you not wonder what is in it?
00:01In what?
00:02The play.
00:03Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're unpacking what's fact and what's fiction in Chloe Zhao's
00:09Shakespearean drama, Hamnet. There will be spoilers for Hamnet, and we guess Hamlet too.
00:15Is it true you know everything about a person by touching them here?
00:20Based on Maggie O'Farrell's novel, Hamnet stars Paul Meskel as a young William Shakespeare.
00:25That place in your head is now more real to you than anywhere else.
00:28Like the book, the film tiptoes around saying the name Shakespeare,
00:32although anyone even remotely familiar with his work can connect the dots.
00:36The film and book are even more about Shakespeare's wife, Agnes, played by Jesse Buckley.
00:41What are you looking at?
00:42You.
00:43Why?
00:50I thought you were a man of words, Master Tutor.
00:53The two have three children, eldest daughter Susanna, followed by twins Hamnet and Judith.
00:57Will is constantly away from his family, putting on plays in London.
01:02Whenever he returns, though, his love for his wife and children is never called into question.
01:06Will you be brave?
01:08Yes!
01:09When shall we three meet again?
01:12Our children's hearts beat.
01:14They smile.
01:16Will isn't present when young Judith comes down with the plague.
01:19He returns to find that Judith survived, but Hamnet tragically didn't.
01:23As Agnes falls into despair, Will throws himself into writing.
01:27To die.
01:29To sleep.
01:31Perchance to dream.
01:32When Agnes learns that Will has written a new play entitled Tragedy of Hamlet,
01:36she assumes that he's exploiting their son's death.
01:38Do you not wonder what is in it?
01:40In what?
01:41The play.
01:42Upon arriving at the Globe Theatre, Agnes sees that the play is actually Will's way of processing grief.
01:48Although the titular character dies, Hamlet gets to grow up, whereas Hamnet only lived to see age 11.
01:53I see you in London working with your father.
01:58In the theatre.
02:00At the playhouse.
02:02Will plays the ghost of Hamlet's father, allowing him to reconnect with his late son.
02:07Agnes also finds closure as she reaches out to the actor playing Hamlet.
02:11In a clever bit of casting, Noah Jupe portrays Hamlet, while his little brother, Jacoby Jupe, plays Hamnet.
02:17It's a faithful adaptation of O'Farrell's book, which adds up since she co-wrote the screenplay.
02:23Is it true to Shakespeare's life, however?
02:25To see him as a human, and to see the woman beside him, and the family beside him.
02:30And I guess to imagine where one of his greatest plays could have been born from, from his own personal tragedy.
02:36Despite being the most iconic playwright who ever lived, much about Shakespeare's personal life remains a mystery.
02:43We know this much is true.
02:45He had three children.
02:46Susanna Hall, Hamnet Shakespeare, and Judith Quiney.
02:50Shakespeare was also married, although his wife's maiden name was Anne Hathaway.
02:54I have no talent awaiting.
02:58The women in my family see things.
03:01It makes sense why the film avoids calling attention to this name, as audiences would expect Mia Thermopolis to appear.
03:08Shut up!
03:11I beg your pardon?
03:13There is some historical backing to calling her Agnes.
03:16In her father's will, she was referred to as Agnes.
03:19Maybe this was her real name, or perhaps it was a glaring typo.
03:22It goes to show that there are still some significant holes in the life of Anne, Agnes, Hathaway.
03:28Thus, Hamnet takes some creative liberties with filling them in.
03:32Tell me a story.
03:34What story would you like?
03:35Something that moves you.
03:37Hamnet depicts Agnes as practically being one with nature, calling upon a pet hawk as the town dubs her a forest witch.
03:44Agnes feeds into these rumors by reading Will's hand, suggesting she can predict the future.
03:49You touched me. What did you see?
03:52I saw a landscape.
03:54You saw a landscape?
03:56Mm-hmm.
03:57Spaces.
04:00Caves.
04:01Tunnels and oceans.
04:03Given the limited historical resources concerning Hathaway's life, we can't definitively say that none of this is true.
04:09Of course, there aren't any records to support these scenes either.
04:13Likewise, there's no way of knowing if Hathaway gave birth to Susanna alone in the woods,
04:17or if Judith was thought to be stillborn before pulling through.
04:21While we can chalk most of this up to dramatic license, historians agree that Shakespeare and Hathaway married in 1582.
04:2918-year-old William Shakespeare and 26-year-old Anne Hathaway paid a 40-pound bond for their marriage license outside Stratford-upon-Avon.
04:38Six months later, their daughter Susanna was born.
04:41Hathaway was believed to be about three months pregnant when they got hitched, as the film portrays.
04:45Hamnet and Judith were also fraternal twins, both baptized in 1585.
04:51You're having twins, my girl.
04:53This might explain why twins were prevalent in some of Shakespeare's later works,
04:57such as Viola and Sebastian in Twelfth Night, not to mention the multiple twins in the Comedy of Errors.
05:02While young Hamnet died in 1596, the exact cause is open to discussion.
05:08Given the time and location, it was more than likely the plague, as seen in the film.
05:12But we can't say with absolute certainty.
05:15And he dies here, we see, at age 11 and a half.
05:19So we don't know how Hamnet died.
05:22This record is simply a record recording his burial.
05:28As for the poetic scene where Hamnet takes away Judith's illness and dies in her place,
05:33this feels more like something that would happen in Shakespeare's plays rather than in Shakespeare's life.
05:37That said, the film does echo Shakespeare's struggle to balance work with family.
05:42I'll miss you.
05:44But I have to go, you understand, I.
05:48I know.
05:50I understand.
05:51Considering that Shakespeare's career was taking off by the time he became a father of three,
05:56it's safe to assume that he wasn't home much to see his children grow.
05:59I need you to look after your mother and your sisters, will you do that?
06:02Yes.
06:04Will you be brave?
06:05Yeah.
06:05Since he was busy putting on plays in London,
06:08it wouldn't be a stretch to say that Shakespeare and Hathaway were living very separate lives.
06:13The, quote, second best bed that Shakespeare left to Hathaway in his will has invited speculation among scholars,
06:19with some seeing it as evidence of a strained relationship,
06:22while others believe it was a sign of affection.
06:24This could lend credence to the idea that this was their marriage bed,
06:28but it could also support the story that it could possibly have been the bed,
06:34or the bedding that Anne brought with her to the marriage,
06:37and therefore personal to her and perhaps a family heirloom of hers.
06:40During his time away from his wife, some argue that Shakespeare had affairs with women and men.
06:45The film leaves this vague, as there are only a handful of scenes following Shakespeare in London.
06:50You should go to London.
06:52Most of the film centers on Hathaway, who runs the household with her husband constantly away.
06:57You know, I've always felt that a lot of biographers have really downplayed Shakespeare's children and his wife.
07:04We see Shakespeare rush home as fast as he can upon receiving word of Judith's illness.
07:09He's too late to say goodbye to Hamnet, however.
07:11Mama!
07:12They may be gone.
07:14Mama!
07:16My boy!
07:18He lives not.
07:20Historians debate whether Shakespeare was present when Hamnet died, or if he was at his son's funeral.
07:26Even if he wasn't, that doesn't mean Hamnet's passing didn't deeply affect Shakespeare.
07:30This leads to the film's biggest question mark.
07:33Was Hamnet the inspiration for Hamlet?
07:35I just went back to the plays and I was like,
07:37what would have caused somebody to write something like this?
07:42It's easy to see why so many have put two and two together,
07:45as the names were only one letter apart.
07:47In fact, the names Hamlet and Hamnet were considered interchangeable at the time.
07:52It just always fascinated me, the link between the death of this son and the writing of the play Hamlet.
07:59The dates also line up, as Hamlet was written sometime between 1599 and 1601,
08:05not long after Hamnet's death.
08:07What do you wish to do, Hamlet?
08:08I shall be one of the players with a sword.
08:12Sword?
08:14Yes, and I shall cast it against the sword of the other player.
08:19Early in his career, Shakespeare was better known for comedies.
08:22While he'd written some tragedies, Shakespeare explored the genre more following his son's passing,
08:28possibly drawing from personal anguish.
08:30Since writers often take inspiration from real life,
08:33it's not unreasonable to think that the loss of a child would inspire the most famous Shakespearean tragedy.
08:39The boy I felt was relegated to a literary footnote and was forgotten about
08:43and didn't even have a gravestone or memorial in the church here.
08:46He's got her play in his own name.
08:49Of course, much of this ultimately comes down to speculation.
08:52Some scholars believe that any perceived parallels between Hamlet and Hamnet are coincidental.
08:57After all, the name Hamnet was common back in the day,
09:00with Shakespeare's son possibly being named after a local baker.
09:03Will you be brave?
09:05Yes.
09:06Will you be brave?
09:08Yes!
09:08Yes, I'll be brave!
09:10I'll be brave!
09:11It's worth noting that Hamlet might have been based in part on a lost play called Ur Hamlet,
09:16which Shakespeare may or may not have written.
09:18He's got more inside of him than any man I've ever met.
09:22Who are you looking for?
09:23William Shakespeare.
09:25The Spanish tragedy is also one of the various works that could have influenced Hamlet.
09:29While there probably wasn't one solitary inspiration for Hamlet,
09:32there's reason to believe that the play was a meditation on Shakespeare's grief.
09:37Will we go with you this time?
09:39No, not yet.
09:43Hey.
09:47I'll miss you.
09:49This is reflected in one of the more surprising elements that Zhao's film gets right in the final act.
09:54We don't know what Hathaway thought of Hamlet,
09:57or if she attended a performance at the Globe.
09:59However, Shakespeare did originally play the ghost of Hamlet's father on stage,
10:04tying into the theory that he was trying to connect with his son from beyond the grave.
10:11What do you see?
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10:38Hamlet could have been an inspiration behind Shakespeare's other plays.
10:43The grief that Lady Constance endures over the loss of her son Arthur in King John is one example.
10:48Grief fills up the room of my absent child.
10:55Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me.
10:59Once again, though, it's difficult to say where Shakespeare's mindset was when he put these plays from quill to parchment.
11:04Whether or not Hamlet is factual, it's not like Shakespeare was the biggest stickler when it came to historical accuracy.
11:11Why never said a horse?
11:13My kingdom for a horse.
11:15Who made that up?
11:16Why William Shakespeare, of course.
11:18If you dissect the tragedy of Julius Caesar or the tragedy of Macbeth,
11:22you're going to find more than a few dramatic inventions.
11:25Of course, those are some of the most timeless works ever written.
11:28Likewise, Hamlet is a great piece of historical fiction that will leave you seeing Shakespeare and his family in a whole new light.
11:36Bye.
11:36Bye.
11:37Bye.
11:38Bye.
11:39Bye.
11:40Bye.
11:41Tune in next time when we explore the true stories behind Shakespeare in Love, Anonymous, and Hamlet 2.
11:46Well, not really.
11:48Unless you want to see that?
11:49Let us know in the comments.
11:50Let us know in the comments.
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