On O’Farrell’s Hamnet

Chances are, anyone who has been to high school has met the interesting women Shakespeare created: Juliet, her Nurse, Ophelia, Gertrude, even crazy-scary Lady Macbeth. But what we haven’t seen – or even given much thought to – are the women who created Shakespeare. Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet provides us with fictional portrayals of both the Bard’s mother and his wife to make one think about the women behind the famous playwright.

At its core, Hamnet is a love story. With a fluctuating narrative structure over the course of fifteen years, as well as engaging prose, O’Farrell gives us a fictional backstory to Shakespeare’s relationship with his wife, as well as the tragic death of their son. Like all good literature, it makes one question, connect, and feel.

Agnes (based on Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare’s wife) appeals to readers because she is offbeat and strong. She raises and trains a bird, one of her closest companions in a life full of loss and abuse. (She is referred to as “the half-mad stepgirl” early on in the novel, as she tends to her family’s farm, animals, and fields). She even births her child alone in the woods, knowing the last people she wants involved in this scene are her mother-in-law and skittish husband.

She also teaches herself about plants in order to cure those in her village, and one can’t help but notice that her husband pays attention to this expertise. Perhaps Shakespeare’s use of medicinal herbs and flowers in his plays came…