Mariam-Supplemental: Hamnet

 It's been a couple of weeks since I watched Hamnet and a lot of it has faded into images flashing in my memory, but here goes the review. 

First, I went with Kelsey to the theater with the heated recliner seat and the good food. Here are my nachos:

I also copied Kelsey and brought a blanket which is genius. The row ahead of us was booked from one end to the other with older ladies. Our guess was that it was a book club. The rest of the theater was empty.

This book/movie is really about the wife of Shakespeare, Anne Shakespeare  nee Anne Hathaway or Agnes Shakespeare, pronounced Ahn-yis in the movie. It's highly speculative around the reasons why she didn't live in London with her husband and the death of her son Hamnet. Please see Kelsey's post for a summary of those events. 

It is very easy to get swept away in the narrative of the movie with its modern romantic concepts, the tragedy, and the amazing visuals. I had to remind myself afterwards that it was fiction and that this story could be about any couple and the death of their child and not actually based on reality. Anyway, there was audible sniffling through the second half of the movie and I think both of us and the whole book club cried. 

Afterwards, I was so emotional about the whole story that I did a bit of research and it relieved me to learn a few of these things:

Hamlet, the play is based off of an old legend that floated around history for a long time prior to it landing under Shakespeare's pen. Thus it is not about his son. Hamnet Shakespeare could have been named after the hero of that old legend or maybe not, since it was a common-ish name back then. But the play was not named after Hamnet Shakespeare.

Agnes actually probably did live shortly for a while with Shakespeare in London.

A handfast was really a real thing back then and so perhaps the marriage wasn't as shotgun as it feels to us now. 

I won't go into the explanation for why Shakespeare's marriage was estranged or not because there's not a lot of evidence, too much modern perspective, and many possible explanations. But here's one theory about that "second best bed" he willed her that turned my assumptions on its head. The second best bed was probably the marriage bed as the first best bed would have been traditionally the guest bed. It is possible he was being sweet and sentimental. Well. Who would have thought old Bill had it in him?

We are far adrift from the movie, which I guess is the point I'm making. 

But back to the movie. Parts I liked:

The visuals: the movie opens with the forests of England and then zooms down into the roots of those gigantic old trees in which Agnes is curled up and it just went from there. Beautiful. 

Shakespeare having artistic genius frustrations was great. I'm not genius but I am a bit artistic and gosh I've felt that way so many times although I don't indulge in it--most likely because my problems couldn't be fixed by moving to London and I know it.  (Credits to Kelsey for the movie pictures. Thank you!)

Kelsey wanted to see the flea but I reallllyyy wanted to see the blue beads the flea travelled on. I don't know why that is so vivid in my memory. Here's what we got:

The part about Hamnet's afterlife being the stage set for Hamlet tore at me. This kid in this everlasting play, again and again, alone.

I think it tells you something that I can feel the weight of the sadness of the movie again just by writing this post. 

In summary, this movie was not really about Shakespeare or his wife and I bet he would have approved.