‘History has treated her badly’: Hamnet and the 400-year-old mystery around Shakespeare’s wife and son

Anyone seen “Hamnet”?

I was not too impressed by “Shakespeare in Love,” which perpetuated the biographical fallacy — that the key to unlocking the one, true meaning of a literary work is listing how each detail in a literary work “could represent” some detail in the author’s life, and that once you’ve constructed that list, there’s nothing else to talk about.

Aside from the “second best bed,” we know so little about the real Agnes Hathaway that I don’t mind some creative speculation for the sake of a good story.

The sparse facts about Shakespeare’s family are far outnumbered by the questions they raise. Records show that in 1582 William Shakespeare, then 18, married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, who was pregnant with their first child, Susanna. Three years later, their twins were born, called Judith and Hamnet, a name that at the time was interchangeable with Hamlet. In 1596, when he was just 11, Hamnet died. He was buried on 11 August and it is almost certain that Shakespeare, who was traveling with his theatre troupe, could not have made it back to Stratford in time for the funeral. About four years later, he wrote Hamlet. Make of that what you will. —BBC.com