About Fictionalizing Real People in Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet (2020)

           These days, fanfiction has become a central part of our culture, as a very creative form of reacting to other fictional or non-fictional works. It is quite a natural process, come to think of it: people like what they read or watch, therefore, they create a separate fictional universe, shaping the events and the characters according to their own preferences. Some enjoy experiencing this mentally, while others take it to the next level and write it down. What is, in my opinion, really great about fanfiction is its capacity to reinterpret and modify without disregarding the so-called “original”, meaning that one’s need to rewrite and implicitly change a work of fiction doesn’t necessarily mean its’ initial state was lack-lustre. On the contrary: in order for something to spark people’s creativity, give way to various interpretations and allow different perspectives, it has to showcase complexity. However, what happens when the central element that the fanfiction revolves around is neither a book, nor a film character, but a real-life person? Irish author Maggie O’Farrell demonstrates how one can successfully create a fictional universe and a moving life story involving one of the most well-known figures in the history of literature: William Shakespeare. Her novel, Hamnet, has proved its worth, since, aside from receiving great reviews from huge publications such as The Guardian and The Observer, it was also the winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2020.

However, I think it is best to first say that if you are expecting to dive into a book that revolves around Shakespeare’s figure and prioritizes biographical facts, Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet will not meet your expectations. As the author mentions in her note at the end of the book, what she aimed to create is “a work of fiction” (p. 369) and the starting point of the novel was pure speculation. Therefore, what O’Farrell wants her readers to embark on is a captivating journey with complex, sympathetic characters and surprising turns of events that will make anyone forget they were reading about the life of a famous sixteenth-century writer whose work they’d studied in high-school. Moreover, what I think is one of the greatest aspects of the book is the fact that Shakespeare’s name isn’t even mentioned. The author separates him from this famous persona, this canonical playwright people look up to, and instead focuses on his image as a father, a husband and, last but not least, a passionate and creative person. Aside from Shakespeare, who is a distant figure, not being present for a good while in the book, O’Farrell introduces readers to his wife, Agnes (known by many as Anne), their children and their fascinating family history.

The first character who makes an appearance is in fact the one whose name is also in the title. Hamnet or Hamlet is the boy who is said to have inspired the creation of one of the greatest Shakespearian plays and who shares his tragic faith with the protagonist. A sensitive, yet courageous young boy, Hamnet is described to be connected and very responsive to his natural surroundings:

The noise of a bird in the sky can make him cease speaking, mid-utterance, as if the very heavens have struck him deaf and dumb at a stroke. (O’Farrell 6)

When it comes to this connection with the natural realm, the mother’s input is probably the most influential factor. Agnes has a fascinating family history, which is the reason why I was really glad the author decided to alternatively narrate her and her son’s story. The segmentation of the plot was the perfect addition to the complexity of the storylines and the characters. Therefore, a bit later in the book, we find out that Agnes shares the same relationship with nature, taking shelter in the forest whenever she feels overwhelmed by human interactions and wants to recollect herself. Regardless of whether this is based on true facts or not, I couldn’t help but feel fascinated by Agnes’s interest in the occult, in the mystical and the magical, that we are told she inherited from her mother. In a similar way, we could assume that young Hamnet possesses some of his mother’s gifts. Finding himself alone with a twin sister who suffers of bubonic plague and is slowly fading away, he refuses to surrender to fate’s will and, therefore, uses all his strength to connect with the realm of the dead and make a final trade: his soul, in exchange for his sister’s life. This scene alone is enough to make even the toughest of readers feel the sorrow of the two children embracing each other tightly with the awareness that they have to be separated from each other.

He turns his head and breathes into the whorls of her ear; he breathes in his strength, his health, his all. You will stay, is what he whispers, and I will go. He sends these words into her: I want you to take my life. It shall be yours. I give it to you. (O’Farrell 201)

This is only the beginning of the path that the family has to follow while coping with trauma, making sense of their loss and rethinking their lives. However, Hamnet’s presence will not cease, despite renouncing the physical form. As his father keeps away from home, writing his plays, and his mother tends to her wounds by retreating into nature, the only thing that keeps the couple connected is their longing for their forever-lost child. Trying to find ways of dealing with this traumatic event, the husband and wife each manifest Hamnet’s presence in their lives in a different way. Being convinced she can connect to the dead, Agnes is constantly seeking her son’s spirit, either at the house they called home, or on the streets at night, searching for a feeling of relief. Instead, she is only disappointed to find that her powers aren’t able to help her get through the grief:

She, who can hear the dead, the unspoken, the unknown, who can touch a person and listen to the creep of disease along the veins, can sense the dark velvet press of a tumour on a lung or a liver, can read a person’s eye and heart like some can read a book. She cannot find, cannot locate the spirit of her own child. (O’Farrell 298)

The woman’s frustration only builds up more when she hears that her husband, who had left their family to find refuge in his relentless work, wrote a play that bears the name of their beloved son. Little did she know that the spirit she was looking for was present in her husband’s play. Agnes is understandably disturbed to find out her son’s name was used in the theatre, as a means of entertainment, and, at first, as readers, we might be tempted to take the side of the mother who has the right to mourn for her loss. However, as the woman travels to see her husband’s famous work of fiction, the author also allows us access to his point of view and then we have the chance to understand his motifs and realise that his creation is a way of mourning as well. Even more so, since the theatre seems to him a spiritual experience, a place that gets him transported, where he can let his emotions flow. Struggling to grasp the notion of a God who is allowed to take his child away from him so soon, the playwright challenges the notion of a divine creator. Firstly, we find him playing his role in the theatre, as he watches the stage and the actors on it before the beginning of the performance. Secondly, the simple act of including AND playing the apparition of old Hamlet in his play, in a time when the Puritan doctrine was opposed to the belief in ghosts, can be interpreted as an internal riot against God and his unintelligible laws. Therefore, in the end, I found his gesture of naming his character after him son a kind of homage, a way of giving him the life he deserved, but was taken from him.

It moves through him – this one, more than any other he has ever written. (O’Farrell 354)

The name Hamlet has travelled through time and is remembered by many people who, unconsciously, offer the boy a new life each time they’re reading and discovering his story. Through this lovely novel, Maggie O’Farrell herself, despite not having access to all the mysteries and clues in Shakespeare’s life, manages to pass Hamnet’s memory forward and, judging by the book’s success so far, I can see it being integrated into the syllabus in high-schools and universities, bringing more and more interesting issues into discussion for the curious minds.