November 26th marked the release of the movie Hamnet. Directed by Chloé Zhao, Hamnet, starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, is a different story of William Shakespeare. 

The movie focuses on Shakespeare’s hardships and his inspiration behind writing Hamlet, however it is told from his wife, Agnes’ perspective.

The movie reveals Hamlet is based on Shakespeare’s son Hamnet. 

Hamnet was born as a twin next to his sister Judith. With an older sister, he was the only son of Shakespeare and therefore the sole heir to the name. 

However in 1596, at age 11, Hamnet died. The death motivated Shakespeare to write Hamlet in honor of his only son.

WJPS 12th grader Lillian Kong remarked, “I think the movie looks interesting. I would never have imagined a movie following the backstory behind the writing of another story. It feels like it is breaking the fourth wall.”

WJPS teacher Ms. Marks added, “It’s really fascinating to see adaptations of the book. I teach it to the 12th grade, and even though it’s long, students are still interested in it because of the many plot points. It will be interesting to see the story behind Hamlet and Shakespeare’s thought process while writing it.”