Anne Shakespeare and the Turning Point
The death of Hamnet (Anne Shakespeare's son) must have affected Anne perhaps more than it did William, because it was Anne who had been at home during his lifetime while William had spent most of it in London. I read with interest that Maggie O'Farrell of Hamnet novel fame is going to lay two rosemary sprigs to honour Anne and William's twins, Judith and Hamnet, at their grave sites in Stratford-Upon-Avon. As Ms O'Farrell points out, “I’m amazed really that people have debated about whether or not Shakespeare was grieving and whether the death affected his work. Of course it did. It’s baffling to me that people haven’t thought more about his importance, particularly when the spelling of his name and the title of his most famous play were interchangeable,” she told the Observer (quoted in the Guardian, 1 May, 2022). Indeed, Hamnet and Hamlet are interchangeable, but the question not asked is whether or not Hamnet is a real life depiction of him as a grown man and seen in the character of Hamlet.
My own thoughts on this is that the early 1600's are a turning point for Anne as she struggles to reconcile her growing disillusionment with the emerging forces of a nascent capitalism ranged against her strong beliefs in humanism. The social and cultural upheaval wrought by the emerging bourgeoisie with its emphasis on wealth accumulation, displacement of the farming labourer, political power concentrating in the hands of the emerging land owning class, the religious conflict reaching new heights with the entry of the Puritans into the conflict with Catholic and Protestant congregations, the growing inequality between country and town (with more political power and wealth being concentrated in the larger cities, especially London), the end of an era with the death of Elizabeth I and the ascendancy to the throne of the Scottish royal, Charles I bringing new uncertainties, fears and governance.
All of this culminates in Anne's great tragedies (and incidentally, what have been identified as her "problem plays"). And one of these tragedies is of course, Hamlet. Should this play then be seen as a reflection of and projection of her dead son Hamnet? Or should we be looking to how Hamlet reflects Anne's growing disillusionment with the the dying of her humanist ideals? Great dramatic art (whether it is writing or art or poetry, or sculpture) reflects and mirrors to a large extent the turmoil occurring in society and depicts the social and cultural changes and the effects these changes have on individuals and communities.
More to come.
