Hamnet Trivia Quiz

Actually, the first thing we see is a written prologue explaining that Hamnet and Hamlet were used interchangeably as being the same name. This gives viewers an idea of where things are heading.

The first scene starts with Agnes Hathaway, whose first name is pronounced like the Latin 'Agnus', meaning a lamb - Ann-yus - which establishes a link between the name in the film and the more familiar name used for her, Anne. She is curled up in a cavity in the roots of an immense tree (a spot we will be seeing again), and wakes to see a hawk perched nearby. After putting on a falconer's glove (which we later learn had previously belonged to her mother and grandmother), she attracts the bird, and walks it home.

Meanwhile, young William Shakespeare is running a lesson, which clearly bores him no end, so he is looking out the window; he observes Agnes with interest.

William arranges an encounter with Agnes in the farm building where she has her hawk, and engages her in a flirtatious interchange. At one stage, she grabs his hand, in a special way that allows her to read his future. He then tells the take of the doomed love of Orpheus and Eurydice - rather a sombre story for the start of a romance, but both of them consider it a story of passionate love, not a cautionary tale about being careful to do the right thing.

Flirtation led to sex led to pregnancy. Agnes is banished from her family home when her pregnancy becomes obvious, and William declares that they will marry. Both families object, but when William points out that they were handfasted (read engaged), her brother Bartholomew relents and supports the couple.

When the time comes for Agnes's child to be born, she heads to the woods, and Susanna arrives while her mother is lying in the cavity where we first saw her. William and Bartholomew discover them, and react joyfully.

All is not smooth, however, as William and his father clash regularly over the father's desire to have his son follow him in the glove-making trade, and the son longs for a career writing.

Realising William's frustration, a pregnant Agnes enlists her brother's support to help William travel to London and establish himself. This means he is not there for the birth of the twins she was carrying, and cannot intervene when his mother keeps Agnes from going to the woods to have her child in the spot she wants. It may be for the best, as the delivery is not straightforward. For a start, they didn't realise she was carrying twins!

The first child born is a boy, who is named Hamnet. It is only when his arrival is clearly not the end of labor that they realise another child is on the way - a girl, who appears to be a stillbirth. Agnes, however, insists on holding the child (despite being warned against doing so as it is bad luck), refusing to let her pass over, and Judith comes to life in her arms.

Will is home on a visit, and playing with the children - the twins appear to be about ten or so. He has them dressing up in makeshift costumes and playacting; at one point as they run around the yard Hamnet says, "When shall we three meet again". This line, later to be delivered by the Weird Sisters in 'Macbeth', is a reminder of the strong supernatural threads which are running through the film. Later, William teaches Hamnet how to perform stage sword-fighting, using wooden swords, and Agnes teaches the girls herb lore.

When the hawk dies, the family arrange a formal burial (under that same ancient tree), and Agnes tells the children how to make a wish to the hawk's heart. As William returns to London, planning to make enough money to buy his family their own house so they do not need to stay with his parents, Agnes has a vision of William and Hamnet engaged in a stage swordfight.

Agnes tells Bartholomew that she doesn't know why they are swarming, but it means they sense something ominous. The scene shifts to William, in a London where plague is running rampant: we see bodies heaped in wagons, belongings being burned, and a shadow puppet play depicting these events.

Back home, Hamnet discovers Judith sick, and his mother (still with the bees) nowhere to be found. As he and Susanna try desperately to care for her, their paternal grandmother reflects on the others she has seen die of plague, and opines that, "What is given may be taken away at any time". Not a good omen. Agnes returns and joins the frantic efforts to save her daughter.

When all seems to have failed, Hamnet lies in bed next to Judith and vows to trick death (remember, they are twins, who resemble each other strongly) by taking her place. As he lies there, he evokes the hawk's heart to bring her back; as he falls ill, he has a vision of himself on a stage set that resembles the woods, calling for his Mama.

William arrives home from London to find that his beloved son has just died. Agnes blames him for his absence when she needed him; he responds by saying that he must return to London despite her protestations. He does stay long enough to bury Hamnet, in a grave on which a wooden sword is laid. Agnes is not appeased by William giving her jewellery and reporting the purchase of a big new house, signs of his success in London. As he is departing, she reads his hand again, and reports seeing nothing. This suggests that she sees no meaningful relationship left between them; she bitterly says that his playwriting is more real to him than anything else, including his family.

We see 'Hamlet' in rehearsal, with William frustrated by the performance of the actors, who are not bringing the passion to the play that he wants. As he walks by the Thames, he pauses and recites the start of Hamlet's famous soliloquy, reminding us that he is experiencing the depths of grief that he wants his character to express on the stage.

After Agnes and the girls move to the new house, her stepmother visits with a handbill for the new play. Agnes and Bartholomew go to London to see William, and attend the premiers of the play. The set is notable for being almost exactly the same as the set in Hamnet's dying vision.

Agnes arrives to stand in the front row of the Globe Theatre, initially outraged that her husband is exploiting the death of their son for public amusement. She starts to reconsider this when she sees the actor playing Hamlet, who has blond curls like Hamnet's, and the scene between Hamlet and the ghost of his father (portrayed by William) makes her realise the depths of William's pain are as great as her own. As Hamlet delivers the 'To be, or not to be' soliloquy, she weeps in the audience as William weeps backstage.

The first arrival of the ghost onstage is the subject of the cover image for this quiz, chosen because it is the pivotal moment that brings Agnes and William back together after Hamnet's death had driven them apart. Unlike Orpheus and Eurydice, they are not doomed to be separated forever.

The sword fight between Hamlet and Laertes is William's attempt to fulfil Hamnet's dream to fight onstage with his father. William is watching from the wings as Hamlet and Laertes kill each other (along with several other deaths - go watch the play for details). As Hamlet lies dying, Agnes reaches out to hold his hand the same way she held William's all those years ago, and the rest of the audience joins with outstretched arms.

As Hamlet says, "The rest is silence", Agnes and William lock eyes in a moment of understanding. Hamnet's spirit appears, nods and smiles, then exits through the dark arch in the backdrop that resembles that familiar forest cave.