Hamnet: A Dagger to the Heart of Grief

A reflection on loss, the weight of words, and the silent agony of a mother’s love

“The rest is silence.”

I have never cried as much watching a film as I did with Hamnet.

(Spoilers included)

I read the book in February. Watching the film after reading the book made the experience even more painful. It felt like a book, not because it is the same as the book, but because they captured the atmosphere perfectly by adjusting the saturation and the emotions through the acting. The soundtrack broke me so much; the compositions were beautiful.

The Strength in Contrast

We can easily see Agnes and Will’s personality traits and their contrasts in the film, just as they were described in the book.

I loved that Agnes was not portrayed as a weak woman who just cares for her children and nature, but as a woman who is willing to do whatever she can to protect her family. In the end, she finally breaks and accepts that death can come at any time to anyone after the loss of her precious son, who resembles her the most out of all her children. I did not know much about her until I read the book, and now that I know how impactful she was to everyone in her life, I love her even more.

William Shakespeare matures not because he gets older, but because he experiences pain in every era of his life and shows that pain through his plays. That is why he was the greatest. He did not give up even though he was poor; he defied the world and did everything to achieve his dreams and be happy with his family. Agnes is similar to him in that way.

Two Ways of Grieving

Agnes’ grief was so heartbreaking. She could not save the child she had been protecting all her life. She suffered so much in the past, but Hamnet’s death caused the most damage to her. Her saying he died in agony means she felt his pain so much that she became the one in agony during her grief, and I think that is the most awful thing that can ever happen to a mother. As I said, she accepted death at the end and she bid her son a final, peaceful farewell.

Will’s grief was quiet, and he coped by using words and creating a play. He wrote Hamlet to immortalize his son, which shows how much he loved Hamnet. He also helped Agnes deal with her pain in some way. Hamlet was the thing that changed their perspective on each other’s different ways of grieving, and they both finally integrated their son’s absence into their lives.

A Final Note

The cast did an excellent job. Also, the ending was so perfect, just how I imagined it in the book. In summary, this film was a dagger to my heart.