When Does "HAMNET" (2020) Take Place?
"HAMNET: a novel of the plague" is a historical fiction novel written by Maggie O'Farrell that released March 31st, 2020. So when is "HAMNET" set?
It takes place in the years:
We know this because Susanna Shakespeare (1583-1649) [real-world daughter of the playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616)] appears as a main character and in part one the unnamed narrator tells us Susanna ..."is nearly fourteen." In the real world, she was born in May of 1583 AD so it is late 1596 AD.
1596 AD/1580 AD - 1585 AD
We know this because Susanna Shakespeare (1583-1649) [real-world daughter of the playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616)] appears as a main character and in part one the unnamed narrator tells us Susanna ..."is nearly fourteen." In the real world, she was born in May of 1583 AD so it is late 1596 AD.
1,583 + 13 = 1,596.
More specifically, very early on the narrator describes Anne/Agnes Hathaway as she ..."lifts a bundle of smoldering rosemary and waves it gently over the comb, the smoke leaving a trail in the still August air." So it is probably August of 1596 AD.
Also, at the very start of the second chapter a second timeline suddenly begins with "On a morning in early spring, fifteen years or so before Hamnet runs to the house of the physician," and we know that moment happens in August of 1596 AD. So it is 1580 AD or 1581 AD. During this flashback Shakespeare’s perspective is predominant and we’re told, "his sister, who died not quite two years ago." Shakespeare’s real-world sister Anne Shakespeare died in 1579 AD. More specifically, "early spring" is March or April so it is March or April of 1580 AD.
8.1,596 - ~15 = ~8.1,581
and
1,579 + 1 = 1,580.
Later in chapter four, the narrator says, "The day is crisp, with the startling metallic cold of early winter." Will and Anne/Agnes marry soon after in chapter six and, indeed in the real-world, Shakespeare and Anne/Agnes married in the late November of 1582 AD. So it must be November of 1582 AD at this point.
Soon after, the narrator continues "IT SEEMS STRANGE TO AGNES, DURING THIS TIME, THAT SHE HAS, in the space of a month, exchanged country for town, a farm for an apartment, a stepmother for a mother-in-law, one family for another." So it must now be December of 1582 AD.
11.1,582 + 1 month = 12.1,582.
Similarly, at about one-third through the story, the narrator specifically starts another chapter with: "ON A MORNING IN THE SPRING OF 1583, IF THEY HAD RISEN early enough, the residents of Henley Street would have seen the new daughter-in-law of John and Mary exit the door of the little narrow cottage where the newlywed couple live." Again, the real-world William Shakespeare (son of John Shakespeare and Mary Shakespeare) married the real-world Anne/Agnes Hathaway (1556-1623) in late November of 1582 AD. A few pages later, we’re directly told "It is mid-May." So it is most likely May of 1583 AD at this moment.
Then, a chapter opens with: "SUSANNA, SHORTLY BEFORE HER SECOND BIRTHDAY"... and, as already specified at the top, the real-world Susanna Shakespeare was born in May of 1583 AD. So it is probably currently May of 1585 AD.
5.1,583 + 2 = 5.1,585.
Furthermore, the book’s part one opens with a "HISTORICAL NOTE" that reads: "In the 1580s, a couple living on Henley Street, Stratford had three children" and "The boy, Hamnet, died in 1596, aged eleven." and, finally, "Four years or so later, the father wrote a play called Hamlet." The book ends with an "Author's Note" reading "This is a work of fiction, inspired by the short life of a boy who died in Stratford, Warwickshire, in the summer of 1596."
Additionally, early in the second timeline starting in 1580 AD, there is a quick flashback denoted by the narrator simply saying, "There was a moment, several months ago," and then relating a very quick scene. So it must be some point between December of 1579 AD and February of 1580 AD during this flashback.
4.1,580 - 2 months = 2.1,580
or
3.1,580 - 3 months = 12.1,579.
Finally, there is also an extended flashback that makes up all of chapter eleven that is marked with the phrase "Several months before the day Judith takes to her bed, as the year is turning from 1595 to 1596"… so this is presumably showing us December of 1595 AD.
It was adapted for the stage in 2023 as "HAMNET" and to film in 2025 as "HAMNET".
