Hamnet Shakespeare (c. January 1585 – c.
9 August 1596) was the only son of William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway. He was the twin brother of Judith Shakespeare.[1][2][3][4] He died at age 11. How he died is not known. There are several ideas about a possible relationship between Hamnet and his father's play Hamlet.[5] Other ideas state there is a relationship between Hamnet's death and the writing of King John, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, and Twelfth Night. These ideas of a relationship became popular as early as the 18th century. They continued into the 1930s. In the 1930s, thinkers who believed in modernism and New Criticism said the relationship did not matter. Modernism and New Criticism thinkers believe that a writer's life does not change his writing. More recently, as New Criticism has become less popular, the ideas about Hamnet and his father's work have been talked about again.
Life
Hamnet was born along his twin sister Judith Shakespeare in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1585, as the son and daughter of William Shakespeare, a English playwright. The exact date of their births is unknown, but they were presumed to have been born sometime in January 1585. Hamnet Shakespeare died in Stratford-upon-Avon in August 1596. The exact date of his death is unknown, but is presumed to have been on 9 August 1596.
References
↑Chambers, Edmund Kerchever (1930). William Shakespeare: A Study of Facts and Problems. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. I. p.18. OCLC353406. A daughter Susanna was baptized on 26 May 1583, and followed by twins, Hamnet and Judith, on 2 February 1585. Guesses at godparents are idle where common names, such as Shakespeare's own, are concerned. But those of the twins, which are unusual, point to Hamnet or Hamlet Sadler, a baker of Stratford, and his wife Judith.
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