Everyone has heard the name William Shakespeare; he is the most famous playwright of all time. His works have shaped the way we approach and respond to literature and most people have been required to study his plays at school, at some point. Hamlet is one such play, which I’ve recently read for one of my modules, and it is this play that has always been a preoccupation for author Maggie O’Farrell and inspired her novel, Hamnet. Note that Hamnet and Hamlet were the same name in the late 16th, early 17th Centuries – many names were misspelt at that time.
At school, Maggie O’Farrell learned about the death of Hamnet, Shakespeare’s son, when he was just 11 years old and over time, this fascination grew into an extremely successful novel that has accumulated a huge fanbase since its publication in 2020 and has been turned into a movie starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley. But who is Maggie O’Farrell?
Born in Northern Ireland on the 27th May 1972, the author has had an incredible intense life filled with hardships which were the inspiration for her Number 1 best selling memoir, I am, I am, I am. O’Farrell was diagnosed with viral encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) at 8-years-old and spent 2 years bed-ridden. The illness has left her with severely affected mobility and a stammer; however, she says that his experience may have guided her down the path of writing as she developed writing skills through the 2 years of reading in bed and interpreting the behaviour of the adults that wouldn’t inform her about the specifics of her illness.
After a hardship this severe at such a young age, you would think that O’Farrell had experienced enough in her lifetime. That is not the case. O’Farrell has survived a machete-wielding robber in Chile who threatened her, a scary encounter with a man that later raped and murdered a 22-year-old woman, survived severe haemorrhaging whilst giving birth and was diagnosed with COVID-19 which mirrored symptoms from her viral encephalitis and took several months to recover from.
O’Farrell has also experienced tragic circumstances with her children. Her eldest son contracted potentially lethal meningitis, her middle daughter suffers from anaphylaxis and her youngest daughter came close to drowning. If this isn’t enough to convince you of the courageous and resilient nature of the Hamnet author, then I don’t know what is.
O’Farrell is no stranger to tragedy and the threat of losing a child, which may explain why she responded so eagerly to the idea of Hamnet as a historical figure. This fascination with his story has spanned over 30 years, culminating into the award-winning fiction we know today. Once O’Farrell committed to writing the piece – she restarted multiple times before fully committing – it took about 3 years to write. During the writing process, O’Farrell states she relearned the truth surround Shakespeare and his family, allowing her to dismiss the preconceptions most of us have towards the famous literary figure. She learnt about Shakespeare’s 4 day travel journey by foot from Stratford to London and how the Globe theatre’s performances were in the day to utilise the natural lighting. Interestingly, O’Farrell says that she particularly enjoyed writing the character of Agnes asking readers to dismiss all preconceptions of her upon reading the book, specifically around her name as most people assume her name was Anne Hathaway, but she was named as Agnes within her father’s will. O’Farrell’s particular interest and passion for the story is evident throughout, and inspires confidence that despite it being a fictional narrative, it can still shed light on some of the realities of Shakespearean life.
Maggie O’Farrell’s incredible life has ultimately lead to her well-deserved recognition as an author. The novel Hamnet was the winner of multiple awards, including the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2020 and the Fiction Prize at the National Critics Circle Awards. The recently released film version has also gained recognition. According to IMDB, Hamnet has 256 nominations and 56 wins, incredibly impressive stats considering the US release date was November 26th and the UK release date was January 9th. The success of both the novel and movie form of Hamnet, as well as many other literary pieces O’Farrell has published, clearly reflects the brilliance of the author and her writing, a merited achievement for an author who has gone through so much hardship.
Featured Image: Murdo Macleod for The Royal Society of Literature