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In the previous episode, I mentioned that I was going to talk briefly about Hamnet, Shakespeare's son.  Hamnet was a twin, and his sister's name was Judith. Now we do know that Hamlet died in 1596 - he was only 11 years old and was buried on August the 11th, 1596 in Stratford -upon - Avon.  Basically all we know is that he died and not the cause of death.

There is a very popular novel by Maggie O'Farrell called Hamnet that was published in 2020. The book focuses on the death of Hamnet and his parent’s grief.  It can best be described as historical fiction largely because it says the cause of Hamnet's death was the plague - certainly possible - but we have no record of the child dying from the plague. Personally I feel the book is a bit overlong - but maybe that is just me - I am eager to see the movie aversion, but have not yet because of transportation reasons.
But when I do see the movie, I know I will have a lot to say about it in this podcast.

Anyway, there is no question that the plague had tremendous effects upon Stratford - and I want to touch on some of them in this episode.

SFX: a wagon wheel clattering… leather creak… wind… distant bell… then the river sound fades behind.

GEORGE (low, vivid):
There’s a sound you don’t expect in a Shakespeare story.

Not a trumpet. Not applause.

A wagon.

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