“To be, or not to be, that is the question.” This infamous quote from the Shakespearean play, Hamlet, often doesn’t strike much emotion amongst students reading the line for the first time. Frankly, Shakespeare and his plays have the largest cultural and linguistic gap with the modern audience.
But the 2025 film Hamnet, directed by Chloé Zhao, strove to reshape that experience. The movie highlighted the life surrounding the popular play, providing important context that made both the movie and the play more engaging. The stage is set following the connection between William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes, though Agnes plays a strikingly larger role than the author himself. This creative choice helps lay the foundation for deeper themes embedded in the story.
As the movie progresses, the story shifts to the untimely death of Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet (whom the play is named after), where themes of grief, traditional gender roles, and the loss of the family unit and its effects are revealed. Through the use of intimate storytelling and visual techniques, the film brings a distinctly human context to the play that traditional classroom readings struggle to provide.
This emotional experience is what began to draw many viewers to Hamlet. Now, the prince’s grief over his father’s death, and motifs of morality and introspection take on new weight when viewed through the lens of Shakespeare’s own experience as a grieving father and artist. The famous soliloquy, “To be, or not to be, […]” becomes a reflection of unimaginable loss.
Hamnet continues to shape the Shakespearean experience by reminding audiences how important it is to view the pieces— rather than just read them. Plays like Hamlet were performed in front of audiences, giving life to the words on the page, and evoking reactions like Agnes’ picturesque reach to her son. The film’s depiction of acting invites this important shift in perspective to student audiences especially.
Ultimately, Hamnet doesn’t just tell a story, it changes how one should receive one. Behind every line of Shakespearean work, there was a true human experience, making the words all the more meaningful.
