First I realized that people would probably remember Boudicca as Shakespeare's greatest work in this timeline. I started to reword the line, then realized we'd never seen anyone discuss this idea at all.
As for the name, the origins of Hamlet are somewhat steeped in conjecture and contradiction but the name "Hamlet" had been connected to the legend before 1596, so the name similarities are really just coincidence.
And besides, the play is far more a meditation on a son who's lost his father rather than vice versa. In fact I don't think any of the characters are grieving parents. Hamlet was really written in 1600, which is also the year John Shakespeare really died, so the two gaffes of moving both of those events forward actually cancel out quite nicely. Turtle Fan 23:15, July 21, 2010 (UTC)
Picture[]
There's a good Victorian representation of Hamnet here but it would require cut and paste and blowup to get his image separate from the crowd.JonathanMarkoff (talk) 22:23, December 29, 2015 (UTC)
Delete?[]
After so much debate about pictures and chronology, Hamnet may not even be necessary to keep outside of References to Historical Figures in Turtledove's Work. His life seems to have gone the same way it did in OTL, he's dead before the story starts, and HT doesn't create any speculative life for him like he does with John Shakespeare's recusancy. The two daughters can probably stay, as they are affected by the rearrangement of Shakespeare's living situation at the end of the novel.JonathanMarkoff (talk) 06:23, October 1, 2016 (UTC)
- If Hamnet goes, and I think he should, the daughters should go too. Their few passing references are so paltry compared with even Hamnet's. Turtle Fan (talk) 15:01, October 1, 2016 (UTC)