Summary

Part 2 of the novel features an epigraph with a quote from the play, Hamlet, asking the living to tell the story of the dead.

The solitary chapter within Part 2 begins with Agnes’s perspective, picking up immediately after Hamnet’s death. Agnes battles disbelief that Hamnet has died. She squeezes her son’s hand between thumb and forefinger, but “Hamnet’s hand is silent” and she is unable to sense his ghost (203).

Agnes refuses to prepare Hamnet’s body for burial until she is alone at night. Agnes allows Mary to help when she wakes, since “Mary was with her when Hamnet came into the world” (205). Agnes remains stoic until Judith asks if Hamnet is really gone. Agnes finally grieves, discovering “she can withstand anything but her child’s pain” (208). Just before Agnes stitches the burial shroud over Hamnet’s face, the father...