Ophelia and the Pre-Raphaelites
Ophelia is a captivating character, one that many of the Pre-Raphaelites and other Victorian artists drew inspiration from. For those unfamiliar with Ophelia, she is Hamlet’s innocent young love interest in one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays (Hamlet). Hamlet loved Ophelia – but after his meeting with the ghost of his father (Act I) he feels compelled to set their love aside in order to focus on avenging his father’s murder. Poor young Ophelia is unaware of Hamlet’s motives or his inner turmoil. He chooses not to express his sense of betrayal (really, who can blame him for feeling betrayed when his uncle murdered his father and then married his mother, Queen Gertrude). Ophelia is perplexed and hurt by Hamlet’s madness — and when Hamlet kills Ophelia’s father (Polonius) in an irrational fit, the beautiful Ophelia is herself driven to insanity. Picking flowers and singing songs, Ophelia accidentally drowns. Perhaps the most famous painting of Ophelia is by John Everett Millais, using Elizabeth Siddal as a model. Siddal took great pains to pose as Ophelia, both literally and figuratively.
“Miss Siddal had a trying experience whilst acting as a model for Ophelia. In order that the artist might get the proper set of the garments in water and the right atmosphere and aqueous effects, she had to lie in a large bath filled with water, which was kept at an even temperature by lamps placed beneath. One day, just as the picture was nearly finished, the lamps went out unnoticed by the artist, who was so intensely absorbed in his work that he thought of nothing else, and the poor lady was kept floating in the cold water till she was quite benumbed. She herself never complained of this, but the result was that she contracted a severe cold, and her father wrote to Millais, threatening with an action of 50 lbs. for his carelessness. Eventually the matter was satisfactorily compromised. Millais paid the doctor’s bill, and Miss Siddal, quickly recovering, was none the worse for her cold bath.” — The son of the artist, John Guille Millais
, describing the incident.
(For more on the painting by Millais, see Ten Things You Never Knew About Ophelia)
Ophelia, by Millais
Dante Gabriel Rossetti chose to portray Ophelia in a different way, drawing inspiration from the passages I’ve transcribed below the painting.
HAMLET: I did love thee once.
OPHELIA: Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so.
HAMLET: You should not have believed me; for virtue cannot so inoculate our old shock but we shall relish of it: I loved you not.
OPHELIA: I was the more deceived.
HAMLET: Get thee to a nunnery, why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such things…
Hamlet says he loves her, only to turn around and say he loves her not? Can we read similarities between this and his relationship with Elizabeth Siddal? It is interesting that he chooses this passage of Hamlet and uses Siddal as his model for Ophelia.
Arthur Hughes painted this version of Ophelia in 1852. (see painting below) Hughes shows Ophelia beside the stream that will eventually take her life. The water seems stagnate, with a slimy film on top. I don’t think you can see it in your monitor, but on the right hand side of the painting (just under the tree trunk) there is a bat flying close to the surface of the water. Is he portraying a feeling of doom perhaps? I’ll see if I can zoom in on th bat and post it later.
The above depiction by Hughes is a bit cartoonish, elfish. Maybe pixie-ish is a better word? (Assuming that it’s even a word)
Hughes was not done with our beloved Ophelia yet, it seems. He painted her again. And this time she has more of a quality of tragic beauty:
Other artists painted their own versions of Ophelia, but it was John William Waterhouse who not only did it best, but did it repeatedly:
John William Waterhouse, Ophelia, circa 1889
John William Waterhouse, Ophelia, 1894:
John William Waterhouse, Ophelia, 1910:
The following are my favorite lines from Hamlet….Hamlet’s words, written to Ophelia in Act 2, Scene 2:
Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.
The italics are mine; this is one of my favorite lines. Hamlet eventually went mad and denied his love (in an attempt to protect Ophelia?) but these words of his allow us to look back and see Hamlet and Ophelia before the murder and drama and see them as two young people in love. And then Ophelia, driven insane, dies:
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