Ophelia through the Ages: What Art Adds to the Text

WHAT THE TEXT SAYS “One woe doth tread upon another's heel, So fast they follow; your sister's drown'd, Laertes… There is a willow grows aslant a brook, That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream; There with fantastic garlands did she come Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples That liberal shepherds give a grosser name, But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them: There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke; When down her weedy trophies and herself Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide; And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up: Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes; As one incapable of her own distress, Or like a creature native and indued Unto that element: but long it could not be Till that her garments, heavy with their drink, Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay To muddy death.”

REMEMBER OPHELIA’S FLOWERS “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember. And there is pansies, that’s for thoughts… There’s fennel for you, and columbines.— There’s rue for you, and here’s some for me. We may call it “herb of grace” o' Sundays.—Oh, you must wear your rue with a difference.—There’s a daisy. I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died. They say he made a good end (sings) For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy—”

Ophelia Robert Westall 1803

Ophelia Joseph Severn 1831

Ophelia Arthur Hughes 1852 Oil on Canvas

Ophelia Sir John Everett Millais 1852 Oil on Canvas

Crow flowers in the foreground look similar to buttercups and symbolize ingratitude or childishness The weeping willow tree leaning over Ophelia is a symbol of forsaken love. The daisies floating near Ophelia’s right hand represent innocence. Ophelia also mentions, ‘There’s a daisy’ in Act IV, scene v. The pink roses that float by Ophelia’s cheek and her dress and the white field roses growing on the river bank may refer to Act IV, Scene V when Laertes calls his sister, ‘rose of May’. They are also included for their many symbolic meanings such as youth, love and beauty. The garland of violets around Ophelia’s neck refer to Act IV, Scene V. ‘I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died: they say he made a good end.’ Violets are a symbol of faithfulness and they can also symbolize chastity and death in the young.

The meadowsweet flowers to the left of the purple loosestrife may signify the futility (the lack of purpose or uselessness) of Ophelia’s death. The pale blue forget-me-nots on the river bank below the purple loosestrife and in the immediate foreground, carry their meaning in their name. The pansies that float on the dress in the center, refer to Act IV, Scene V where Ophelia gathers flowers in the field (‘that’s for thoughts’). They represent thought and they can also mean love in vain. The robin in the branches of the willow tree may refer to the line, ‘For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy’, which Ophelia sings as she loses her mind in Act 1V, Scene v. This may be a reference to the fictional character Robin Hood, or as birds are also symbolic of the spirit, it could suggest that as she floats down the river, her spirit flies away. Red is traditionally the color of martyrdom (deriving from the Catholic church), bearing connotations of spilled blood and thus death.

Eugène Delacroix. The Death of Ophelia, 1853.

Ophelia by Alexandre Cabanel 1883

Odilon Redon. Ophélie, 1905

W. G. Simmonds. The Drowning of Ophelia. 1910

Ernest Hébert. Ophelia, c