Ophelia by John Everett Millais (Interpretation and Analysis)

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Ophelia by John Everett Millais
Ophelia
Source: Tate Museum
If you attended high school in the U.S., chances are you’re familiar with Shakespeare’s masterpiece: Hamlet. Because of Hamlet’s fame, the heroine of the play—Ophelia—has become one of the most famous female characters in Western literature.

As such, she is a popular subject in art. John Everett Millais’ painting is perhaps the most famous image of Ophelia.

His Ophelia is truly a pre-Raphaelite masterpiece, rich in detail and stunningly beautiful. The pre-Raphaelite movement was inspired by a desire to create serious and realistic art that was also pleasing to the eye. Pre-Raphaelite painters were not interested in “trivial” scenes of everyday life, preferring to focus on subjects that were rich in symbolism, including religious, mythological, literary, and historical scenes. They drew particular inspiration from Medieval art.

Ophelia, therefore, was a perfect subject for pre-Raphaelite painters. Millais’ Ophelia depicts the heroine during her final moments, singing as she drowns in the river. Although the painting is realistic (Millais meticulously copied the details of Ophelia’s river from actual landscapes), it romanticizes and sanitizes her death. Ophelia seems peaceful, gently sinking beneath the water in a pristine silver dress with nary a drop of mud in sight.

The image plays off the idea of la belle mort, the idea of a “good” death. Here, Millais portrays Ophelia’s demise as a moralistic symbol. As the Tate Museum explains, the image has multiple layers of meaning, “The plants, most of which have symbolic significance, were depicted with painstaking botanical detail. The roses near Ophelia's cheek and dress, and the field rose on the bank, may allude to her brother Laertes calling her 'rose of May'. The willow, nettle and daisy are associated with forsaken love, pain, and innocence. Pansies refer to love in vain. Violets, which Ophelia wears in a chain around her neck, stand for faithfulness, chastity or death of the young, any of which meanings could apply here. The poppy signifies death. Forget-me-nots float in the water.”

Personally, I also like this painting because it reminds me of the lyrics of my favorite Grateful Dead song, “Althea”: “You may be the fate of Ophelia/ Sleeping and perchance to dream/ Honest to the point of recklessness/Self-centred to the extreme.”

Disclaimer: I’m not an art historian or an expert on this topic. The above is my opinion, based on my interpretation of my foreknowledge of art and history. If I’ve done any additional research, I’ll note it above.

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