Speak! Speak! by John Everett Millais (Interpretation and Analysis)

Speak! Speak!
Source: The Tate

The Pre-Raphaelite movement was truly an extraordinary time in the history of art. The Pre-Raphaelites threw out the rule book of art, rejecting the conventions of their age in favor of returning to an earlier style of art. As the name suggests, the Pre-Raphaelites were inspired by early Italian artists and the art of the Medieval age. Their work was characterized by realism and vibrancy.

John Everett Millais was one of the most talented artists of his age. Although he began his artistic career as a Pre-Raphaelite, Millais later developed his own unique and mature style. Though he created many masterpieces, Millais himself considered Speak! Speak! to be one of his most serious and profound paintings.

The piece, which was completed only a year before Millais’ death, tells a ghost story. As Millais’ son, John Guille Millais, relates:

It is that of a young Roman who has been reading through the night the letters of his lost love; and at dawn, behold, the curtains of his bed are parted, and there before him stands, in spirit or in truth, the lady herself, decked as on her bridal night, and gazing upon him with sad but loving eyes. (The Life and Letters of Sir John Everett Millais)

In keeping with this story, the painting depicts the Roman waking from his sleep. His arm is flung wide in surprise, and his face betrays his shock as he looks upon the luminous woman at the foot of his bed. His mouth is slightly open, presumably begging his love to speak. Although the woman is an apparition in Millais’ story, she looks startlingly alive in the painting. The woman is dressed in a long white gown and covered with sparkling jewels, giving her an unearthly luminosity. The surprise of the man is quite understandable. She truly is a startling figure.

The exact origin of the story of the young Roman and his lost love is unclear. However, it is obvious that Millais was intrigued by ghost stories; in fact, he created several paintings of ghosts and other supernatural scenes throughout his career. It is a dramatic scene, and it reflects the Vicotorian obsession with death. However, there is something deeper at play in this scene.

Recalling a conversation with Millais, art critic M.H. Spielmann noted: “When I remarked that I could not tell whether the luminous apparition was a spirit or a woman he was pleased: ‘That's just what I want,’ he said; ‘I don't know either, nor,’ he added, pointing to the picture, ‘does he.’” The painting asks the viewer to consider what is true. Two possible realities exist within the painting, one in which the woman is dead and one in which she is alive. The uncertainty at the heart of this painting is what makes it so interesting and engaging. Both the viewer and the man within the painting cannot be sure whether or not the appearance of the woman should be cause for fear or joy. If she is a ghost, she is a beautiful ghost, a ghost capable of love and affection after death. These contradictions create an unsettling aura that makes it successful as a ghost story. Simply put, the appearance of the woman is uncanny.

According to my research, there is also another interpretation at play. According to John Guille Millais:

Punch had an amusing note on the painting that Millais used often to chuckle over, the suggestion being that it represented a young man whose wife had run up a fearful bill for diamonds, and this so haunts him that he has a nightmare in which she appears in her finery. (The Life and Letters of Sir John Everett Millais)

This second explanation of the painting has a special place in my heart. Not only is it funny, I think a nightmare about diamond debt is a lot more relatable and realistic than the fantastical ghost story that Millais presents, romantic and intriguing as it is.