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Ophelia by John Everett MILLAIS is one of the most popular Pre-Raphaelite works in the Tate's
collection. Shakespeare was a frequent source of inspiration for Victorian painters.
Ophelia is a character in Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. She is driven mad when her father, Polonius,
is murdered by her lover, Hamlet. She dies while still very young in grief and madness. The events
shown in Millais's Ophelia are not actually seen on stage. Instead they are referred to in a conversation
between Queen Gertrude and Ophelia's brother Laertes. Gertrude describes how Ophelia fell into the
river whilst picking flowers and slowly drowned, singing all the while.
Hamlet, Act IV, Scene VII
Laertes
Drowned! O, where?
Queen Gertrude There is a willow grows askant the brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream.
Therewith fantastic garlands did she make
Of crowflowers, 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 crownet 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,
Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.
Laertes
saule, audessus du, ruisseau
feuilles, le mirroir de l’eau
couronnes de fleurs
orties, paquerettes, fleurs mauves
bergers, commun
nom d’une sorte d’orchidée
rameau (du saule), couronne de fleurs
en essayant de, branche
qui pleure, étendus
ressemblant à une sirène, tandis que
extracts
who lives in the water
clothes, water
attracted, song
boueuse
Alas, then she is drowned?
Queen Gertrude Drowned, drowned
noyée