Ophelia Analysis

In this post I shall be Analyzing one of my favorite paintings by John Everett Millias called Ophelia. As soon as I saw Ophelia in the Tate Britain I fell in love with her. I'm a sucker for traditional romantic art pieces. I'll be looking at the meanings behind what Millais has put into this amazing painting.


Most of the flowers in the painting are from the play Hamlet in which the painting was based or had symbolic meaning to what had happened in the painting:
The white crow flowers in the fore ground represents childishness.
The weeping willow hanging over Ophelia symbioses forsaken love.
The nettles represent pain.
The daisies near her right hand mean innocence, also in the play Ophelia mentions "there's a daisy" in scene 4 act 5.
The pick rose that floats near her head may represent that her brother in the play called her the rose of may, but also could show the mean of love between her and hamlet.
The violets around her neck refers to act 4 scene 5 where Ophelia mentions "i would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died, they said he made a good end" violets also mean death in the young.

I studied hamlet when i was in my 6th form English lessons and i find this painting very fascinating with how the play and the painting connect.