Images of Ophelia Arthur Hughes 1852 Natalie MerchantOphelia

Images of Ophelia

Arthur Hughes (1852)

Natalie Merchant-Ophelia was a bride of God A novice Carmelite In sister cells The cloister bells tolled on her wedding night Ophelia was the rebel girl A blue stocking suffragette Who remedied society between her cigarettes And Ophelia was the sweetheart To a nation overnight Curvaceous thighs Vivacious eyes Love was at first sight. . . Love. . . Ophelia was a demigoddess in prewar Babylon So statuesque a silhouette in black satin evening gowns Ophelia was the mistress to A Vegas gambling man Signora Ophelia Maraschina Mafia courtesan Ophelia was the circus queen The female cannonball Projected through five flaming hoops To wild and shocked applause Ophelia was a tempest cyclone A goddamn hurricane Your common sense, your best defense They wasted , and in vain For Ophelia 'd know your every woe And every pain you'd ever had She'd sympathize and dry your eyes Help you to forget. . . And help you to forget Ophelia's mind went wandering You'd wonder where she goes Through secret doors down corridors She wanders there alone All alone

John Everett Millais (1851 -52)

Bob Dylan-Desolation Row Now Ophelia, she's 'neath the window For her I feel so afraid On her twenty-second birthday She already is an old maid To her, death is quite romantic She wears an iron vest Her profession's her religion Her sin is her lifelessness And though her eyes are fixed upon Noah's great rainbow She spends her time peeking Into Desolation Row

John Waterhouse (1894)

Grateful Dead-Althea You may meet the fate of Ophelia sleeping and the chance to dream honest to the point of recklessness self-centered to the extreme

Ophelia-Your Response For Thursday, please select one of the following assignments: • Locate a work (poem, painting, song) referencing Ophelia and write your response (One page minimum) to this chosen piece. • Create your own image of Ophelia and write a brief explanation of your chosen interpretation (approximately a half a page). • Write up your assessment Ophelia, taking in to account her relationship with Hamlet, her father, and her death. How do you view this character? (One page minimum)