Ophelia (Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 4)
Engraver Francesco Bartolozzi Italian
After James Nixon British
Subject William Shakespeare British
Not on view
Ophelia appears in act 4 of Shakespeare's play, her mind unhinged by her father's murder. Singing nonsense rhymes, she distributes herbs to the king, queen and her brother then, soon afterward, slips into a stream while picking flowers, and drowns. Gertrude, the queen describes this tragedy thus:
There with fantastic garlands did she make,
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples....
There, on the pendent bough her coronet weeds,
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke,
When down her weedy trophies and herself, fell in the weeping book...
Bartolozzi's engraving, based on a drawing by Nixon, combines elements from both episodes to characterize Ophelia's tragic end.
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