Analysis Of John Everett Millais Ophelia

John Everett Millais ' Ophelia (1852, oil on canvas) is arguably the most well-known example of Pre-Raphaelite art to modern audiences. Taking its subject from Hamlet, and on public display at Tate Britain, it is understandably already an object of much discussion. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) was a small yet well-known group of Victorian artists who found inspiration in the sincerity and comparable simplicity of work, literally, prior to the career of Raphael. Millais (1829-96) was one of the three significant members, joined by Dante Gabriel Rosetti (1828-82) and William Holman Hunt (1827-1910). Their break from traditional artistic formulae was an attempt to revolt against the prism of academia and rote-learned methods championed

Millais ' rendering of the subject, however, is, on first inspection, characteristically unconventional. The formal features of the painting are unusual; the canvas filled with a hyper realistic natural setting, the only human element, Ophelia, paling into insignificance amongst the un-orderliness of the composition. (description of formality). The piece would appear to have been inspired from a more Northern European oeuvre than a classical one, using materials appropriate to the climate (i.e. not fresco), and drawing on an arguably Flemish style. There is also tension in the image insofar as Ophelia is definitely not real, only existing in literature/text, yet her depiction is painfully life-like, putting into question what this painting is trying to

Plants arch over Ophelia’s corpse, literally “aslant” as Shakespeare intended (Act IV, scene VII), as though about to contain her with next Spring 's resurgence of life. The inclusion of pansies around her wrist, themselves signifying love in vain, are mocking, for while Ophelia and Hamlet 's doomed romance is pain enough, the visual way in which the river has engulfed her only further cements the idea of a vain loss, departing from the traditional pathos consistently seen in the depiction of beautiful young women as victims; sympathetically virtuous, pious, and likeable. Though anecdotal, many perhaps would have liked to see Ophelia metamorphose into a mermaid or an angel, something beyond her apparent entropic destiny, yet Millais refuses to gift her any of this......, implying the process of constant decay and germination is more interesting than how we would like to mystify this woman in our heads. Thus, Millais here is incredibly refreshing, bringing to light how boring and pathetic... notions of femininity