The image of Ophelia and the portrait of women in the 19th century:

a universalizing reading

Abstract

Artistic re-readings are extremely common but we cannot observe them without reflecting on their production reasons. The present paper aims to highlight two poems and paintings of re-readings carried out during the 19th century, which portray the Shakespearean character, Ophelia, and seek to find the possible reasons for this fact. Therefore, we analyze each painting and poem individually and, after this survey, we relate them to each other. As a theoretical basis, we use Carvalhal (2006), to address the importance of comparativism in art; Gombrich (1978) to enter the context of the construction of pictorial art; Bosi (2000) relatingpoetry and society and Schopenhauer (2005) as a mean of reflecting the philosophy behind the productions. As for the analysis of the arts in their specificities, we highlight the writings of Goldstein (2006) for the poetic structure; Lexikon (1998) for symbolisms; and Heller (2013) for colors. As a result of the analysis, we obtained the death of Ofelia being represented as an escape from the technical world to a spiritual transcendence. We conclude that the image of the woman is the portrait of an entire society, her death is, consequently, the escape from a world oppressed by absolute scientism.