Who Is Ophelia Innocent

“The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time,” (William Butler Yeats). Ophelia, a character in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, was shown as being innocent. Most of the things she has done she was told to do it. She was doing her best to please her father even if that meant breaking the one she love’s heart. She was still showed innocent when she went mentally insane after the death of her father. No one really knows if her death in the play was suicide or not. W.G. Simmonds’ “The Drowning of Ophelia” he showed that Ophelia’s death was an accident and that she is innocent. The painting shows her innocence with the way she looks, the back of her dress looks like angel wings, and biblical allusions
Ophelia in the painting looks very light in the painting. She is wearing a white dress and has blonde hair. Being light in both literature and art often times shows innocence. “White is often associated with being pure, fresh and good,” (“Learn About Colors and Symbolism”). Being dressed in white, shows that she was innocent and
pure at heart. Ophelia seemed to be too pure to be involved in the world that she was living in. She was often times used to get evil done since she was Even Hamlet, her lover and prince of Denmark, knew that. “You should not have believe me; for virtue shall relish of it: I loved you not,” (Shakespeare 3.1.119-121). Hamlet is saying that whatever they had before she broke up with him can not be because virtue can not stop the wickedness. He was trying to protect Ophelia from the chaos that was forming in the castle. Keeping her hidden from the truth was for her own protection. The purity of white is shown in the painting.
The back of the dress is floating to look like angel wings in the painting. It could be representing that she is going to heaven, but being an angel can also show purity. Angels are the bridge between Heaven and Earth; they are considered messengers of God. “... They carry concepts, thoughts and ideas to be dispersed throughout countless dimension of experience,” (Venefica). Ophelia was the one that taught Hamlet the concept of love even though they would probably never end up together. She was the one that gave him the experience of being dumped and dealing with heartbreak. “As one incapable of her own distress, or like a creature native and indued unto that element,” (Shakespeare 4.5.178-179). The queen is calling her a nymph, another fictional creature, but it could also be used as a reference to an angel. Ophelia could be going back to heaven where she belongs. She was out of place on earth and could be heading back to heaven, her element. She is returning home.
In the painting, Ophelia’s arms are out like she is hanging on a cross.
It could be a reference to Jesus being crucified on the cross. He was innocent, yet was chosen to be crucified to save people from their sins. “It stands for suffering, triumph, and victory,” (“What Does The Cross Symbolize?”). In Ophelia’s case it could stand for the suffering of her brother away at college, breaking up with her boyfriend, and losing her father. It could be a biblical allusion to go along with the Garden of Eden in the play. “There is a willow grows aslant a brook, that shows his hoar leaves in glassy stream; there with fantastic garlands did she make of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,” (Shakespeare 4.5.166-170). The queen talks about how she was in a garden before she drowned. Gardens are usually a biblical allusion to the Garden of Eden. The painting shows her being in a garden as well. The cross and the garden are the biblical
allusions.
Ophelia was dressed in white and looked like an angel with other biblical allusions surrounding her. The white was to show her innocence. The angel could show her purity or her returning to heaven. The cross and garden are in references to different parts of the bible. Time took Ophelia at a young age with her innocence and her beauty.