INSURGENT OPHELIA. A contemporary representation.

The Shakespearean character of Ophelia is immensely complex, and opposed to other characters, reveals social dynamics that describe the underlying reality of an entire era. Ophelia becomes emotionally unstable when she is faced with a conflict between her father’s dictates and those of her beloved Hamlet. Ophelia's induced madness becomes more dramatic when compared to the feigned madness of Hamlet. At no time does this fragile adolescent set out to follow her own will, since she lacks such will as a consequence of it being strongly repressed by the social structure of the time. A passive death seems to be the only way out, and even so wasn’t a choice either. Let herself go without even avoiding to die drowned was some sort of fate for her. No will nor identity was present, there was no individual. Elisabeth Siddall, painter, poet, and eventually model, poses for Millais in icy waters and contracted severe pneumonia as a result. Siddall commits suicide with laudanum in response to the infidelities of Rossetti, her husband. The ghost of Ophelia materialises in the abandonment and death that traps this artist in tragedy. The repeated representations make their way into our unconscious, accompanying us on the journey of life as omnipresent ghosts. They remind us of what is acceptable to society, and therefore, what we must emulate to survive in an organised society. In this project, Ophelia rebels against the destiny previously imposed on her and accepted by her. In this new representation, Ophelia does not rise up in belligerent opposition to tradition or in a fight against persistent ideals, but in a blooming of consciousness, an awakening of awareness of her own responsibility for her life, her emotions, her psyche and her destiny. Thus, a change of perception arises, and in spite of continuing in the same life situation, surrounded by old liquefied structures, these give way and become blurred in tenuous glazes that float around, no longer important or authoritative. The change of consciousness generated at will makes possible a new future.