Ophelia was a bride of God
A novice Carmelite
In sister cells
The cloister bells tolled on her wedding night
Ophelia was the rebel girl
A blue stocking suffragette
Who remedied society between her cigarettes
And Ophelia was the sweetheart
To a nation overnight
Curvaceous thighs
Vivacious eyes
Love was at first sight
Love was at first sight
Ophelia was a demigoddess in pre-war Babylon
So statuesque a silhouette in black satin evening gowns
Ophelia was the mistress
To a Vegas gambling man
Signora Ophelia Maraschina
Mafia courtesan
Ophelia was the circus queen
The female cannonball
Projected through five flaming hoops
To wild and shocked applause
To wild and shocked applause
Ophelia was a tempest cyclone
A goddamn hurricane
Your common sense, your best defense
Lay wasted and in vain
For Ophelia'd know your every woe
And every pain you'd ever had
She'd sympathize and dry your eyes
And help you to forget
Help you to forget
And help you to forget
Ophelia's mind went wandering
You'd wonder where she'd gone
Through secret doors down corridors
She wanders them alone
All alone
Ophelia is a character that holds great literary weight. She is one of the most used female symbols in art, and not just literary (which lyrics fall into that category). There are many, many songs and poems written about Ophelia that are not necessarily about Ophelia. For instance, in my intro to Lit class I had to memorize and recite a poem for the class, and I chose the poem Ophelia's Confession by Tracey Herd because I adore Ophelia as a symbol. The poem, in short, is of Ophelia confessing the kind of person she would have liked to be if she had been given a choice, wearing a dress far too tight showing lots of skin, a tattoo of flowers rather than the anchor that dragged her down (referring to not really the flowers but her love and grief), and being very sexual with men and women alike. In the last stanza she says that if she were alive today she would have had a very different final scene, and she is then painted as Princess Diana, though not in name but in death, finally stating that, at least, was an honest way to die.
Most important though, is the shortest stanza in the poem, which is my favorite. "I didn't drown by accident. I was a suicide. - At least let me call my mind my own - even when my heart was gone beyond recall."
What many people seem to forget is that Ophelia didn't die on accident, or at least the suggestion is heavy she didn't. In fact, a sexton in the play at her grave insists she had to have killed herself, which greatly upsets her brother of course because suicide is unforgivable and a one way ticket to Hell. I point out that she killed herself, that it was suicide, because it was not madness which killed her. Yes, she was torn and destroyed, broken inside and out over the death of her father and the supposed lost love of Hamlet. Yes, perhaps she was mad with grief (as suggested in the play) and distraught to the point of mad thoughts and speech. But what makes Ophelia's character so interesting, and why she and her name are used like in this song so much, is simply what she is. She is a woman, obedient to those she loves, innocent, naive, optimistic, loyal, and loving. She is so loving that the loss of those she loved, her father and in a sense Hamlet, destroys her completely. Her heart has been shattered, her world has been left empty, the universe has been struck senseless and useless. Rather than wallow and become nothing but a shell of a person, Ophelia instead calls out those she feels has wronged her and her father. She gives people flowers, something her father was not given when he was buried, and then she gives Hamlet, and herself, rue, which is both a symbol of regret, and also a poisonous plant. To me this is a statement, "you will regret this Hamlet, because I will use this". After this, she is found drowned.
Today, if a woman decided to kill herself instead of living without her father and the love of a man we would call her weak, stupid, a classic case of thinking women are the weaker sex. But, in the play, Ophelia made her decision, a very big one, and had the strength to go through with it. As far as symbolism goes, Ophelia in the moments before her death was a very, very strong woman. Distraught, destroyed, and broken-hearted, yes, but very strong.
Back to this song. I have always heard this song as a description of various women, in various times, with very, very different lives. A nun, a 'demigoddess', a Marilyn Monroe type, a circus woman, a dark rebel girl, a mother, a mistress to a Vegas sleaze, the whole feminist movement, and a lost and broken woman (the last stanza). So very different, and yet still all holding one very important bit, which is part in the lyrics and part in the tone of how it's sung; they are all very powerful women. My favorite stanza is the Marilyn Monroe type one, depicting a very beautiful woman, and perhaps she has nothing else going for her, but she won the love of a nation overnight. Say what you will but that's power.
In short (and in case you went TLDR), this song in my opinion is a depiction of all women everywhere, no matter how different. We all may seem very different, in some cases like all we have in common is our gender, but we are all Ophelia, and ultimately, we all hold the power to be who and what we want, and we have the strength to make whatever it is we want happen.
Bonsoir Gaïd-Marie,
RépondreSupprimerQuelle très belle chanson de Natalie Merchant. Le clip est très émouvant. Je la connaissais surtout avec 10 000 Maniacs.
Ton interprétation du mythe d'Ophélie est vraiment très réussie. Ton anglais, impeccable! Connais-tu la chanson de Vanessa Paradis, écrite par Gainsbourg, "Ophélie"? Elle est sur son 2e album.
Je t'embrasse.
Charlotte.
ps : et oui, il y a une Ophélie qui sommeille en chacune de nous.
Bonjour Hoëdic,
RépondreSupprimerQuelle très belle ode à la divine Ophélie! Je parle couramment anglais - j'y ai vécu 5 ans - et, en aucun cas, tu n'as à rougir.
Je me permets de poster à mon commentaire le poème Ophélie de Rimbaud, il est très beau.
Sur l'onde calme et noire où dorment les étoiles
La blanche Ophélia flotte comme un grand lys,
Flotte très lentement, couchée en ses longs voiles...
- On entend dans les bois lointains des hallalis.
Voici plus de mille ans que la triste Ophélie
Passe, fantôme blanc, sur le long fleuve noir.
Voici plus de mille ans que sa douce folie
Murmure sa romance à la brise du soir.
Le vent baise ses seins et déploie en corolle
Ses grands voiles bercés mollement par les eaux ;
Les saules frissonnants pleurent sur son épaule,
Sur son grand front rêveur s'inclinent les roseaux.
Les nénuphars froissés soupirent autour d'elle ;
Elle éveille parfois, dans un aune qui dort,
Quelque nid, d'où s'échappe un petit frisson d'aile :
- Un chant mystérieux tombe des astres d'or.
Ô pâle Ophélia ! belle comme la neige !
Oui tu mourus, enfant, par un fleuve emporté !
- C'est que les vents tombant des grands monts de Norwège
T'avaient parlé tout bas de l'âpre liberté ;
C'est qu'un souffle, tordant ta grande chevelure,
A ton esprit rêveur portait d'étranges bruits ;
Que ton coeur écoutait le chant de la Nature
Dans les plaintes de l'arbre et les soupirs des nuits ;
C'est que la voix des mers folles, immense râle,
Brisait ton sein d'enfant, trop humain et trop doux ;
C'est qu'un matin d'avril, un beau cavalier pâle,
Un pauvre fou, s'assit muet à tes genoux !
Ciel ! Amour ! Liberté ! Quel rêve, ô pauvre Folle !
Tu te fondais à lui comme une neige au feu :
Tes grandes visions étranglaient ta parole
- Et l'Infini terrible effara ton oeil bleu !
- Et le Poète dit qu'aux rayons des étoiles
Tu viens chercher, la nuit, les fleurs que tu cueillis ;
Et qu'il a vu sur l'eau, couchée en ses longs voiles,
La blanche Ophélia flotter, comme un grand lys.
Je ne connaissais pas la chanson de Natalie Merchant. Elle est vraiment très belle.
Bisous,
Berthille