myShakespeare

myHamlet

Play Menu
Search
Register/Sign in
  • Sign in
  • Register
This tool requires an account.
Learn more about our Study Tools.

Sign in with:

Clever

Google

Or use e-mail:

I forgot my password
  • Resources
    • Using myShakespeare
    • Direct Links to Videos
    • Animated Summary
    • Quick Study
    • Shakespeare's Life
    • Elizabethan Theater
    • Religion in Hamlet
    • Actor Bios
    • Appendix
  • Act 1
    • Scene 1
    • Scene 2
    • Commercial
    • Scene 3
    • Scene 4
    • Scene 5
    • Song Summary
  • Act 2
    • Scene 1
    • Scene 2
    • Song Summary
  • Act 3
    • Scene 1
    • Commercial
    • Scene 2
    • Scene 3
    • Commercial
    • Scene 4
    • Song Summary
  • Act 4
    • Scene 1
    • Scene 2
    • Scene 3
    • Scene 4
    • Scene 5
    • Scene 6
    • Scene 7
    • Song Summary
  • Act 5
    • Scene 1
    • Commercial
    • Scene 2
    • Hamlet's Madness
    • Video Credits
SearchClose Menu
Back to the Play
Dig Deeper: "Ophelia" by Millais
Act 4,
Scene 7

A discussion of John Everett Millais's painting of Ophelia in Act 4, Scene 7 of myShakespeare's Hamlet. 

RALPH:  Gertrude’s description of Ophelia is strikingly visual – it’s as if she were painting the scene with words.

SARAH:  It’s fitting, therefore, that the image most of us have of Ophelia is from a famous painting by Sir John Everett Millais, which shows the mad Ophelia lying in the brook singing as she drowns.

RALPH:  Millais painted this scene in 1851, and he was obsessed with countless details, trying to make the painting as realistic as possible. He had a hut specially built for him on the bank of the Hogsmill river where he spent 6 days a week for 5 months painting the landscape background.

SARAH:  The water in the stream was obviously too cold for anyone to lie for any length of time, so Millais had his 19 year-old model come every day to his studio in London where she posed while lying in a bathtub suspended over an oil lamp to keep the water at a tolerable temperature.

RALPH:  Apparently the distracted artist let the lamp run out of oil from time to time, and his model caught a nasty cold.  The young woman’s father sent Millais an invoice of 50 pounds for medical bills.

SARAH:  Millais’s painting has become enormously influential for our understanding of Ophelia; although in some ways it’s made Ophelia even more difficult to truly understand – we so admire her portrait, but we forget that we still don’t know what’s caused her to slip into madness and death.

myShakespeare
  • Features
  • About
  • Blog
  • Sign In
  • Contact Us
  • For Teachers
  • FAQ
  • facebook
  • instagram
  • linkedin
  • youtube
  • tiktok
  • Search
  • Plays
  • Notebook
Close

Enjoying myShakespeare?

To access all site features, create a free account now or learn more about our study tools.

Create a free account
Sign in

  • Search
  • Plays
  • Notebook
© 2025 myShakespeare. All rights reserved.
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service