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Help[Opinions] Re: Ophelia
in reply to a message by Pickles
I'm not a fan.
I think Shakespeare's Ophelia is a complicated and tragic character, and there are many infuriating and interesting ways of dissecting her character, but I'll never forget my teenage rage at some of the sheer dumbarsery at work in Hamlet (and yes, there is a lot of dumbness at work, from hiding behind a curtain to having a bloody love affair with someone obviously made of crazy and just... I love Hamlet a lot, I do, but you have to not think about what people do in that play from a modern perspective or your brain will implode) and I say that as a massive Shakespeare fan. But...damn...Ophelia, girl, in that play I am mad at you. Did you still fancy Hamlet after he called you a wh&re, did you really? Eugh. I know, different times, different cultures, and there's a whole world of discussions to be had about Shakespeare's women there really is, but that is how I feel about Shakespeare's Ophelia, I guess: conflicted, and a bit annoyed.
Really, I can discuss Shakespeare's Ophelia until the cows come home, and I pity and love and want to slap 10 kinds of sense into her in equal measure, so it makes me like the name more rather than detract from it... but...
The name itself, I don't like the sound. It's slithery and slippery and a bit pulpy and soft. It makes me think of death and waterweeds because of the Shakespearian connotations and romantic imagery of...uh...a dead girl in a river...that has come from it.
Then I think of how it leads itself to puns, like 'I feel ya', punny names like Ophelia Moore. Talk about dissonance. That kind of grosses me out, sex jokes and dead girls, ew.
And finally, I just find it a bit snobby. Actually funny story, I very briefly dated a guy who would have named his daughter Ophelia when and if he had one. I did not ask him what he'd name a kid. We were not in that point in the relationship, we were in uni and kids were literal years and years away, we were hanging out before class and he brought it up and I was bewildered. He was just one day like 'Ophelia would be a good name for a girl' and I was probably thinking about what I'd (not we'd) have for tea. We also argued because I 'folded' rather than 'rolled' sheets, and broke up because I went on holiday to somewhere he thought was 'uncivilised' and I realised what he was like. He wasn't a bad guy per se, just a snobby arse, but I get that vibe from Ophelia as well now, that vibe of 'almost benign but worrying snobbery'.
I think Shakespeare's Ophelia is a complicated and tragic character, and there are many infuriating and interesting ways of dissecting her character, but I'll never forget my teenage rage at some of the sheer dumbarsery at work in Hamlet (and yes, there is a lot of dumbness at work, from hiding behind a curtain to having a bloody love affair with someone obviously made of crazy and just... I love Hamlet a lot, I do, but you have to not think about what people do in that play from a modern perspective or your brain will implode) and I say that as a massive Shakespeare fan. But...damn...Ophelia, girl, in that play I am mad at you. Did you still fancy Hamlet after he called you a wh&re, did you really? Eugh. I know, different times, different cultures, and there's a whole world of discussions to be had about Shakespeare's women there really is, but that is how I feel about Shakespeare's Ophelia, I guess: conflicted, and a bit annoyed.
Really, I can discuss Shakespeare's Ophelia until the cows come home, and I pity and love and want to slap 10 kinds of sense into her in equal measure, so it makes me like the name more rather than detract from it... but...
The name itself, I don't like the sound. It's slithery and slippery and a bit pulpy and soft. It makes me think of death and waterweeds because of the Shakespearian connotations and romantic imagery of...uh...a dead girl in a river...that has come from it.
Then I think of how it leads itself to puns, like 'I feel ya', punny names like Ophelia Moore. Talk about dissonance. That kind of grosses me out, sex jokes and dead girls, ew.
And finally, I just find it a bit snobby. Actually funny story, I very briefly dated a guy who would have named his daughter Ophelia when and if he had one. I did not ask him what he'd name a kid. We were not in that point in the relationship, we were in uni and kids were literal years and years away, we were hanging out before class and he brought it up and I was bewildered. He was just one day like 'Ophelia would be a good name for a girl' and I was probably thinking about what I'd (not we'd) have for tea. We also argued because I 'folded' rather than 'rolled' sheets, and broke up because I went on holiday to somewhere he thought was 'uncivilised' and I realised what he was like. He wasn't a bad guy per se, just a snobby arse, but I get that vibe from Ophelia as well now, that vibe of 'almost benign but worrying snobbery'.
This message was edited 8/27/2022, 2:21 PM
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