Ophelia and Victorian Visual Culture: Representing Body Politics in the Nineteenth Century

ISBN-13: 9780754658764 / Angielski / Twarda / 2008 / 224 str.

Rhodes, Kimberly

Opis

Kimberly Rhodes' interdisciplinary book is the first to explore fully the complicated representational history of Shakespeare's "Ophelia" during the Victorian period. In nineteenth-century Britain, the shape, function and representation of women's bodies were typically regulated and interpreted by public and private institutions, while emblematic fictional female figures like Ophelia functioned as idealized templates of Victorian womanhood. Rhodes examines the widely disseminated representations of Ophelia, from works by visual artists and writers, to interpretations of her character in contemporary productions of "Hamlet", revealing her as a nexus of the struggle for the female body's subjugation.By considering a broad range of materials, including works by Anna Lea Merritt, Elizabeth Siddal, Dante Gabriel Rosseti, and John Everett Millais, and paying special attention to images women produced, Rhodes illuminates Ophelia as a figure whose importance crossed class and national boundaries. Her analysis yields fascinating insights into 'high' and mass culture and enables transnational comparisons that reveal the compelling associations among Ophelia, gender roles, body image and national identity.

Spis treści

Contents: Introduction; 'Pretty Opelia': mid-century ideals in the parlor; 'Pretty Ophelia': mid-century ideals at the Royal Academy; The pre-Raphaelite crisis; From life: Ophelia and photography; Performance anxiety: pictorial and theatrical representations at the fin-de-siècle; Bibliography; Appendix; Index.

O autorze

Kimberly Rhodes is Associate Professor of Art History at Drew University, USA