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World of Art:
How the Bard created Ophelia and Juliet
Gwen Herat
They are the tragic sisters who live on his plays and their sad story
haunt history. A proper funeral ceremony was ruled out to mark the death
of Charlotte Clopton when she died of the plague that struck
Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564, the year that William Shakespeare was born.
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From Romeo and Juliet ‘So tedious is this day, As is the
night before some festival. To an impatient child that hath
new robes, And may not wear them’ - Act. 111 |
Charlotte was one of the plague's first victims. To prevent the
spread of the plague, her coffin was hastily removed from the Clopton
House and sealed up in the family vault at Holy Trinity Church.
Another member of the Clopton family died within a fortnight from the
plague. The vault was re-opened. A terrible sight sent the burial party
reeling back in horror.
To their amazement, Charlotte's coffin had been forced open and her
lifeless body stood leaning against the stone-work where she had tried
in vain to escape. She had been buried alive. May be no one heard her
screams inside the vault.
As Stratford recovered from this nightmare not long afterwards, her
sister Margaret committed suicide. She was forbidden to see the man she
loved. Margaret drowned herself in a shallow fish pond.
As a young boy growing in Stratford, Shakespeare knew the Clopton
House and about the plague in the year he was born. He was touched by
the story of the tragic sisters and later was to create the immortal
characters of Juliet and Ophelia from his best loved tragedies.
The ghosts of Ophelia and Juliet are still said to haunt Clopton
House that remains closed but well maintained for visitors who visit it.
Ophelia (from Hamlet) Daughter to Polonius. The 'rose of May'
developes her madness as Hamlet rejects her.
As a character considered from Shakespeare's greatest play, Ophelia
drowns herself in a shallow pond after being spurned by Hamlet who
feigns madness himself. He ponders on death, whether it is better to
live or die?
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From Hamlet Ophelia: ‘There’s a fennel for you and
columbines, There’s rue for you and here’s some for me, We
may call it herb of grace a sundays, O’you must wear your
rue with a difference, There’s a daisy, I would give you
some violets’... - Act IV Scene V |
'To be or not to be that is the question.
Whether 'its nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of our outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of trouble...
- Act III. Scene 1
Next, we find Hamlet spurn Ophelia's love with unkind words.
Helpless, she cries out for help in despair, But Hamlet ignoring her,
gets on with his act. He rejects Ophelia who decides to drown herself in
a pond.
'Get thee to a nunnery, go farewell. Or, if thou wilt needs to marry
Marry a fool; for wise men know well enough what
Monsters you make of them.
To a nunnery, go, and quickly too.
Farewell...
- Act. III. Scene 1
Juliet (from Romeo and Juliet)
O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright'
Juliet, daughter to Capulet is 13 and would have been 14 on Lammas
Eve, soon after her death. She needs far more experience than a child as
much as Romeo needs, on their way to death.
They make arrangements to meet Friar Lawrence in his cell and are
secretly married. They spend one night together before Romeo leaves as
dawn breaks.
'O, think'st thou we shall ever meet?
I doubt it not; and all these woes shall serve
For sweet discourses in our time to come.'
The plague has broken and prevents the Friar's message to Romeo that
he must come and fetch her from the vault where she is buried.
(Juliet is in a coma for forty eight hours to facilitate Romeo to
take her away)
And Romeo never receive the letter but when he hears of her 'death',
he rushes to the vault to find her really dead.
'Eyes, look your last.
Arms, take your last embrace; and lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
A dateless bargain to engrossing death
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