Ophelia

Merritt made this etched copy of her painting Ophelia for publication in American Art Review in 1880. The tragic heroine from Shakespeare’s Hamlet appears as a dignified, deeply hurt woman who could have easily been one of the painter’s or the viewer’s acquaintances. That she is a character from the play comes to the viewer only as a second thought, perhaps suggested by the wildflowers she holds tight to her dress. Any young woman around us, beholders are invited to realize, could suffer as much as this Ophelia, whose sad, proud, mad gaze calls for attention and compassion.