Ophelia and Victorian visual culture : representing body politics in the nineteenth century

Resource Information

The work Ophelia and Victorian visual culture : representing body politics in the nineteenth century represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in University of Missouri Libraries. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Ophelia and Victorian visual culture : representing body politics in the nineteenth century

Title remainder

representing body politics in the nineteenth century

Statement of responsibility

Kimberly Rhodes

Creator

• Rhodes, Kimberly

Subject

• Body image -- History -- 19th century
• Gender identity -- History -- 19th century
• Ophelia, (Fictitious character) -- In art
• Arts, Modern -- 19th century
• Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Characters | Ophelia
• National characteristics -- History -- 19th century

Language

eng

Summary

• "Kimberly Rhodes's 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 Rossetti, 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."--Jacket
• "Kimberly Rhodes's 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 Rossetti, 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."--BOOK JACKET

Cataloging source

DLC

Dewey number

• 704.9/4982233
• 700.451

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

index present

LC call number

NX652.O64

LC item number

R46 2008

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography