well it's long since the comments were posted but let me have a go here...
Words have a tendency to provoke feelings and mental images. In this case the word is a name associated with Shakespeare's Hamlet. Any three syllable name works for the rhyme and rhythm, but Ophelia provokes a feeling that Jennifer, Ann-Marie, or (to use another of Shakespeare's women) Juliet cannot.
On a comparative note, Ophelia and Juliet faced the same dilemma: they loved a man they shouldn't. Juliet disobeyed her duty to her father and followed her heart, Ophelia set aside her heart to follow the advice and direction of her brother and father. They both chose different paths, but their choice cost them their life.
The reason Juliet does not provoke the same sense of sadness the Ophelia can is that Juliet takes her own life, Ophelia is driven to madness and abandoned.
However, the song really has nothing to do with Shakespeare's Ophelia other than the sadness the name evokes.
The ophelia the song names in each verse are all different women. Each a different person and different personality. Good, bad, kind, cutting, virtuous, a whore. But they are all women.
From a feminist perspective, they cannot be judged simply as women, because they are first and foremost, people. The person they are is not determined by their gender, but rather by the person they are.
That the music begins in sadness and is very pastoral... but changes during the break to give the Ophelia's she describes more depth than the Virginal Madonna figure we begin with which tends to be the romantic ideal.
That's my nickel
This sets the tone for the people the song describes... different people
@chesterfield: I love your assessment of the lyrics. I think you already hit it, but the name ophelia might as any random woman's name. It hits on all the ways that a woman can be daring and courageous and beautiful from being chaste and benevolent to a mafia concubine. Its a way of seeing that we are not so different. We are all this exotic loveliness and we largely stand alone in selecting how to apply our brand of courage and beauty. Love it.
@chesterfield: I love your assessment of the lyrics. I think you already hit it, but the name ophelia might as any random woman's name. It hits on all the ways that a woman can be daring and courageous and beautiful from being chaste and benevolent to a mafia concubine. Its a way of seeing that we are not so different. We are all this exotic loveliness and we largely stand alone in selecting how to apply our brand of courage and beauty. Love it.
well it's long since the comments were posted but let me have a go here...
Words have a tendency to provoke feelings and mental images. In this case the word is a name associated with Shakespeare's Hamlet. Any three syllable name works for the rhyme and rhythm, but Ophelia provokes a feeling that Jennifer, Ann-Marie, or (to use another of Shakespeare's women) Juliet cannot.
On a comparative note, Ophelia and Juliet faced the same dilemma: they loved a man they shouldn't. Juliet disobeyed her duty to her father and followed her heart, Ophelia set aside her heart to follow the advice and direction of her brother and father. They both chose different paths, but their choice cost them their life.
The reason Juliet does not provoke the same sense of sadness the Ophelia can is that Juliet takes her own life, Ophelia is driven to madness and abandoned.
However, the song really has nothing to do with Shakespeare's Ophelia other than the sadness the name evokes.
The ophelia the song names in each verse are all different women. Each a different person and different personality. Good, bad, kind, cutting, virtuous, a whore. But they are all women.
From a feminist perspective, they cannot be judged simply as women, because they are first and foremost, people. The person they are is not determined by their gender, but rather by the person they are.
That the music begins in sadness and is very pastoral... but changes during the break to give the Ophelia's she describes more depth than the Virginal Madonna figure we begin with which tends to be the romantic ideal.
That's my nickel
This sets the tone for the people the song describes... different people
@chesterfield: I love your assessment of the lyrics. I think you already hit it, but the name ophelia might as any random woman's name. It hits on all the ways that a woman can be daring and courageous and beautiful from being chaste and benevolent to a mafia concubine. Its a way of seeing that we are not so different. We are all this exotic loveliness and we largely stand alone in selecting how to apply our brand of courage and beauty. Love it.
@chesterfield: I love your assessment of the lyrics. I think you already hit it, but the name ophelia might as any random woman's name. It hits on all the ways that a woman can be daring and courageous and beautiful from being chaste and benevolent to a mafia concubine. Its a way of seeing that we are not so different. We are all this exotic loveliness and we largely stand alone in selecting how to apply our brand of courage and beauty. Love it.