Millais’s Ophelia - Mustó Ivett

How does Millais represent nature? OR How does Millais visually tell his (Shakespeare's)
story?

What aspect of the painting do you like?

I think nature isn’t just trees, flowers, landscapes but also life, death, humanity. Our planet
contains things that comes from the nature, like us. Human body made by the nature. So, this
picture as a whole is nature. But now let’s separate the woman. The middle of the picture
grabs our attention with the dying woman. I can’t decide if she is living or died. Because she
is not under the water, but her hands are floating. She looks like she wants to take a breath.
But, if we look at closer, there is a flower necklace around her neck. Is it a symbol of the
continuity of nature? Or just a necklace?

It is true that the woman is in the foreground of the picture, but the whole environment
surrounds her. And in the background the colour tone gets darker from right to left by the
plants. It starts with some blue flowers, then a shrub with white flowers, then a darker tree
that looks like it has been caught in a storm and has fallen down. The course of the stream can
be the road to death. The painting is not moving, bit I can imagine, because of the detailing,
that this woman is being carried by the current to the left, towards death.