Taylor’s underutilization of Ophelia is CRIMINAL. It’s clear she just picked her for the vibes. I do like the continuous theme of drowning in the album (obvs fate of Ophelia, ‘sleeping with the fishes’ in father figure, the cover itself) but she literally could’ve replaced Ophelia with like Rapunzel or smthing and it would’ve worked the same because she doesn’t actually explore Ophelia’s story. Ophelia goes mad primarily because her boyfriend accidentally kills her dad, and in going mad she unlocks a really interesting ability to kind of see the themes of the story before they unfold, but she cannot express this lucidly. She knows Hamlet’s fatal flaw will be his indecision. She is a bridge between the play and the audience. Eventually she either accidentally drowns or kills herself. Shakespeare’s use of madness, particularly in woman, is a really interesting way to examine the kind of societal expectations we have (particularly in term of female sexuality) and what defines madness at all. When Ophelia goes mad, she says the quiet parts out loud. Characters like her also tend to bring out the underlying message of the narrative through foreshadowing, which is really interesting and seems like something Taylor could’ve explored really interestingly given songs like mad woman and Mastermind.
