Something is rotten in the state of Salt Lake, says Ophelia Sinha, CPM candidate from Ward 30, who has set out to set things right.
Named after the tragic heroine in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, AH Block resident Sinha is hoping to achieve the success that had eluded her namesake who had committed suicide. “There are several interpretations to Ophelia’s character. I believe she died in an attempt to bring about a change in society. I represent the positive side of her character,” says the lady who had been named by her Shakespeare-loving father.
Ophelia is also the name assigned to one of the moons of the planet Uranus and Sinha says she identities with that. “Like the calm and serene moon, I shall shed light on my ward,” she says.
Ward 30 comprises blocks AH, AG, AF, BH, BG, CG, DG, Baisakhi, Digantika, part of SA Block and the slums along Kestopur Canal and better illumination is one of her poll promises. “I shall also tackle the problem of street dogs, water-logging, encroachment and renovate the green verge.”
A resident of AH Block since 1993, Sinha is active in the neighbourhood cultural circuit. “But I won’t be able to participate in our block’s play this Puja,” says the election debutante. But for her it isn’t a question of “to be or not to be”. “If people are able to vote freely, I will be…councillor,” she smiles.
Shakespeare’s Ophelia
In art
Ophelia has been a common subject in art, having been painted by the likes of Arthur Hughes and John Waterhouse but the most famous one is by Sir John Everett Millais, who created his Ophelia between 1851 and 1852 (picture above).
Despite Hamlet being set in Denmark, Millais painted the landscape on the banks of Hogsmill River in southeast England, over a period of five months. Over this time he is said to have endured strong winds, pesky flies and even a notice to appear before a magistrate for trespassing a field and destroying the hay.
The figure of Ophelia was painted in Millais’s London studio, where model Elizabeth Siddal was to lie fully clothed in a bathtub. Since it was winter they had put lamps under the tub to keep the water warm but they went out and Siddal caught a severe cold. Her father later demanded that Millais pay £50 as her medical expenses, though he accepted a lower sum later.
The painting was first exhibited in 1852 but received mixed reviews. But it is highly regarded today, valued at over £30 million and is displayed at Tate Britain art gallery in London.
On screen and scroll
There is no record of who played Ophelia on stage during Shakespeare’s time but women would not perform back then, so it must have been a boy.
Since then several actresses have portrayed her in theatre, opera, silent films and talkies. Among notable actresses are Jean Simmons, who in 1948 won an Oscar nomination for her role as Ophelia in Laurence Olivier’s film Hamlet.
Kate Winslet (picture right) too played Ophelia in the 1996 film Hamlet.
Borrowing the theme of the character, films by names like Ophelia Learns to Swim and Dying Like Ophelia continue to release in the 21st century. A book named Reviving Ophelia also came out in 1994 examining the lives of troubled adolescent girls.
