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My Lifelong Affair with Sylvia Plath Explains Everything
Ophelia, Dido, Lucy, and Others— We All Know How It Ends
My heroes all end badly. I’ve been infatuated by their stories since I got my first taste of betrayal.
Ophelia and Hamlet — Ophelia has such a seductive tragic beauty, long hair floating around her and gossamer gown gracefully moving about her as her body is adorned with sweet flowers even in death. Truth is that she gets gaslighted by Hamlet, who love s her then loves her not and can’t make up his mind. He traumatizes her, then murders her father. This is not a case of a woman gone mad. This is a case of Hamlet terrorizing an innocent so much that the river was the only place where she could free herself from his self-inflicted victimhood.
Lucy and Dracula — Lucy was innocent and virtuous until Dracula came along and started drinking her blood at night and turning her into a vampire. She is apparently transformed into a bawdy lust monster who must be a vampire, so chopping off her head and stuffing her mouth with garlic is the only appropriate response. Interesting response to a victim of abuse who has become addicted to her abuser.
Dido and Aeneas — Dido, Queen of Carthage, is a powerful queen until the goddess Venus makes her fall for Aeneas. After a spicy tryst in a cave…
