Who Is Ophelia in Taylor Swift’s New Album and How Did She Die?

Who is Ophelia and how did she die?

Some fans are rushing to understand the Shakespearean reference in Taylor Swift’s new album, The Life of a Showgirl.

“The Fate of Ophelia” is the first song in the album, and fans are trying to understand the hidden meanings in all of Swift’s lyrics. Ophelia is a reference to Ophelia, a character in William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, who dies tragically. However, it appears that Swift is trying to rewrite her ending. She sees herself as Ophelia, but saved from a similar fate by love.

Swift spoke about Ophelia with Travis and Jason Kelce when she discussed her new album on their New Heights podcast. She made it clear she was referencing the Shakespearean play, Hamlet, according to People.

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“He pretends he doesn’t know what these words mean, but he knows what these words mean,” Swift told Jason of Travis. “He knows all the words, and he knows what they mean. He may not have read Hamlet, but I explained it to him.”

So, then, who is Ophelia in Hamlet?

According to Shakespeare Online, the character “has the potential to become a tragic heroine — to overcome the adversities inflicted upon her — but she instead crumbles into insanity, becoming merely tragic.”

Ophelia “is very young, and has lost her mother, possibly at birth. Her father, Polonius, and brother, Laertes, love Ophelia tremendously, and have taken great pains to shelter her,” the site explains. Ophelia loves Hamlet against her father’s wishes, even when he treats her poorly, and she doesn’t stand up to him. In the end, “his hate is responsible for her father’s death,” and she goes insane, according to Shakespeare Online.

Hamlet takes out his conflicting feelings toward his mother, in the wake of his idolized father’s death, against the innocent Ophelia.

At the end of the play, Ophelia dies by drowning, although whether her death is a suicide is debated.

But what did Swift mean by the reference? According to People, she has explained, “The hook is someone comes into your life and rescues you from the fate of being driven mad by love.”

The lyrics appear to be a tribute to her love story with Travis, who has saved her from this tragic fate. “No longer drowning and deceived / All because you came for me,” she sings. “You saved my heart from the fate of Ophelia.”