This painting depicts Ophelia, a character in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, who was singing until her drowning

The protagonist is shown floating on water, in a state of either sleep or death: the theme of sleep and death being a central subject of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

The model for this painting is Elizabeth Siddal, future wife of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Siddal was asked by Millais to be soaked in a bathtub with clothes on, during winter. To keep her warm, a fire was put beneath the bathtub; but Millais was so absorbed in his work that he failed to relight the fire after it extinguished, and as a result Siddal got sick and her father demanded a medical treatment fee from Millais

The artist painted a number of different flowers which do not blossom in the same season, thus he had to work throughout summer and autumn to complete the landscape here. Some of the flowers are cited in Shakespeare’s work, e.g. buttercup, nettle, daisy, purple lythrum; but other flowers were added by the painter for their symbolic meanings (a popular topic during the Victorian Era)

Julia Thomas, Professor of English Literature at Cardiff University, highlighted the flower symbols in the painting: the poppy in Ophelia’s right hand represents death; daisy signifies innocence; roses, youth; pansy, unrequited love; the fritillaria floating along the current on the bottom right means grief and sorrow; the violas around the neck of Ophelia symbolize faithfulness