Juliet, Ophelia, and the Fates of Shakespeare’s Heroines in Pop Culture

“Ay me! The course of true love never did run smooth,” says Lysander, one of four star-crossed lovers in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. But are love and death really the only options? The tragic fates of some of Shakespeare’s most famous heroines, including Juliet (Romeo and Juliet) and Ophelia (Hamlet) often reflect the limited outcomes for young women in Shakespeare’s England. So perhaps we should not be surprised that so many works of popular culture (& Juliet, Taylor Swift’s ‘The Fate of Ophelia’) reimagine different endings for these characters. 

Dr. Amanda Atkinson will explore family life and courtship in Shakespeare’s England, and then examine some of the various ways that artists over the years have re-written the fates of Shakespeare’s heroines, imagining the lives they never got to live.

Also, in honor of the real-life Juliet Club, which "has been handling Juliet’s mail for many years" and their book "Dear Juliet: Letters from the Lovestruck and Lovelorn to Shakespeare's Juliet in Verona," as well as the film Letters to Juliet, attendees of this talk will be provided free postcards on which they can write their own "letters to Juliet." 

Postage will not be provided.

Amanda Atkinson is a Visiting Lecturer in the TCU English Department as well as an adjunct instructor in the MLA program. After earning her M.Ed from Texas State in 2008, she spent years teaching high school and community college English in Fort Worth. In 2022 she earned her PhD in English Literature from SMU, specializing in the literature and culture of the English Renaissance and Enlightenment periods. Her research and publications examine the intersections of literature, science, and religion with a focus on learning and error.  

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