A Literary Breakdown of Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia”

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Toronto MU chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

Taylor Swift’s twelfth studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, dropped on Oct.3, and immediately broke streaming and pre-save records— records previously held by her 2024 album, The Tortured Poets Department. Within 11 hours, it broke Spotify’s record for most-streamed album in one day in 2025. 

When she first announced the album back in August and unveiled the lead single’s title— “The Fate of Ophelia”— I freaked! As a long-time Swiftie and English major, I knew this song was going to be right up my alley. 

Disguised as an upbeat romantic pop song, Taylor actually reverses the blueprint of Shakespearean tragedy, reframing a famed literary heroine’s previously inevitable fate as preventable by kinder circumstances and a narrative of romance and healing.   

This is far from Taylor’s first time weaving literary allusions into her songs. It’s become a habit of hers: The Great Gatsby in “happiness,” The Scarlet Letter in “New Romantics,” Robert Frost’s poetry in “illicit affairs,” and— of course— Romeo and Juliet in “Love Story,” just to name a few. It’s obvious Tay knows her stuff when it comes to literature! 

While I knew that Taylor likes dropping literary easter eggs into her music, I wasn’t expecting her newest album to pay homage to one of my all-time favourite plays! 

The title, “The Fate of Ophelia,” refers to Ophelia from William Shakespeare’s famed 1623 play, Hamlet, a crucial character in the play, Hamlet’s love interest, and overall one of Shakespeare’s most well-known female characters. 

Ophelia’s fate in the play is undeniably tragic: driven to insanity and found drowned in a brook— a presumed suicide, but the circumstances are purposely left questionable and unclear by Shakespeare. 

Ophelia’s spiral into madness can be attributed to a combination of factors: the gruelling pressures her family placed on her, her father Polonius’ murder, and what’s commonly seen as the final straw— Hamlet’s hot-and-cold attitude towards her and his rejection and cruel treatment of her. 

In the song, contrary to Hamlet, Taylor’s love interest doesn’t share Hamlet’s inaction and nonchalance. He commits himself to her fully and prevents her from spiralling into madness, hence Taylor being “saved” from Ophelia’s fate. 

Even before the song came out, the album was channelling Ophelia as soon as the cover was unveiled. In it, Taylor is depicted submerged in water, mimicking the imagery of the famous 1852 Pre-Raphaelite painting “Ophelia” by Sir John Everett Millais. 

Taylor mirrors the painted Ophelia’s pose, with a curved back, mouth slightly open, piercing blue eyes, and a hand curled limply by her side. She even takes outfit inspiration from the painting: the shimmery top she’s wearing is similar in colour and texture to Ophelia’s dress.

Unlike Millais’ Ophelia, Taylor stares defiantly at the viewer with an undeniably alive and challenging gaze. She stares right back into the viewer’s eyes, daring them to look at her and understand that she isn’t the tragic, lifeless Ophelia they’re used to.

She evaded Ophelia’s fate, so while she embodies her position, she doesn’t share her lifeless eyes. 

The song’s vivacious music video makes this allusion explicit, with Taylor’s opening scene replicating Millais’ painting almost to a tee. But even without the video and album cover, the lyrics are filled with references to Ophelia’s character, storyline, and Hamlet itself.

Water and drowning are heavy motifs: “And if you’d never come for me / I might’ve drowned in the melancholy,” and “No longer drowning and deceived,” reference Ophelia’s tragic watery death and mistreatment by those around her. 

The chorus’ catchy lines “You dug me out of my grave and / Saved my heart from the fate of Ophelia,” pay homage the iconic gravedigger scene in Act 5, Scene 1 (where Hamlet famously holds a skull and proclaims “Alas, poor Yorick!”) as well as later in the scene, where Hamlet realizes the grave being dug was for Ophelia and jumps into her grave along with her brother, to hold her once more. 

Taylor goes on to sing, “And if you’d never come for me / I might’ve lingered in purgatory.” Since Ophelia’s death was a presumed suicide, under the Catholic beliefs of Shakespeare’s time, she wouldn’t have made it into heaven. Instead, the belief would’ve been that she was likely sent to purgatory. 

The opening of the bridge, “‘Tis locked inside my memory / And only you possess the key,” is an altered quote from Hamlet, where Ophelia tells her brother, Laertes, she’ll follow his advice by telling him him “‘Tis in my memory locked / And you yourself shall keep the key of it,” in Act 1, Scene 3. 

The decision to channel Ophelia on her album, The Life of a Showgirl, places Ophelia in the showbiz world alongside other famous figures she references, like iconic showgirl Elizabeth Taylor—and with Taylor’s interpretation of Ophelia, it actually works.

Her entire life, Ophelia’s had to please other people and adhere to their standards—just like a showgirl, always playing the roles of characters, never able to be herself and live her own life truly. It makes total sense why Taylor would want Ophelia to be the spokesperson for her album.

Many listeners, including Shakespeare scholars, praise Swift for her ability to bring Shakespeare into a contemporary context and incorporate it into pop culture. Swift was also praised for making Ophelia an active character in her narrative, staring into the camera like she’s in control and reclaiming some of the autonomy stolen from her.

However, many perspectives argue that Taylor’s depiction of Ophelia as “just another princess waiting for her Prince Charming” flattens Ophelia’s allure and legacy as a crucial literary heroine. 

While the song definitely paints a simplified version of Ophelia’s character, it makes me incredibly happy to see literature and Shakespeare championed in popular culture and media— especially from someone with as large a platform as Taylor Swift. 

She’s now based a hit song off of Romeo and Juliet and another off of Hamlet— I can only hope she’ll come for Macbeth next!

If you’ve never read (or watched!) Hamlet and you’re a Swiftie, I hope this song inspires you to look into the source of Taylor’s inspiration— I promise you’ll find it a lot more relatable and applicable to modern day than you might think.

If you’re intimidated by Shakespeare’s Early Modern English, No Fear Shakespeare is a series that pairs the original Shakespearean text side-by-side with modern English. There’s a free PDF version of No Fear Hamlet available online! 

I hope that understanding the context of the lyrics will inspire you to pick up a copy of Hamlet between streams of the new album. Happy reading (and listening)!