"Talk not to me of Phaetons," (said I, raving in a frantic, incoherent manner) "--Give me a violin--. I'll play to him and sooth him in his melancholy Hours--Beware ye gentle Nymphs of Cupid's Thunderbolts, avoid the piercing shafts of Jupiter--Look at that grove of Firs--I see a Leg of Mutton--They told me Edward was not dead; but they deceived me--they took him for a cucumber --" Jane Austen, skewering the trope in Love and Freindship[sic] - at fourteen years old.
Intelligent girls are more depressed because they know what the world is really like Don't think for a beat it makes it better when you sit her down and tell her everything gonna be all right She knows in society she either is a devil or an angel with no inbetween She speaks in the third person so she can forget that she's me. Emilie Autumn, "Opheliac".
Oh great. Now Hamlet's acting crazy. Well nobody out-crazies Ophelia! Hey naneenannee with a hoo and a haw and a naneenanee heey! [Cartwheels out window into the moat]
Lisa Simpson (playing Ophelia) in Tales From the Public Domain
Ophelia, she's 'neath the window; for her I feel so afraid. On her twenty-second birthday, she already is an old maid. To her, death is quite romantic; she wears an iron vest. Her profession's her religion; her sin is her lifelessness, And though her eyes are fixed upon Noah's great rainbow, She spends her time peeking into Desolation Row. Bob Dylan, "Desolation Row"
Pronunciation: \o’fele~,ak Function: Noun Definition: a condition wherein the sufferer exhibits patterns of self-destruction caused by influences both external and internal, and the inability to tell the difference. An Opheliac may suffer from some mental illness such as bipolar disorder, which, unfortunately, only serves to absolve those around her from any responsibility for driving her mad themselves, this supposing the patient far madder than she in fact is.
You Might Be An Opheliac If You: ~ wouldn’t know who you were if you weren’t suffering ~ are strangely attracted to those who may just kill you ~ spend just a bit too much time in the bathtub
Antidote No known cure; symptoms may be managed by the copious use of anti-depressants, manic suppressants, anti-psychotics, the occasional straightjacket, and, most importantly, an extended stay in an insane asylum.
The definition of an "Opheliac", from the liner notes of Emilie Autumn's album of that name.
"It destroyed her, what they did: She was never right again. She wouldn't use magic, but she couldn't get rid of it; it turned inward and drove her mad, it exploded out of her when she couldn't control it, and at times she was strange and dangerous. But mostly she was sweet and scared and harmless."
Aberforth Dumbledore of Harry Potter, talking about his sister Ariana.
