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1->''"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--"''
2-->-- Creator/JaneAusten, skewering the trope in ''Literature/LoveAndFreindship''l'[sic] at 14-years-old
3
4->''Why are the pretty ones always insane?''
5-->--'''[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Chief Wiggum]]''', ''Marge Simpson in: "Screaming Yellow Honkers"''
6
7->''Ophelia, she's 'neath the window; for her I feel so afraid.\
8On her twenty-second birthday, she already is an old maid.\
9To her, death is quite romantic; she wears an iron vest.\
10Her profession's her religion; her sin is her lifelessness,\
11And though her eyes are fixed upon Noah's great rainbow,\
12She spends her time peeking into Desolation Row.''
13-->--Music/BobDylan, "Desolation Row"
14
15->''Pronunciation: o~’fel~e~,ak''\
16''Function: Noun''\
17''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.''\
18\
19''You Might Be An Opheliac If You:''\
20''~ wouldn’t know who you were if you weren’t suffering''\
21''~ are strangely attracted to those who may just kill you''\
22''~ spend just a bit too much time in the bathtub''\
23\
24''Antidote''\
25''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.''
26-->--The definition of an "Opheliac", from the liner notes of Music/EmilieAutumn's album of that name.
27
28->''"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."''
29-->--'''Aberforth Dumbledore''' of ''Literature/HarryPotter'', talking about his sister '''Ariana'''
30
31->''"I tried to argue that Ophelia resonated because Shakespeare had made an extraordinary discovery in writing her, though I had trouble articulating the nature of that discovery. I didn’t want to admit that it could be something as simple as recognizing that emotionally unstable teenage girls are human beings. …"''
32
33->''"When Ophelia appears onstage in Act IV, scene V, singing little songs and handing out imaginary flowers, she temporarily upsets the entire power dynamic of the Elsinore court. When I picture that scene, I always imagine Gertrude, Claudius, Laertes, and Horatio sharing a stunned look, all of them thinking the same thing: “We fucked up. We fucked up bad.” It might be the only moment of group self-awareness in the whole play. Not even the grossest old Victorian dinosaur of a critic tries to pretend that Ophelia is making a big deal out of nothing. Her madness and death is plainly the direct result of the alternating tyranny and neglect of the men in her life. She’s proof that adolescent girls don’t just go out of their minds for the fun of it. They’re driven there by people in their lives who should have known better."''

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