"Frailty, thy name is woman."
- William Shakespeare
Hamlet (Act 1, Scene 2)
What is Thy Name is Woman?
Thy Name is Woman is a series of acrylic portraits spotlighting female characters in Shakespeare’s tragedies. This body of work reexamines the complex, often overlooked women in his plays, capturing their strength, sorrow, and resilience through expressive color and bold brushwork. Each portrait seeks to reclaim these characters from the margins of their stories, giving visual weight to their emotions and inner worlds. Through this series, I explore how Shakespeare’s women transcend their time, remaining powerful, tragic, and deeply human.
In my freshman year of college, I played Ophelia in Hamlet. I spent hours on end trying to perfect the delivery of Shakespeare’s poetic words, and the need for research and text understanding came with that. While doing my research, I soon noticed how overshadowed she was. As my love for Shakespearian plays grew, I noticed that trend across many other female characters.
Playing Ophelia was the first time I truly understood how much depth these female characters held beneath the surface. As I worked to bring her to life on stage, I became increasingly aware of how often she—and so many others—were reduced to one-dimensional archetypes. This realization stayed with me, shaping the way I approached Shakespeare’s plays and ultimately inspiring Thy Name is Woman, my senior thesis.
Why Shakespeare?
See the Work!
“Ophelia” (2024)
Acrylic on 16x20 canvas
“There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love,
remember. And there is pansies, that's for thoughts…
There's fennel for you, and columbines. There's rue for you,
and here's some for me. We may call it herb of grace o' Sundays.
O, you must wear your rue with a difference! There's a daisy. I
would give you some violets, but they wither'd all when my father
died. They say he made a good end.”
Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5
Cordelia
“Was this a face to be opposed against the warring winds? To stand against the deep dread-bolted thunder in the most terrible and nimble stroke of quick cross lightning? To watch—poor perdu!—With this thin helm? Mine enemy’s meanest dog, though he had bit me, should have stood that nightAgainst my fire. And wast thou fain, poor father, to hovel thee with swine and rogues forlornIn short and musty straw? Alack, alack!'Tis wonder that thy life and wits at once. Had not concluded all.—He wakes. Speak to him.”
King Lear, Act IV, Scene 7
“Lady Macbeth” (2024)
Acrylic on 16x20 canvas
“Juliet” (2024)
Acrylic on 16x20 canvas
Juliet
“Alack, alack, is it not like that I,
So early waking, what with loathsome smells,
And shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth,
That living mortals, hearing them, run mad—O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught,
Environèd with all these hideous fears,
And madly play with my forefathers’ joints,
And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his shroud,
And, in this rage, with some great kinsman’s bone,
As with a club, dash out my desp’rate brains?
O look, methinks I see my cousin’s ghost
Seeking out Romeo that did spit his body
Upon a rapier’s point! Stay, Tybalt, stay!
Romeo, Romeo, Romeo! Here’s drink. I drink to thee.”
Romeo and Juliet, Act IV, Scene 3
“The Thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now? What, will these hands ne’er be clean? No more o’ that, my lord, no more o’ that. You mar all with this starting.
Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. O, O, O!
Wash your hands. Put on your nightgown. Look not so pale. I tell you yet again, Banquo’s buried; he cannot come out on ’s grave.”
Macbeth, Act V, Scene 1
“Desdemona” (2024)
Acrylic on 16x20 canvas
Ophelia
Lady Macbeth
“Lady Macbeth” (2024)
Acrylic on 16x20 canvas
Desdemona
“Here I kneel.
If e’er my will did trespass ‘gainst his love,
Either in discourse of thought or actual deed,
Or that mine eyes, mine ears, or any sense
Delighted them in any other form,
Or that I do not yet, and ever did,
And ever will—though he do shake me off
To beggarly divorcement—love him dearly,
Comfort forswear me!
Unkindness may do much,
And his unkindness may defeat my life,
But never taint my love.”
Othello, Act IV, Scene 2