by Maria K.

Created on: September 16, 2011   Last Updated: September 18, 2011

Never was a name so romantic bestowed upon a character who is so decidedly "of this world". While staunchly religious, Ophelia St. Clare is a pragmatic and an absolutist in her actions and beliefs. Few manage to find a chink in her armor and make their way into her heart, and even then, she does not relent or compromise when a loved one's views contradict her own.

That said, one cannot call Ophelia an unlikable character, for much of what she does she does our of love. She abandons her home in Vermont, which is essentially her world, in response to a plea from her favorite cousin - Augustine St. Clare - to help bring some order to a chaos that is his home. She remains in that environment, which is utterly alien to her, for years - again out of love for Augustine and Eva. She takes on the disastrous reformation project that is Topsy out of love for her principles and devotion to her faith.

Ophelia's difficulty and a major factor in her transformation is her realization that, in some ways, she has been indulging in hypocrisy for much of her life. It dawns on her overtime that it is quite easy to criticize someone else's chaos, when she herself was born into a perfectly organized and orderly household. It is, in fact, much easier than entering said chaos and doing something about it.

When Eva passes hugs and kisses all around upon the arrival to New Orleans, Ophelia is as shocked by her behavior as she is later ashamed of her own inability to see the slaves as equals solely due to the color of their skin. Clearly, there is a vast gap in her mind between condemnation of slavery while tucked away safely in Vermont, and viewing slaves as human beings when in the midst of them.

And when Auguste calls his virtuous cousin on her statements about the betterment of others and presents her with Topsy, the lady is forced to admit that advising others to better themselves is decidedly easier and less traumatic than attempting to turn around just one person. Topsy is a quintessence of all of Ophelia's contradictions, a vessel that contains all things that Ophelia is not prepared to deal with personally, a chaotic, uncontrollable, disorderly being of another race, with no clearly defined morals or even personal habits.

In the end, Ophelia is forced to admit defeat, for it is Eva - and not herself - who makes Topsy face her own humanity and self-worth. Fortunately, being essentially a good and honest person, Ophelia finds it in herself to admit that this defeat is also a victory, as it pulls her away from her absolutes and into the middle ground of compromise and understanding, thus making her into someone more capable of doing things she previously only spoke of.

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