berlioz did not understand any english, but he went to a performance of shakespeare’s "hamlet" given by an english theatre company. the actress taking the part of ophelia was called harriet smithson. berlioz fell passionately in love with her, although he did not know her, and started following her about everywhere. in the end he married her. the marriage was not a success. berlioz was really in love with ophelia, the character from shakespeare’s play. he found it hard to love harriet in real life.