By Ginger A. Apolo, Kelcie Brown

Sep 9 2022

Shakespeare never visited the crown prince Hamlet’s home on the east coast of Denmark, but what the Bard lacks in botanical knowledge of the area he makes up for in meaning.

Flowers have long held symbolic meaning, and Shakespeare made great use of these symbols. Some he would explain outright, while others were left as symbols to be interpreted by the audience. When it comes to Hamlet, both of these are true.

Right before her tragic death, Ophelia presents flowers to Queen Gertrude, King Claudius, and her brother, Laertes:

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. You must wear
your rue with a difference. There’s a daisy. I would
give you some violets, but they withered all when
my father died. They say he made a good end.
— HAMLET, Act IV, Scene V —

Shortly after, she gathers flowers for herself, before drowning in the river:

There is a willow grows askant the brook
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream.
Therewith fantastic garlands did she make
Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do “dead men’s fingers” call
them.
There on the pendant boughs her coronet weeds
Clamb’ring to hang, an envious sliver broke,
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. [...]
— HAMLET, Act IV, Scene VII —

Throughout these last scenes of her life Ophelia is not in her right mind, but her flowers, whether real or imagined (depending on the production), are tethered to the lasting language of flowers. As her father remarked in the first act regarding Hamlet, “This be madness, yet there is method in it.”

In the two stories below, explore our bouquet of Ophelia’s flowers and the meanings behind them!