Hamlet

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet flowers are hugely important for the character of Ophelia.

When she gathers her bouquet in Act 4, she picks up Fennel symbolising remembrance, for Hamlet who has forgotten her. Rue symbolising regret and the frailty of woman for Gertrude after her hasty marriage to Claudius, and Violets which can symbolise modesty, but which “withered all when my father died”; the same time she became mad.

Ophelia is also constantly depicted with daisies, symbolising her innocence and forsaken love.