Columbine

There’s fennel for you, and columbines

Long time no talk about flowers, but I am back and ready to talk about them! Why? Because I still think floriography is interesting and I still love Hamlet, and I also haven’t updated ye olde Substack in a while. This seemed like a good excuse as any to write something, so let’s learn more about columbines!

Also called granny’s bonnet (though it’s Latin name, aquilegia, means eagle) Columbine gets it’s name from a commedia dell’arte character named Columbina. Commedia dell’arte was “an improvised kind of popular comedy in Italian theaters in the 16th–18th centuries, based on stock characters. Actors adapted their comic dialogue and action according to a few basic plots (commonly love intrigues) and to topical issues” (Oxford Languages).

The character of Columbina was generally played as a tricky slave (a clever, lower-class character that brought about the happy ending for the lover characters in the play), sometimes played as a sex worker and sometimes lover to the Harlequin character. In commedia dell’arte performances, actors generally wore masks but Columbina was a unique character who was rarely masked. According to Jessica Roux, Columbina was also known for her “loud and gossipy nature” and was often ready to “make a fool of herself and others.”

Ancient Greeks and Romans associated the flower with the goddess Aphrodite/Venus turning the flower into a symbol of love. In Ancient Norse cultures the flower was associated with the goddess Freya and considered an aphrodisiac. Christian cultures believed the Columbine “had the meaning of the seven gifts of the holy spirit and these included: wisdom, intellect, reverence or piety, strength, advise, knowledge and fear (fear of god or fear of doing wrong in the eyes of god).” In floriography, the columbine has a few different meanings based on it’s colouring. Purple means “resolved to win,” red means “anxious,” while white means “folly.” The Columbine has also further symbolized foolishness because the shape of the flower is similar to a jester’s hat.

During the mad scene, Ophelia gives Claudius, and sometimes Gertrude, columbines. Perhaps she is calling them fools and in association with the fennel furthering the jab. Or she may be calling herself a fool for ever loving Hamlet.

Sources:

“Columbine (Stock Character).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Sept. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_(stock_character).

“Columbine Flower Meaning.” Flower Meaning, 21 Mar. 2017, www.flowermeaning.com/columbine-flower-meaning/.

“Columbine.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., www.britannica.com/topic/Columbine-stock-theatre-character. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.

“Commedia Dell’arte.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 19 Nov. 2024, www.britannica.com/art/commedia-dellarte.

“Floriography - the Language of Flowers.” Flowers by Flourish, 27 Jan. 2015, www.flowersbyflourish.com/floriography/.

Inkwright, Fez. Folk Magic and Healing: An Unusual History of Everyday Plants. LIMINAL 11, 2019.

“Ophelias Flowers - Htsdc.Org.” Htsdc.Org, htsdc.org/wp-content/uploads/Ophelias-Flowers.pdf. Accessed 8 May 2023.

Roux, Jessica. Floriography: An Illustrated Guide to the Victorian Language of Flowers. Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2020.

Shakespeare, William, and Eli Reynolds. Hamlet - the Pelican Shakespeare. Penguin Putnam Inc, 2016.

Whetstone, Stephanie. “The Language of Flowers.” Princeton University, The Trustees of Princeton University, pwrites.princeton.edu/tools-and-insights/the-language-of-flowers/. Accessed 30 June 2024.