Let’s take our first look into Ophelia’s flowers with rosemary, since it’s the first flower she hands out in Act IV scene v.
According to the language of flowers, rosemary (salvia rosamrinus), which is also known as “compass weed, incensier, [and] pilgrim’s flower” (Inkwright 133) has often been associated with remembrance and wisdom (Roux 152). Roux explains in her book Floriography that this belief actually stems from ancient Greece when Greek scholars would wear “crowns of rosemary during their examinations” (Roux 152). Inkwright explains in her book Folk Magic and Healing: An Unusual History of Everyday Plants that Greek students would “braid rosemary into their hair to help them with their studies” (Inkwright 133).
Sarah O'Connor 