A brief botanical survey of Shakespeare
In
the literature of every language will be found innumerable references to plants,
a collection of which would give a fairly rough idea of the flora of the region.
However, that would be the approach of a diehard scientist. But to look into the
appropriateness of the references, made in their respective contexts, would be a
very heart-warming experience. At any rate, it was so for me as I made such a
collection of references to plants from Shakespeare’s plays.
1.
Acorn cups: Acorns are the fruits of the oak. These are ovoid in shape and
enclosed within a capsule formed from the bracts of the flower; the latter
structures are called acorn cups.
Shakespeare suggests that these
cups form the hiding places for the elves, the supernatural mischief-mongers.
The reference is to be found in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, a play full
of fairies and fairy tricks.
2. Bur, Arctium lappa: A
member of Compositae, it has flower heads surrounded by a close involucre of spiny bracts. After fertilisation they become brown, tough and
hooked and form what is popularly known as bur. Because of this, the burs stick.
In ‘As You Like It’, Celia
consoles her cousin, Rosalind, telling her that if she does not with effort
shake off her sorrows, they tend to stick. This is what Celia tells Rosalind:
“They are but burs, cousin, thrown upon thee in holiday foolery: if we walk
not in the trodden paths, our very petty coats will catch them.”
(As You Like It. Act. 1, Se,
3)
There is another reference to
burs in ‘Troilus and Cressida’. Pandarus, Cressida’s uncle, helps to bring
together Troilus and Cressida, the two lovers. Cressida was difficult to woo but
in the end gave in to the pleadings of Troilus, swearing eternal love for him.
Finally, however, she betrays him and transfers her affections to Diomedes, a
Grecian commander. When Troilus was not sure that Cressida has requitted his
love, her uncle assures him: “Our kindred, though they be long ere they are
wooed, they are constant being won: they are burs, I can tell you; they’ll
stick where they are thrown.”
(Troilus and Cressida. Act.
III, Se. 2)
Carduus
benedictus |
3. Carduus benedictus:
This plant has an honoured place because it is the only one referred to by its
Latin name in all the plays of Shakespeare. The reference occurs in ‘Much Ado
About Nothing’. Margaret suggests that Beatrice should take distilled Carduus
benedictus. The plant was deliberately chosen, for its specific name suggested
the name of Benedick, between whom and Beatrice, a love affair was
sought to be promoted.
Further, this plant was
supposed to be a cure-all in the medieval times. Elizabethan herbalists asserted
that it was a “preservative against all disease”.
Carduus benedictus is a
thistle, its leaves and flower heads being spiny. It belongs to the sunflower
family, Compositae.
Cedar |
4. Cedar: Cedar is a
name given to many genera, falling under different groups.
But all references to this tree
in the Shakespearean plays indicate that it is the cedar of Lebanon, Cedrus
libani, a coniferous tree. Cedar always stood for stateliness and strength, and
therefore when Prospero speaks of:
“The strong-based promontory
Have I made shake, and by the spurs pluck'd up
The pine and cedar.”
(Tempest, Act. V, Se. 1)
He makes us fully appreciate
the might of his magical powers.
There are references to cedar
in Cymbeline as also in Henry VI and in both the instances, the grandeur of the
tree is beautifully brought out. Below is a beautiful passage from Henry VI
which impresses on the reader’s mind an inerasable picture of this tree.
“Thus yields the cedar to the
axe’s edge,
Whose arms give shelter to the princely eagle,
Under whose shade
the ramping lion slept,
Whose top-branch overpeered jove's spreading tree,
And kept low shrubs from winter’s powerful wind.”
(King Henry VI, Part III,
Act V, Se. 2)
Cedrus
deodora |
It must be of interest to the
Indian readers to learn that the Himalayan deodar is Cedrus deodora, references
to whose majesty and grace are quite many in Kalidasa’s works.
5. Cowslips: The
cowslips are closely related to primrose. Their leaves are pressed to the
ground, from the centre of which grows out a tall, vertical stalk bearing an
umbel of flowers.
The flowers are of a golden yellow, with an orange patch at
the base of each petal.
Now see what the fairy tells
Puck. She is the servant of the fairy queen and is on her rounds of service and
her duty for the night was:
“And I serve the fairy Queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green.
The cowslips tall her pensioners be:
In their
gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favours,
In those freckles live
their savours.”
(A Midsummer Night’s
Dream. Act. II, Se. 1)
There is a reference to
cowslips in Cymbeline, and it is a reference that leads to the tragic end.
Lachimo, the villain, enters into a wager with the banished Posthumus Leonatus,
that he would certainly be able to win the love of Imogen, provided he gets the
opportunity. Posthumus, sure of the fidelity of Imogen’s love accepts the
challenge.
Iachimo
succeeds in meeting Imogen with the help of a letter given him by Posthumus but
there it ends. He could not succeed in winning Imogen away from Posthumus.
Reluctant to accept defeat, he falsely reports to Posthumus the body-marks of
Imogen, having seen them from a hiding while she was asleep. This is what he notes
down for his report:'
"..........On her left
breast
A mole cinque-spotted, like the crimson drops
I' the bottom of a cowslip.
Here's voucher
Stronger than ever law could make: this secret
Will force him
think I've pick'd the lock and ta'en
The treasure of her honour."
(Cymbeline. Act. 11, Sc. 2)
Cowslip is Primula veris, a
member of the primrose family, Primulaceae.
(Published in Pachaiyappa’s College
magazine, 1957)
To be contd....
