SARAH:  Gertrude describes a kind of flower in this passage that Ophelia is using to make her garlands – and apparently this flower has at least two names.  Gertrude describes them as long purples, but she says that “cold maids”, in other words chaste or pure young women, call them dead men’s fingers.

RALPH:  But she also mentions that they have another name, used by shepherds who are less proper in the way they talk – and there’s a strong contrast between the “liberal shepherds” and “our cold maids”.  You can tell by Gertrude’s use of the possessive that she’s clearly on the “cold maid” side of things.

SARAH:  It’s not entirely certain what flowers Gertrude is talking about here – but it’s probably some species of orchis, which is in the orchid family.

RALPH:  In addition to the phallic nature of the flower that’s described – the ‘long purples’ referred to as ‘dead men’s fingers’ – these types of orchids have tubers that were shaped like testicles, and they had common names like dogstones, dog’s cods, and fool’s ballocks.

SARAH:  This is perhaps a minor detail in Gertrude’s description, and yet it seems heavy with symbolism.  Ophelia is an innocent young girl, who is identified with both the youthful bloom and the ephemeral nature of flowers throughout Shakespeare’s text.  If she is sullied by sexual innuendo, it’s primarily in what others say about her.

RALPH:  Harold Jenkins, an editor of one edition of Hamlet, says this nicely:  “in the suggestion of chaste maids untouched by country grossness, with an image of sexuality giving way to one of death, the whole of Ophelia’s story is epitomized.”