Note to Hamlet, 4.5.176-177: "And there is pansies; that's for thoughts"


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Hamlet,
Act 4, Scene 5, lines 176-177
And there is pansies; that's for thoughts: —Ophelia is speaking of the wildflower which is the ancestor of the garden flower developed in the nineteenth century. The flower had three common names: heartsease, love-in-idleness, and pansy (derived from the French word pensés, thoughts). All three names of the flower evoke love thoughts, and the flower was an emblem of love and courtship.